8
Simple Steps to Sous Vide Cooking
Step 1. Seasoning your food
To enhance flavours, you may wish to add marinade, spices, herbs, butter or oil to
your vacuum pouch prior to sealing.
Step 2. Vacuum sealing
Sous vide cooking requires food to be vacuum sealed inside pouches to remove
excess air and moisture in order to lock in
the food’s natural taste and nutrients.
Vacuum sealing also helps to relax the fibres in meat, poultry and seafood so that
marinades and seasonings are more readily absorbed for greater intensity in
flavour. Vacuum sealing can be easily achieved using zip-lock bags or similar.
Simply fill a sink or large vessel with water and place the food and seasonings in a
zip lock bag. Holding the top corners of the bag, slowly immerse in the water and
the air will be pushed out. Once the bag is immersed up to the zipper, seal the
bag. Take care not to immerse the bag too far before sealing as this may
contaminate the food with water.
At electriQ we also offer a range of vacuum sealers and accessories that are
perfect for preparing food for sous vide cooking.
Step 3. Cooking your food
When the desired sous vide water temperature has been reached, carefully place
the pouches in the water. Ensure the pouches are fully submerged, and that water
can easily circulate around the pouches for even cooking.
Step 4. Searing your food
After sous vide cooking, you may wish to finish off your dish by searing it to
enhance the food’s taste and appearance; this is particularly helpful when cooking
meat. Remove the meat from the pouch and quickly sear it in a hot pan. This will
enable the caramelisation of fats and proteins to bring out extra flavour.