Sous Vide: Getting Started Class

ChefSteps is a team of chefs, writers, and food lovers who develop recipes, techniques, and guides to help people cook better at home.

ChefSteps

Up Your Sous Vide Game

Psst! Have you met <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/joule">Joule Turbo</a>?

I’m ready to get some sous vide equipment. What do you suggest?

By all means.

{activity:3GV2PTIZFmjlE1qK7fIPub}

Impossibly delicious food deserves an elegant presentation. Here’s how to make all your favorite sous vide recipes look great.

Level Up: Sous Vide Presentation

Can you talk to me about best practices for making sure my sous vide–cooked food looks as pretty as possible?

Show them this.

{activity:5FWUhdDdTIBx2ZPzYCt3z0}

Do I need a vacuum sealer? Is cooking with plastic safe? What can I cook besides steak? We tackle these and other common questions about sous vide cooking.

5 Common Misconceptions About Sous Vide Cooking

My friends have weird ideas about sous vide that aren’t true. How can I set them straight?

Any of these foods, for starters.

{activity:2hl2GzCgooqO8tUGIm3Gl1}

Sous vide yogurt. Sous vide custards. Sous vide barbecue?! Here are 17 ideas for amazing foods you didn’t know you could cook sous vide.

17 Foods You Didn’t Know You Could Cook Sous Vide

Cool. They’re convinced. What sous vide food should I serve them besides steak and stuff?

So glad you asked. 

{activity:2zacBFnp2tXq4ThZHWcGkS}

Curious about the science behind chamber-style vacuum sealers? Let’s get into it!

How Chamber-Style Vacuum Sealers Work

I’m so smitten with sous vide, I think I might ask for a chamber vacuum sealer for my birthday. How do those things work, anyway?

Uh-huh. 

{activity:lJXk54iAUNdHoVU7b8Q0f}

The Physics of Freezing Liquid Nitrogen in a Vacuum

Cool. But can I put liquid nitrogen in it and film it with a high-speed camera?

Safety

Foodborne pathogens don’t multiply above [c 52]; instead they slowly die. And the higher the temperature, the faster they die. 

All the known foodborne pathogens start dying above a certain maximum temperature: a few above [c 43], others above [c 45], almost all above [c 50], and, finally, one resilient bug that hangs in there up to [c 52]. Most grow fastest between [c 30] and a little below their maximum temperature. When cooking food at temperatures below [c 52]—tuna, for example, tastes great at [c 43]—keep the cooking time to less than one to two hours; this’ll both limit pathogen growth and keep the fish from getting mushy.

I’ve read a lot of conflicting info about sous vide temperatures and foodborne pathogens. What’s the deal?

Good news here: you can hold food in the safe zone—above [c 52]—for as long as you like. This, my friend, means you can radically transform the texture of food—for example, you can cook a lamb leg at [c 64] for 16 hours for a meat so fork tender that your guests will think you’re some sort of strange food sorcerer and wonder what other sorts of dark magic you might have up your sleeve. 

NOTE: When cooking meat for many hours, we usually prefer temperatures between [c 55] and [c 80].

Should I worry about leaving food in the bath for an extended period of time?

Hey, whatever you’re into! For the most part, botulism is an issue when you’re storing food—you don’t usually have to worry about it if you’re serving sous vide food immediately. 

You’ll find a lot of great information on <a href="https://www.chefsteps.com/forum/search?q=botulism">our forum</a>.

Talk to me about botulism.

You can prepare food sous vide days, weeks, and even months in advance—but to do so safely requires some extra work. First, of course, you have to cook the food until any food-borne pathogens have died. Then, you need to chill it in an ice bath (half water, half ice) until the food is chilled through. After that, the food should be refrigerated or frozen—how long it can last depends on the temperature at which you keep it. The final step is to reheat food in a water bath that’s at or below the temperature at which you cooked it, and this reheating takes quite a bit of time. There are occasions when cooking sous vide in advance is worth it, but the method is mostly used for preparing food that will be eaten fairly soon after it’s cooked.

So, what do I need to know if I do want to preserve food cooked sous vide?

You cooked sous vide and you liked it. But now you’ve got some questions. Read through this FAQ for answers to common (and, okay, not so common) queries about the method. Don’t see what you’re looking for? Head to this <a href="/activities/discussion--9">Discussion</a> section and fire away.

Sous Vide FAQ