Sous Vide: Beyond the Basics

Nicholas Gavin is the Culinary Creative Director of ChefSteps, where he develops recipes and is responsible for making all the food look beautiful. Nick has worked at ChefSteps for over a decade; he and ChefSteps co-founder Grant Crilly worked together at Modernist Cuisine. Nick has worked in professional kitchens both in the United States and abroad, most notably at Mugaritz in San Sebastian, Spain.

Nicholas Gavin

This recipe captures all the flavors of Dungeness crab—the sweet flesh, the toasted, nutty notes of roasted shells, and the oceanic buttery flavor of its tomalley—by infusing crab shells into a delicious broth and using it to make a silky-smooth, savory custard, which is topped with a light and bright picked crab meat salad.Every part of the process is designed to yield the best crab flavor. The shells are roasted, blitzed, then gently simmered in <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/sous-vide-dashi">dashi</a>, a super savory stock made from dried seafood. The crab stock is used to make <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/activities/sous-vide-chawanmushi">chawanmushi</a>, a Japanese custard that has the barely set texture of the lightest panna cotta, using our bulletproof sous vide method. Slide a spoonful in your mouth, and it barely registers as a feeling, even though the crab flavor comes through bright and clear.To give the dish texture and brightness—and to add more crab to the mix—we top the custard with a salad of picked crab meat, crunchy roasted peanuts, crisp Asian pear, and finely diced jalapeño, adding just enough heat to make your taste buds stand at attention.It’s both an elegant way to start a meal and a celebration of one of the Pacific Northwest’s most beloved delicacies.

Dungeness Crab Chawanmushi