Sous-vide

Sous-vide is a modern (c. 1970) French method of cooking (used for the Troisgros) that became very popular in high-profile restaurants. It consists of long-cooking at precisely-defined (fairly low) temperatures of vacuum-sealed food immersed into water. After months of increasing interest, we first tried (to our knowledge) the method on 22 January (2020) (salmon, at 52°C for 50 minutes). It can be regarded as a Science-optimized way of cooking (no overcooking, maximizing flavours by sealing them) at the expense of the artistic, creative, humane way of cooking based on intuition, experience, tricks and flair. The latter is of course preferable, but it is only more obvious that such qualities are exponentially remote in the tails of people's cooking capacities. Actually, one limitation of this thermal equilibrium perfect technique is that it keeps the food always below extreme points, which are sometimes necessary for browning food (Maillard reaction). In this case, one typically sears sous-vide food in a pan, to add a humane touch to a thermodynamic process. It also brings concerns of food safety regarding bacterias not being killed (possibly being even grown) at too low temperatures and the endocrine disruptors released by cooking plastic.

Recipes

  1. Mash (to try).
  2. Crême brulée (to try).
  3. carrots (to try).

Opinions

  1. Against (Guardian).