[0:00] let's talk about sous-vide most sweet
[0:03] guides don't like to overwhelm the poor
[0:05] home cook with all the details thinking
[0:07] that even the worst attempt at sous-vide
[0:09] will likely result in better proteins
[0:12] than most people are currently cooking
[0:14] at home and I'm guessing that for an
[0:17] average cook
[0:18] they are absolutely right but if you're
[0:21] watching this channel you are probably
[0:23] not the kind of cook who is satisfied
[0:26] with pretty good you are the kind of
[0:29] person who will only settle for great
[0:31] and for that even the Soviet method
[0:35] requires good technique so today I will
[0:38] share with you my bag of tricks that
[0:40] will take your soviet game to a whole
[0:43] new level in case you're new to this
[0:47] here is sous-vide in a nutshell in
[0:49] French the term means in vacuum but the
[0:52] most important aspect of this technique
[0:54] is not the vacuum but the precise
[0:56] temperature if you want the center of
[0:58] your meat to be 130 Fahrenheit you cook
[1:01] it in a hundred thirty Fahrenheit what a
[1:03] broth this completely eliminates the
[1:06] need to catch a perfect moment when you
[1:09] meat is done to do that you set an
[1:11] immersion circulator into a pot of water
[1:13] and it will keep any temperature you
[1:16] want for as long as you want put the
[1:18] meat into a plastic bag put it into the
[1:21] water wait for one to two hours
[1:23] depending on the thickness then sear and
[1:25] serve why is this so revolutionary
[1:27] because doneness is the biggest problem
[1:31] cooks have with proteins and the Soviet
[1:34] method solves that but it is not without
[1:38] its challenges sous-vide food can look
[1:41] and taste anemic here is an example from
[1:44] a Nova's website this year you get after
[1:48] the water bath can be wimpy here is a
[1:51] video from America's Test Kitchen sure
[1:53] that darkness is perfect but I like my
[1:56] meat more Brown than that the meat can
[1:58] taste dry even when cooked to a perfect
[2:02] temperature is it possible that you can
[2:05] overcook your meat even with sous-vide
[2:07] long cooking times are a killer for
[2:11] weekday nights today we'll address
[2:13] and many other problems and help you
[2:16] save it like a pro but first a little
[2:18] history I heard about sous-vide about 15
[2:21] years ago when immersion circulators
[2:23] would sell for more than $1,000 and were
[2:26] completely out of reach of most home
[2:28] cooks of course they didn't stop some
[2:30] people from going where no home cook has
[2:33] gone before
[2:34] I heard of grad students who would bring
[2:36] home old immersion circulators that
[2:39] their university labs were going to
[2:41] retire and cooking them
[2:43] I've heard of electrical engineers
[2:45] rewiring their crock pots to turn them
[2:49] into temperature controlled water bath
[2:51] since I had no electrical engineering
[2:53] skills and I was too chicken to cook in
[2:55] old lab equipment my preferred method
[2:57] was babysitting a big pot of water on
[3:00] the stove with a thermometer eventually
[3:02] I switched to Ken G outs brilliant huge
[3:05] beer cooler method beer coolers I
[3:08] insulated so if you fill them with hot
[3:10] water it'll maintain it for a while of
[3:12] course we didn't have to cook and beer
[3:15] coolers for long about 10 years ago the
[3:19] first sueded tool marketed to home cooks
[3:22] hit the market it was this very big
[3:25] heavy awkward and expensive box called
[3:29] sous-vide supreme obviously there was
[3:31] plenty of room for improvement and the
[3:34] race to create the best sous vide tool
[3:37] for the masses was on thanks to the
[3:40] competition the immersion circulators
[3:43] became small cheap and accessible to
[3:46] everyone I use the one by a Nova but
[3:50] there are many brands to choose from
[3:52] another sells for about a hundred and
[3:53] the link for it is below the video
[3:56] if you use your immersion circulator
[3:59] once in a while you can certainly clip
[4:01] it onto the side of any large pot but if
[4:04] you're planning to use it on regular
[4:06] basis I strongly suggest that you get a
[4:08] plastic box specially designed for this
[4:11] purpose I bought a size that fits into
[4:14] my sink nicely so there is no need to
[4:16] move it anywhere filling and emptying
[4:18] this box is a breeze I can fit at least
[4:21] eight portions into it at the same time
[4:24] so if I want to par cook some proteins
[4:26] for the week or if I'm having a party
[4:27] it's very convenient these boxes come in
[4:31] many sizes and they're very inexpensive
[4:33] I'll link to them below this video I
[4:35] fill my container with hot water so that
[4:38] I'm ready to cook almost instantly here
[4:40] is the current temperature of my water
[4:42] here is the temperature that I want it
[4:44] to be and I can change this temperature
[4:46] with this wheel by going up and down
[4:49] when I press the play button the
[4:51] circulator starts heating and moving the
[4:53] water once the machine reaches my
[4:55] desired temperature it will be and
[4:57] allowed the food now that we get the
[4:59] temperature covered let's talk about
[5:01] packaging the food restaurants use
[5:04] chamber vacuum sewers that are insanely
[5:07] expensive the vacuum sealers sold for
[5:10] home use like food saver that sells for
[5:12] about 100 are pretty useless for this
[5:14] purpose they will deform your food and
[5:16] won't let you add the oil which is very
[5:19] useful for some proteins my bag of
[5:21] choice is the ziplock not the flimsy
[5:23] sandwich bags but the sturdy freezer
[5:25] bags fold the back over to keep the
[5:28] zipper clean season your protein with
[5:30] salt and add to the bag when cooking
[5:33] fish and shrimp I find that adding lots
[5:35] of oil to the bag prevents pieces from
[5:38] sticking together and makes the shape
[5:40] and surface of the finished dish look a
[5:43] lot better I prefer a neutral oil so
[5:45] that it doesn't interfere with the
[5:47] flavor of the fish you'll be dumping the
[5:49] soil so no need to use anything
[5:51] expensive if you're putting more than
[5:53] one piece of meat into a bag put them in
[5:56] a vertically this way they won't tumble
[5:58] on top of each other as you submerge the
[6:01] bag into the water when you submerge the
[6:03] bag open it up completely this lets the
[6:06] water push the air out much more
[6:08] effectively than if you zip it up
[6:10] leaving a tiny hole keep pushing the bag
[6:12] under the water until you get to the
[6:14] zipper if the water is too hard for you
[6:16] use a utensil to help you zip it up if
[6:18] the bag sinks you did it correctly if
[6:21] the bag floats you still have too much
[6:23] air in open it up and try again
[6:25] flip the bag to the side of the
[6:27] container so that the water circulates
[6:29] around it having a bag lying on the
[6:31] bottom of your pot won't result in very
[6:33] even cooking below this video I'll give
[6:35] you the times that I like to use for
[6:37] many common proteins but just to give
[6:39] you an idea most steaks pork chops
[6:42] chicken breasts duck breasts and other
[6:44] meats that I mentioned have all s cookin
[6:47] one hour and most fish fillets and
[6:50] shrimp cook in 20 minutes so is it true
[6:53] that you can't overcook with sous-vide
[6:56] absolutely not
[6:58] the longer times mean more tenderness
[7:01] but less juiciness the myth that you
[7:03] can't have a cook with severe came about
[7:06] due to a clever marketing strategy used
[7:09] by sous-vide appliance manufacturers use
[7:11] it to market and new home appliance you
[7:14] have to combine the exotic with the
[7:17] familiar so the exotic sales pitch was
[7:20] the promise of restaurant quality food
[7:22] at home with no effort or skill the
[7:26] familiar sales pitch was comparing the
[7:28] immersion circulator to an appliance
[7:30] most home cooks already had at home the
[7:33] slow cooker cooking something sous-vide
[7:36] will inevitably take longer than any
[7:39] other method and that was not going to
[7:42] fly in our Fast Food Nation so the club
[7:44] marketing people told you that you could
[7:47] use the slow cooker model you could take
[7:50] your meat put it into the water bath in
[7:53] the morning go to work come home sear it
[7:57] for two minutes and the nurse surfed too
[7:59] bad they didn't tell you that this kind
[8:01] of steak would be very mushy and dry but
[8:04] chicken method isn't yet very flexible
[8:06] when it comes to meat and poultry if you
[8:10] hold them in a water bath for an extra
[8:12] hour - it won't make any difference
[8:15] for fish and eggs that's not quite the
[8:16] case if you need to hold them in the
[8:19] water bath after they are done try to
[8:20] limit that time too
[8:22] ten minutes after that the texture will
[8:24] gradually start to suffer the shrimp
[8:27] will turn mushy the fish will become dry
[8:30] and the egg yolks will firm up now let's
[8:34] talk about searing issues the usual
[8:36] solutions that you'll see people using a
[8:38] really hot skillet and blowtorches Oh
[8:41] personally I don't really like the
[8:44] flavor that the blowtorch is gifting it
[8:46] and the skillets well no matter how long
[8:49] you hit them and overheat them instead
[8:51] of your fire alarms nothing ever seems
[8:54] to be enough because the sous vide meat
[8:57] tends to use out juice no matter how
[8:59] much you dry it but there is a solution
[9:02] to this life's persistent problem and
[9:04] that is cooling limit when the meat
[9:08] comes out of the water bath it's at a
[9:10] perfect temperature so every minute you
[9:12] spend in the hot skillet you are ruining
[9:14] that sous-vide perfection but
[9:17] unfortunately one minute per side is not
[9:19] quite enough to brown meat that keeps
[9:21] using but all you have to do is get your
[9:24] steak or pork chop out of the bag dry it
[9:27] with a couple of layers of paper towels
[9:29] and put it in the fridge for about 10
[9:31] minutes if you meet this thick enough
[9:33] stand it up so that both sides dry
[9:36] evenly cooling the outside of you meat
[9:38] will allow you to keep it in the skillet
[9:41] for roughly two minutes per side instead
[9:44] of one resulting in a much better crust
[9:46] you can speed up the cooling process by
[9:49] putting your bag of meat into an ice
[9:52] water bath for about two minutes the
[9:54] water bath will not give you as dry over
[9:57] surfaces the fridge but on a weekday
[9:59] night when every minute counts that
[10:01] might be fine with skin on chicken and
[10:03] duck I take the cooling a step further
[10:05] and cool them completely before I sear
[10:08] them you see to get really crispy skin
[10:11] takes time and even two minutes aren't
[10:13] enough you probably will need about 7 to
[10:16] 10 minutes and if you start with warm
[10:19] chicken or duck you will either get
[10:21] great meat or great skin but not both
[10:24] but chill them completely and you'll get
[10:27] beautifully crispy skin while the meat
[10:30] warms up gently the reason that meat is
[10:32] not going to suffer another cook is
[10:34] because most
[10:35] of the time at least 95% is spent on the
[10:38] skin and the skin is an insulator
[10:40] protecting you meat from overcooking I
[10:44] realized that waiting for more than an
[10:47] hour for your dinner on a weekday night
[10:49] might not work for everyone so here are
[10:51] some tips to avoid that choose steaks
[10:54] pork chops chicken breasts duck breasts
[10:57] that I add most one and a half inches
[11:00] thick
[11:00] cook them sous-vide for an hour over the
[11:02] weekend when you're ready to cook during
[11:05] the week put them back into immersion
[11:07] circulator for 30 minutes how come the
[11:10] second time around the shorter that's
[11:12] because there are two reasons that we
[11:14] hit omit the first reason is to change
[11:16] its texture and the second reason is to
[11:19] make it Pleasant warm temperature for
[11:21] eating now the texture you'll take care
[11:23] of that over the weekend when you
[11:24] sous-vide it for a full hour so that's
[11:26] done and making it pleasantly warm for
[11:28] eating is not nearly as precise in
[11:31] particular as the texture so if you meet
[11:33] reached only 115 instead of 130 it won't
[11:36] be noticeable chicken and duck breasts
[11:39] are excellent choices for with the meals
[11:41] since you cook them sous-vide in advance
[11:43] anyway
[11:44] they go straight from the fridge into
[11:47] the skillet
[11:47] so we're basically talking dinner in 10
[11:50] minutes shrimp and fish cookin only 20
[11:53] minutes I don't recommend that you par
[11:56] cook them over the weekend because that
[11:58] will ruin their texture it's best to
[12:00] cook all the seafood only once but what
[12:03] you could do to speed things up is
[12:05] season them and bag them over the
[12:08] weekend so that when you come home on a
[12:10] weekday you can just grab the bag and
[12:11] plop it into your immersion circulator a
[12:14] reverse sear method is very similar to
[12:16] sous-vide but instead of using a
[12:19] temperature controlled water bath it
[12:20] uses the oven I have covered this method
[12:23] and great detail on my channels if
[12:25] you're not familiar with it check out
[12:27] the link below this video both sous-vide
[12:29] and reverse sear have their advantages
[12:32] and disadvantages sous-vide method is
[12:35] much more flexible if you got caught up
[12:38] doing homework with your kids your
[12:39] guests an hour late your side dishes and
[12:42] done no worries just keep your meat in
[12:45] your water bath until you're ready
[12:48] sous-vide method is also less
[12:50] error-prone it does not require you to
[12:52] insert the thermometer perfectly and
[12:54] find the center of you meat to figure
[12:56] out what is the minimum temperature and
[12:58] say one of your steaks is a little bit
[13:00] bigger than another if you're cooking
[13:02] six takes that could be a nightmare
[13:04] using the normal methods you have to
[13:06] figure out when each steak is done
[13:08] versus what Soviet if one steak is an
[13:11] inch and another is an inch and a
[13:12] quarter no problem you can cook them all
[13:14] together and sear them all together the
[13:17] downside of the Soviet method is that it
[13:20] takes longer and requires special
[13:22] equipment if you watch my reverse video
[13:25] which is from about a year ago you'll
[13:27] probably notice me complaining about
[13:29] this year after sous-vide being that
[13:32] nearly as good as after reverse sear but
[13:35] I have found a solution to this problem
[13:38] since then so it's no longer an issue in
[13:41] the next few weeks we'll apply all this
[13:43] theory to chicken duck pork chops shrimp
[13:47] and fish so stay tuned don't forget to
[13:51] subscribe hit that little Bell button
[13:53] for notifications and if you're ever in
[13:55] the Boston area maybe I'll see you in
[13:57] one of my classes
[13:59] [Music]