Chefsteps Why Sous Vide?

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Key Idea 1

Because sous vide affords precise temperature control, results can be repeated with ease.

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Key Idea 2

With traditional cooking techniques, temperature control is tricky. Sous vide makes it possible to be very specific about the degree of doneness that you prefer.

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Key Idea 3

Sous vide cooking food at the temperature you've selected, and waiting until the center of the food reaches equilibrium with that temperature avoids another common source of inconsistency: having the food overcook after you've stopped the cooking. This happens because with other cooking techniques, the surface of the food is nearly always much hotter than the core temperature, and thus, it's critical to time things correctly and allow for the inevitable cooling of the surface and increasing temperature at the center.

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Key Idea 4

Consistency comes in other forms too: portion size, product quality, healthfulness, and food hygiene—all important whether you're cooking in a busy restaurant or at home for your family and friends.

Salmon and albumin

My family really only like salmon cooked sous-vide in oil, we also don't really have much access to good seafood in Denver unless you pay an arm and a leg.

I've done quite a bit at 50C as well as much shorter cook time at 57.5C. Is brining the best way to get rid of the albumin, if so is a typical 6.4% brine what should be used? And for how long?
Johan Edstrom

So-called albumin protein is mostly a function of cooking temperature more than anything else. Worth trying 113 °F / 45 °C to see what you think of that temperature, you will certainly see less albumin percolating to the surface of the flesh.

Adding salt via a brine tends to help retain juices in the flesh—for complex reasons that I hope to explore in a future course—and so at any given temperature you'll see less juice percolate to the surface, which means you'll see less albumin.

Have you checked out the salmon 104 °F recipe on our course page?
Chris Young

I love Salmon, Sushi first!! :) I have always Cedar Planked my salmon and have love the results. Now that I have seen the 104F video, I am going to have to give it a try.
Allen Johnson

@Johan, 43C is my favourite temp too, as 40C is barely warm once it gets served. Have the same problem in UK too with fish, salmon is great, but good seafood here costs a bomb!
Grace