12th April 2013
Winter 2011: It’s a wrap
More chefs are understanding more about the benefits of using sous vide to produce tender, succulent food, with cheaper and under utilised meat cuts particularly firing up the imagination.
Some may be unkind and call it ‘boil in the bag’, but many chefs who use the sous vide method see it as an invaluable way of cooking food to satisfy discerning consumers as well as making a profit.
Sous vide’s literal translation from the French is ‘under vacuum’ and it involves food being sealed in airtight plastic bags and submerged in a water bath for a long time – usually hours – at a much lower temperature than normally used for cooking, typically around 60ºC. The intention is to cook the food evenly without overcooking and to keep the food juicy.
Unlike ‘boil in the bag’, where food is cooked before being placed into a vacuum pack, the sous vide method is a slow steady process. By gradually breaking down the muscle fibres and protein in meat, certain cuts that would otherwise prove unsuitable are tenderised, soaked in their own juices and left full of flavour.
By removing contact with air and water during the cooking process, the food’s nutrients, flavours, odours and colours are retained, while the lack of oil and butter make it ideal for low fat cooking.
The method was first described by US born British physicist and inventor Sir Benjamin Thompson in 1799, and was then rediscovered by the Americans and French in the mid ‘60s as an industrial food preservation method.
It was then adopted by French chef Georges Pralus in 1974 when he was looking for a way to minimise the loss of volume in his foie gras during cooking. He discovered that by slow cooking food in a vacuum, he could retain volume, texture, nutrients and most importantly flavour. He also found there was considerably less shrinkage in the food.
He went on to create hundreds of recipes using this method and, after establishing a school for sous vide cookery, he passed the technique to chefs around the world.
Although there was initially some resistance in the take up of sous vide outside of France – from concerns that inadequate chilled storage would cause bacteria spores to develop in the packaging, to misconceptions of its similarity to boil in the bag products – the technique has since proved its benefits to foodservice from Michelin starred restaurants to contract caterers and ready meal manufacturers.
Being careful with the cooking process is paramount to avoid food poisoning. In the absence of oxygen, the clostridium botulinum bacteria can grow in food and produce deadly toxins, so sous vide cooking must be done under carefully controlled conditions to avoid botulism poisoning.
Food heated and served within four hours is generally considered to be safe, but meat that is cooked for longer to tenderise it must reach a temperature of at least 55ºC within four hours and then kept there in order to pasteurise the meat. Pasteurisation kills the botulism but the possibility of bacteria spores surviving and reactivating once cool remains a concern. After cooking the food must remain in its vacuum pack and be rapidly chilled, then stored at 0º-4ºC.
Chefs that embrace molecular gastronomy such as Heston Blumenthal love this style of cooking and it’s even catching on with foodies in the domestic market.
Blumenthal has installed water baths in the Little Chef restaurants where he has overhauled the menu, whereas before these outlets only had microwaves and induction hobs. These are used to sous vide different kinds of food that can be cooked at the same time – from meat and fish to desserts.
Anthony Demetre, head chef and co-owner of three London Restaurants – Wild Honey, Arbutus and Les Deux Salons, is another well known chef that uses the sous vide technique for his dishes and enjoys making use of alternative, cheaper cuts of meat.
EBLEX’s master butcher Dick van Leeuwen teamed with him to develop and launch beef and lamb cuts that would be suitable for this style of cooking. They evaluated a range to determine which were best suited to sous vide and ended up with 42 cuts.
These included ox cheek, goose skirt steak, chuck, beef short ribs, prime hind shin muscle and breast of lamb, lamb neck fillet, rump, scrag slices and heart to name a few.
Cooking times by the sous vide method could vary from anything like neck fillet for 15 minutes at 72ºC to scrag slices for 12 hours at 75ºC.
“Sous vide is a great way for chefs to manage portion control while ensuring the consistency of the meat they serve,” says Demetre. “Using a water bath helps to create an even amount of cooking and produces wonderfully tender and succulent meat, which is full of flavour.
“The use of alternative cuts is becoming increasingly popular, particularly due to the escalating costs of ingredients, which is challenging us all to think about using more economical cuts which still deliver on quality and flavour.
Consumers want value for money when eating out these days and by using the sous vide method you’ll not only satisfy your customers but help to increase your own margins.”
EBLEX foodservice project manager Hugh Judd says there’s nothing new about sous vide but it was wrong to compare it with ‘boil in the bag’, which was more about lots of meat in sauces that offered poor value for money, and isn’t the case with sous vide. “Today you can have it manufactured for you or do it yourself,” he says.
“While a number of the cuts in our new range require cooking for long periods, some actually benefit from quick sous vide cooking, making them ideal for cooking to order. It makes service a lot easier for chefs who want to reduce food waste by preparing food portions in advance.
“We have introduced a slight twist on the cuts by using whole muscle. What Dick has produced is a whole range from the carcase that previously would be minced or diced.”
What is interesting is the price of under utilised cuts has started to creep up and balancing out between the more expensive cuts such as fillet, he adds.
In November EBLEX got together leading caterers at Demetre’s Wild Honey restaurant, where he produced a six course menu (see page 43) to show sous vide at its best.
“The menu was about meat going into a vacuum pack and then seeing what Anthony made out of it,” says Judd. He says that for fine dining restaurants that can use the principle of low temperature cooking, long and slow cooking will enhance the process. For pubs he recommends secondary cuts of steak – goose skirt, flat, denver, which by using sous vide will produce something to eat that is very tender. The main thing was taking the whole muscle.
“What we have done is taken a huge number of cuts which when cooked sous vide tastes great. Those cuts cooked on a grill would be chewy.
“In the kitchen it’s your mise on place – you can cook, chill and serve to order. It must be chilled very quickly however and we recommend no more than 10-14 days in the chiller.”
The sous vide cuts are featured in two new brochures which are available online. ‘Master Chef and Master Butcher’ is aimed at chefs and contains 11 recipes, and there is also a brochure for butchers containing the entire range of sous vide beef and lamb cuts, each with its own unique code and corresponds with EBLEX’s Meat Purchasing Guide.
• To download the brochures, go to the ‘resources’ section of the www.eblextrade.co.uk website or call the Quality Standard scheme hotline on 0845 491 8787
Sous vide’s literal translation from the French is ‘under vacuum’ and it involves food being sealed in airtight plastic bags and submerged in a water bath for a long time – usually hours – at a much lower temperature than normally used for cooking, typically around 60ºC. The intention is to cook the food evenly without overcooking and to keep the food juicy.
Unlike ‘boil in the bag’, where food is cooked before being placed into a vacuum pack, the sous vide method is a slow steady process. By gradually breaking down the muscle fibres and protein in meat, certain cuts that would otherwise prove unsuitable are tenderised, soaked in their own juices and left full of flavour.
By removing contact with air and water during the cooking process, the food’s nutrients, flavours, odours and colours are retained, while the lack of oil and butter make it ideal for low fat cooking.
The method was first described by US born British physicist and inventor Sir Benjamin Thompson in 1799, and was then rediscovered by the Americans and French in the mid ‘60s as an industrial food preservation method.
It was then adopted by French chef Georges Pralus in 1974 when he was looking for a way to minimise the loss of volume in his foie gras during cooking. He discovered that by slow cooking food in a vacuum, he could retain volume, texture, nutrients and most importantly flavour. He also found there was considerably less shrinkage in the food.
He went on to create hundreds of recipes using this method and, after establishing a school for sous vide cookery, he passed the technique to chefs around the world.
Although there was initially some resistance in the take up of sous vide outside of France – from concerns that inadequate chilled storage would cause bacteria spores to develop in the packaging, to misconceptions of its similarity to boil in the bag products – the technique has since proved its benefits to foodservice from Michelin starred restaurants to contract caterers and ready meal manufacturers.
Being careful with the cooking process is paramount to avoid food poisoning. In the absence of oxygen, the clostridium botulinum bacteria can grow in food and produce deadly toxins, so sous vide cooking must be done under carefully controlled conditions to avoid botulism poisoning.
Food heated and served within four hours is generally considered to be safe, but meat that is cooked for longer to tenderise it must reach a temperature of at least 55ºC within four hours and then kept there in order to pasteurise the meat. Pasteurisation kills the botulism but the possibility of bacteria spores surviving and reactivating once cool remains a concern. After cooking the food must remain in its vacuum pack and be rapidly chilled, then stored at 0º-4ºC.
Chefs that embrace molecular gastronomy such as Heston Blumenthal love this style of cooking and it’s even catching on with foodies in the domestic market.
Blumenthal has installed water baths in the Little Chef restaurants where he has overhauled the menu, whereas before these outlets only had microwaves and induction hobs. These are used to sous vide different kinds of food that can be cooked at the same time – from meat and fish to desserts.
Anthony Demetre, head chef and co-owner of three London Restaurants – Wild Honey, Arbutus and Les Deux Salons, is another well known chef that uses the sous vide technique for his dishes and enjoys making use of alternative, cheaper cuts of meat.
EBLEX’s master butcher Dick van Leeuwen teamed with him to develop and launch beef and lamb cuts that would be suitable for this style of cooking. They evaluated a range to determine which were best suited to sous vide and ended up with 42 cuts.
These included ox cheek, goose skirt steak, chuck, beef short ribs, prime hind shin muscle and breast of lamb, lamb neck fillet, rump, scrag slices and heart to name a few.
Cooking times by the sous vide method could vary from anything like neck fillet for 15 minutes at 72ºC to scrag slices for 12 hours at 75ºC.
“Sous vide is a great way for chefs to manage portion control while ensuring the consistency of the meat they serve,” says Demetre. “Using a water bath helps to create an even amount of cooking and produces wonderfully tender and succulent meat, which is full of flavour.
“The use of alternative cuts is becoming increasingly popular, particularly due to the escalating costs of ingredients, which is challenging us all to think about using more economical cuts which still deliver on quality and flavour.
Consumers want value for money when eating out these days and by using the sous vide method you’ll not only satisfy your customers but help to increase your own margins.”
EBLEX foodservice project manager Hugh Judd says there’s nothing new about sous vide but it was wrong to compare it with ‘boil in the bag’, which was more about lots of meat in sauces that offered poor value for money, and isn’t the case with sous vide. “Today you can have it manufactured for you or do it yourself,” he says.
“While a number of the cuts in our new range require cooking for long periods, some actually benefit from quick sous vide cooking, making them ideal for cooking to order. It makes service a lot easier for chefs who want to reduce food waste by preparing food portions in advance.
“We have introduced a slight twist on the cuts by using whole muscle. What Dick has produced is a whole range from the carcase that previously would be minced or diced.”
What is interesting is the price of under utilised cuts has started to creep up and balancing out between the more expensive cuts such as fillet, he adds.
In November EBLEX got together leading caterers at Demetre’s Wild Honey restaurant, where he produced a six course menu (see page 43) to show sous vide at its best.
“The menu was about meat going into a vacuum pack and then seeing what Anthony made out of it,” says Judd. He says that for fine dining restaurants that can use the principle of low temperature cooking, long and slow cooking will enhance the process. For pubs he recommends secondary cuts of steak – goose skirt, flat, denver, which by using sous vide will produce something to eat that is very tender. The main thing was taking the whole muscle.
“What we have done is taken a huge number of cuts which when cooked sous vide tastes great. Those cuts cooked on a grill would be chewy.
“In the kitchen it’s your mise on place – you can cook, chill and serve to order. It must be chilled very quickly however and we recommend no more than 10-14 days in the chiller.”
The sous vide cuts are featured in two new brochures which are available online. ‘Master Chef and Master Butcher’ is aimed at chefs and contains 11 recipes, and there is also a brochure for butchers containing the entire range of sous vide beef and lamb cuts, each with its own unique code and corresponds with EBLEX’s Meat Purchasing Guide.
• To download the brochures, go to the ‘resources’ section of the www.eblextrade.co.uk website or call the Quality Standard scheme hotline on 0845 491 8787