Beef sous vide cooking time. Culinary corner. Why Sous Vide

Sous vide roast beef is, in my opinion, the optimal recipe to try if you like sous vide beef. The meat turns out very, very tender, more tender than regular roast beef. There is no risk of drying out at all. Roast beef can be made either pink or bloody; I will show both options per piece measuring about a kilogram.

How to cook sous vide beef if you've never come across this term before and are afraid that it's something only for crazy TV stars hosting cooking shows with all sorts of outlandish dishes?

In general, everything is not so scary, sophisticated and high-tech, if you don’t strive to do everything, everything, everything in the classic version. Because, in theory, sous vide is simply a method of heat treatment for many hours at relatively low (below the boiling point of water) temperatures of food products, previously placed in a container that insulates them from water. In the classic version, it is a plastic bag glued together with a vacuum sealer. Well, in non-classical - everything is much simpler, and various other packages are used, and .

I will have a microwaveable "vacuum seal" bag. Why is it still advisable to take bags for the microwave (well, if you don’t have a vacuumizer and special bags for it)? Because they're made from a material that allows food to be processed at high temperatures without you swallowing any of the chemical crap that comes out of the plastic bag if it's not rated for high temperatures. If you don't have microwaveable bags - well, you can try to find a glass jar that's the right size. The catch is that to cook the beef sous vide, it must be in a container that squeezes it as tightly as possible, without the pocket of air that will likely be in the can.

If you come across a fatty piece, like I did, then, unfortunately, the fat will definitely have to be removed. When cooked using the sous vide technique, it does not turn out very tasty. In general, no more fat. The joint capsule can be left if it is not very thick.

Brush the meat with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste, just like regular roast beef.

We place the meat in a bag, and place the bag in a container of water so that its neck sticks out above the water. We expel the air from the bag as thoroughly as possible, and then seal the vacuum seal (while it is under water).

God protects those who are careful - we wrap the bag with cling film many times.

Set the oven to preheat to 60-80 degrees (60 for bloody roast beef, 80 for pink roast).

Place the bag of meat in a pan of water so that the meat floats there. Since it tends to float up, it is advisable to place a pebble on top of it, which will prevent it from rising to the top, but also not push it completely to the bottom. Well, or a plate with a diameter smaller than the pan. The meat should be surrounded on all sides by water.

Place the pan in the oven and keep it there for 2.5-3.5 hours. If you need more cooked meat, keep it longer, the logic is simple.

We take the meat out of the pan and out of the bag, fry it on all sides in a pre-hot frying pan in oil with salt and pepper until the degree of browning is desired for you.

The meat can be eaten hot, but we prefer sous vide beef cold. I cool it first in foil at room temperature. After the meat reaches room temperature, it makes sense to drain the liquid and place it in the refrigerator for a few more hours (ideally overnight).

Here is a sous vide roast beef that was cooked at 60 C for 2.5 hours. Lightly fried.

Here is sous vide beef that was cooked at 80 C for 3.5 hours. It was fried heavily.

If this is your first time hearing the term “sous vide,” I envy you a little - after all, you have yet to become acquainted with this cooking technology, which will change all your ideas about tasty and healthy food. The victorious march of sous-vide technology (translated from French as “in a vacuum”) began with the food industry and restaurants, but now sous-vide has become available to even the most ordinary housewives. In order to get the most out of sous vide, you need special equipment, but some recipes can be made using only what you already have in your kitchen.

This article is a comprehensive guide to everything related to sous vide, written in human language.

The essence of sous vide technology

Let's start with the basics. The essence of the method is very simple: the products are sealed in a special plastic bag, from which the air is pumped out, and then cooked in water at a constant temperature, which usually does not exceed 70 degrees (in the case of vegetables, this limit is slightly higher). As a result, several goals are achieved at once:

• If, when frying or baking meat, its surface is exposed to temperatures several times higher than the cooking temperature, sous-vide technology cooks dishes delicately, and the temperature in the middle and on the surface of the finished product will be the same, nothing will dry out or burn;
• Thanks to low-temperature processing, cell membranes remain intact, so dishes turn out much juicier;
• Vacuum packaging preserves all the tastes and aromas inside the product, and promotes better penetration of spices and marinades into the product;
• The correct selection of cooking time and temperature softens the food, and in tough pieces of meat, which are usually boiled or stewed, muscle collagen is converted into gelatin: any cut, even the cheapest, can be cooked so that it has a divine taste and texture.
• Vegetables that undergo this method, on the other hand, retain a fresh, crisp texture that is almost impossible to achieve with conventional cooking.

Disadvantages of the sous vide method

If we briefly summarize all of the above, we get the perfect taste, perfect aroma and perfect texture of the finished dish. It's a dream, not a method, isn't it? However, sous-vide technology also has disadvantages. I will list them, fortunately there are not so many of these shortcomings:

• The Maillard reaction, which is responsible for the golden brown crust of finished dishes, starts at a temperature of about 154 degrees - much higher than necessary for preparing any dishes using the sous vide method. This means that to give the finished dish an appetizing appearance, it will have to be fried either before or after cooking using this method.
• If cooking using sous vide technology occurs at a temperature below 52 degrees and takes more than 4 hours, there is a risk of proliferation of botulism pathogens, which feel very comfortable in these conditions. To avoid this danger, select a higher temperature for foods that take more than 4 hours to cook.
• Finally, the practical implementation of sous-vide in the form that is used in restaurants, allowing to achieve the best results, requires the presence of special devices: a vacuum sealer to pack food in vacuum bags, and a device that will maintain a constant temperature and control it with precision fractions of a degree. Next I will talk about how you can try to do without them.

Sous vide in questions and answers

In this section, I have collected all the main questions that may arise when mastering the sous vide method. Click on the question you are interested in to reveal the answer, and if you haven’t found your question, write in the comments and I will add it to the article.

Sous vide for beginners

Although sous-vide is translated as “in a vacuum,” vacuum is not the main thing in this method, and it is quite possible to do without a vacuum sealer. There are two available replacements for this device.

First, cling film. Wrap the meat or fish as tightly as possible with cling film on all sides in several layers so that there are no cracks where water can penetrate or air bubbles that will interfere with the transfer of heat to the products. If bubbles do appear, pierce the film, squeeze out the air, and then wrap your package in a couple more layers.

Secondly, plastic bags with a zip-lock fastener, like a regular zipper on a jacket or jeans. These bags are the most convenient alternative to a vacuum sealer. Place the food in the bag, and lower the bag into a large container of water so that only the top of the bag with the zipper remains above the water: the water in the container will squeeze the air out of the bag if you help it slightly with your hands, after which you can simply close the zipper.

These methods are great for sous vide cooking, but since it is not a true vacuum, it is not recommended to store cooked food for long.

There are quite a lot of recipes for preparing dishes using the sous vide method, but if you do not speak English and are accustomed to using recipes from the Russian-language segment of the Internet, I have bad news for you: this topic is almost not covered in RuNet. From Russian-language sources, I can humbly recommend my website (follow the link you will find a catalog with all recipes for sous vide) and my e-book of recipes for sous vide, which can be downloaded for free on the Books page.

Questions about using a vacuum cleaner

Questions about cooking sous vide

Security Issues

Sous vide at home

The simplest home vacuumizer costs less than a blender, but at first you can do without it. The main beauty of a vacuum-packed product is that it can be cooked and thrown in the refrigerator, quickly reheating and serving when needed - a feature that is useful both in a restaurant and at home, but generally not necessary. Instead of a vacuum sealer, you can get by with cling film or a plastic bag with a ziplock - I described in detail how to do this in the previous section. Well, if you are cooking in liquid (sauce, juice, syrup, broth, etc.), an ordinary food bag will do: fold the food, fill it with liquid and tie the bag so that there is no air in it.

Now let's deal with water.

The main news: the water temperature will have to be measured and constantly monitored, so you won’t be able to do without a thermometer: I myself used a meat thermometer, although there are more suitable devices. However, it’s not all that complicated: in home sous vide devices, an error of one degree is quite acceptable, and with short cooking (it’s still better to start with those dishes that will take no more than half an hour to prepare), the difference will not be very noticeable and a few degrees.

Over the years that I have been writing about sous vide, I have communicated a lot with craftsmen who offered their own methods of temperature control of varying degrees of sophistication - from cooking dishes in the dishwasher (!) to using a multicooker paired with a thermostat. A multicooker is indeed one of the most affordable ways to maintain the required temperature; fortunately, the latest models of multicookers allow you to set the desired temperature with an accuracy of a degree. Well, with those who do not have such a multicooker, I will share my own experience.

A short video on how to make a sous vide using a saucepan and stove

Absolutely any food is suitable for cooking in sous vide, but it is better to practice using fish or meat. Season the product and rub it on all sides with suitable spices, then pack it in cling film or a ziplock bag in the manner described in the previous section. Place in a pan with preheated water, if necessary pressing down with something on top so that your package does not float, and bring to readiness: for fish it is 12-15 minutes at a temperature of 60-70 degrees, for red meat - 20-30 minutes at temperature 55 degrees for medium rare, 60 degrees for medium. To maintain the water temperature at the desired level, place the pan on low heat with a divider or in the oven preheated to the desired temperature and check the temperature: often at first, then every 5-10 minutes. To quickly correct the situation, keep a kettle with boiling water and ice cubes on hand, and if you manage to find the right heating, consider that the problem is in the bag.

The cooking time should be selected depending on the thickness of the piece, and after cooking it is recommended to wipe the meat with a paper towel and quickly - no longer than 30 seconds - fry in hot oil to form an appetizing crust.

PS: For those wishing to dig a little deeper into sous-vide, I recommend checking out the extensive guide to this method. Of course, in English - we don’t have such sensible manuals yet.

Original: http://arborio.ru/texnologiya-sous-vide/#ixzz4FzZbcBrO
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The French method of cooking meat in vacuum packaging is the only method that allows you to achieve this level of tenderness, uniform degree of cooking and preservation of all the nutrients in the meat.

Sous vide steak is a steak of amazing and unique quality. The cooking technology makes it possible to achieve the same degree of readiness of the entire piece, regardless of its thickness. The finished, tender steak cuts like butter: when you peel the piece into slices with a knife, you will notice a uniform color, which will further pleasantly excite your taste buds in anticipation of this culinary masterpiece.

It is no coincidence that the best restaurants in Europe and America prepare steak using sous vide technology; the result is the best-tasting meat of your life. But you don’t have to go abroad; you can cook sous vide beef steak at home.

Cooking recipe:

1. You will need beef tenderloin. Take the tenderloin and cut it into steaks.
2. Vacuum packaging. After you add seasonings, salt and pepper, place the meat in a special bag, pump out the air with a vacuum sealer.
3. Heat treatment. Vacuum-packed meat must be placed in a water oven or container with a thermostat at a constant temperature of 54 to 68 degrees. Cooking time – from 45 minutes to 1.5 hours.
4. Sauce. There will be a small amount of broth left in the package with the meat, from which you can make a tasty and healthy sauce.
5. Crust. The steak is ready to eat after you take it out of the package, but if you like a golden crust, then pat the finished meat with a towel and fry on both sides in a frying pan. 1-2 minutes for each side will be enough.

Preparing the recipe takes 5 minutes to prepare, the rest of the time you just wait. The beauty of the technology is that the dish is cooked at exactly the specified temperature.

The temperature remains unchanged. Sous vide beef steak is always the most tender soft meat, even if the piece was initially tough.

Rare, medium or Well done.

The degree of readiness depends more on the temperature rather than the cooking time.

1. 54 C. The color of the meat is bright red with blood.
2. 58 C. The fat melts completely, enhancing the taste of the meat. The color of the steak is pinkish.
3. 68 C – The steak is ready, very juicy.

The best chefs in the world cook sous vide steaks at a temperature of 62C. At this temperature you will get pink, tender, juicy meat, just like in the best European restaurant.

Also, after heat treatment, you can store the meat in the refrigerator directly in the package. Sous vide steaks are stored for a long time without losing tenderness and taste. After a few days, you can take out the steaks, lightly fry them in a pan and serve.

Unique restaurant technology is also available at home. And most importantly: it is impossible to spoil, overcook, or dry out a steak when cooking sous vide.

photo from the site www.future-food.ru

Now I don’t remember where I first heard the word “sous vide,” but it was about a year ago, and at first I didn’t pay much attention to this phenomenon. But the position obliges me to be aware of the latest culinary trends, and I began to understand the issue. Understanding sous vide can take a very long time. Just look at the chapter on sous vide in Modernist Cuisine! But I suggest understanding the basic aspects of sous vide first.

New world

For me, my passion for cooking began with culinary LJ. I only came to sous vide today, and this is quite natural. After all, how does our culinary development occur? At first we just cook according to recipes. Some things work out, some don't. And then the understanding comes that the recipe is not a panacea. And technology is the key to success. Sous vide is the very technology that, with little effort, can give us the perfect result! What chef doesn’t dream of a steak that is perfectly done throughout the entire thickness of the piece? About an egg with the most delicate creamy yolk and an equally tender, not the least bit rubbery white? All this can be achieved with the help of sous vide, and all this is not difficult at all if you know a few simple rules.

What is sous vide?

The most important thing in sous vide is not the vacuum, as many people think, but precise control over the temperature and cooking time. Sous vide allows you to achieve results that are almost impossible with traditional cooking methods. An egg cooked sous vide at 65 degrees will be a revelation for you, as will a steak that is perfectly juicy throughout the entire thickness of the piece and at exactly the temperature you prefer. Heating of food in sous vide is absolutely uniform, and you do not need to overheat or underheat the product to get the desired result only in the middle of the piece. Sous vide is especially relevant for fish and meat, where the period of time during which you can get an ideal result is so short that it is easy to overheat them (overcook, overcook, etc.). For example, fish remains juicy and tender within a very narrow temperature range. Everyone has their own preferences, but it’s hard to disagree that the temperature of the frying pan is much higher than the ideal temperature of properly cooked fish or meat. Considering that the temperature of the frying pan reaches 200 degrees and above, the surface and edges of fish or meat will always fry much more than its middle. It is further complicated by the fact that food prepared using the traditional method continues to cook even after we have removed it from the heat and even from the frying pan. The surface of the fish is hotter than the center, and the heat from the surface begins to mostly penetrate into the center until the temperature throughout the thickness of the piece is almost equalized. That is, we need to not only have time to stop the heat treatment in time, but also calculate its strength in such a way as to take into account how many degrees the food will gain due to residual heat.

In contrast, sous vide is a very simple way to control temperature. All we need is to pack portions of the product into bags (not even necessarily vacuum bags) and send them to a water bath at a given temperature and time. Also, when you remove the food from the sous vide, it will not continue to cook since its surface and center temperatures are already in equilibrium.

Perfect control gives consistent results. Since there is minimal temperature fluctuation when cooking sous vide, the result is extremely predictable and always repeatable. No amount of skill and judgment of a chef who cooks with traditional heat sources will give such consistency.

Other benefits of sous vide

Juiciness

Since the product is packaged in a bag, the moisture remains in it without dissolving in the pot or pan. Additionally, the lower temperatures of sous vide cooking prevent the food from drying out. At temperatures above 60 degrees, collagen in cells shrinks and begins to push out moisture.

Tenderness

Sous vide allows you to cook tough cuts of meat at incredibly low temperatures. At the same time, the meat becomes tender while remaining perfectly cooked.

Texture

Sous vide opens up new textures for us. Products cooked in sous vide taste completely different. This is partly due to vacuum packaging, which can thicken some foods, such as watermelon. The lack of high temperatures provides a texture that traditional cooking methods will not provide. The meat or fish turns out very tender, juicy, and at the same time elastic.

Convenience

Some may consider the longer cooking time in sous vide to be a disadvantage of this method, but in fact, this is also the convenience of sous vide. Yes, sous vide often requires advance planning. But during this time you don’t need to do anything at all. Even if you leave the food in sous vide for a while, nothing will happen. The product temperature will not rise above the set temperature. In addition, it is very convenient to put food cooked in sous vide directly in a vacuum in the refrigerator or even freeze it, and use it when needed, just reheat it.

In general, sous vide cooking consists of several steps:

1. Season the product and seal it in a vacuum bag.
2. Place the packages with the product in water preheated to the desired temperature.
3. Wait for the right time.
4. Remove, quickly fry (optional) or chill in refrigerator until needed.

Safety

Sous vide is a completely safe way to cook food. You just need to know a few rules and understand the issue of pasteurization. But this post is not rubber, so we will discuss this separately.

Temperature and Time - 2 pillars of sous vide using steaks as an example

I will show you the results of sous vide cooking using steaks as an example. . And in future posts we will discuss sous vide cooking in more detail. Let's talk about safety, vacuum packaging (and its necessity), pasteurization and alternatives to sous vide.

What is the perfect steak? Of course, everyone may have a different idea. But in general, opinions agree that the meat should be soft and juicy. After reaching a certain temperature (60 degrees Celsius), the meat loses its juiciness and becomes dry. Already at 70 degrees the meat becomes completely dry. Not everyone likes their steaks medium rare, but medium rare steak is the most commonly preferred option. Medium steak in a restaurant varies between 55-60 degrees. And it’s unlikely that at least one chef guarantees you a result that is accurate to one degree. Only if the steak is not cooked sous vide.

So what do we need to know to cook steak? The right temperature! And the cooking time at this temperature.
For me, and for many people, the ideal medium is 55-57 degrees Celsius.
How long should I cook at this temperature?
We are concerned about two aspects - meat readiness and safety.
Since sous vide is just beginning to be heard in our country, and for our Internet sous vide is a village in the Vishgorod district of the Kyiv region in Ukraine, I am guided by the American safety tables recommended by the USDA (United States Department of Agriculture).

In general, food safety is a separate huge topic that I really want to touch on here. All I can say for now is that we are being intimidated much more than we are worth. But the USDA recommends keeping the meat at 55 degrees for 112 minutes, that is, almost 2 hours. During this time, all life-threatening bacteria are destroyed. I believe that one hour is enough for a good marbled steak weighing 250-300 grams. We will still fry the meat in a frying pan to give it the caramel crust that we value steaks so much for. The inside of the meat muscle is completely sterile, and bacteria usually live (if present) on the surface of the meat. In addition, during frying the meat will gain a few more degrees.

There is no point in giving sous vide cooking time tables here. It all depends on the type of product and its weight, shape and thickness. Anyone who purchases sous vide will definitely stock up on the necessary literature, in which they will find all the necessary tables and temporary recommendations. It is worth knowing that the larger and thicker the piece of food, the longer it will take to cook.

I cooked two steaks. One was fried in a frying pan to an internal temperature of 55-57 degrees, the other was cooked sous vide at 55 degrees and fried very quickly in a hot frying pan.
The result is as they say in the photo.

Steak fried in a frying pan - 55 degrees inside. and overcooked dry meat closer to the surface. If you don’t have sous vide, and don’t have any plans yet, read my next post. I'll tell you how to properly fry a steak.

Steak cooked sous vide before searing - a perfect 55 degrees throughout the cut

Sous vide steak, quickly fried in a frying pan

If anyone is interested, the steaks were marbled meat, grain-fed, Australia.

Flavor and texture

Considering that the meat was very good, both steaks were tasty. BUT, against the background of a sous vide steak, the dryness of the upper layers of a steak from a frying pan is felt many times more critical. The sous vide steak is incredibly tender and the consistency is perfect.

What types of units are there for sous vide?

Today you can increasingly hear the culinary term “sous vide”. What this is, however, not every housewife knows. And not every chef who is used to working “the old fashioned way” likes this word, since he is not familiar with it. Meanwhile, this technology is becoming more and more popular every day, since it allows you to cook food at low temperatures and at the same time preserve its structure. Thus, we receive environmentally friendly food in which all its vitamins and nutrients are preserved. At first, this method may be puzzling, but over time you will learn to appreciate all its delights and realize that sous vide is really great.

History of the method

Sous vide - what is it? This question is primarily asked by those who have never heard anything about this method of cooking before. Sous vide is a technology for low-temperature cooking of food in a vacuum. The method appeared in France - a country of gastronomic gourmets and restaurateurs who know a lot about food. The inventor of the technology is considered to be chef Georges Pralu, who worked at the French restaurant Troisgros. Using new vacuum technology, the chef prepared foie gras in 1974.

But Georges Pralu was not the only person thanks to whom sous vide technology appeared. At the same time, another person came up with it. And it all happened like this: initially this elite technology was not created for haute cuisine establishments. The owner of a restaurant, part of a chain of fast food establishments, wondered how to cook tough and inexpensive meat much tastier than competitors do. To solve this problem, the restaurateur asked for help from his friend Bruno Gousso, a biochemist by training. He asked his friend to come up with a cooking method so that the dry meat would become juicy and soft. At the same time, the aforementioned chef Georges Pralu was thinking about how to preserve invaluable fat while cooking foie gras. Thus, the same stunning idea simultaneously dawned on two strangers: both chefs thought of packing the product in a vacuum, immersing it in water at the required temperature and simmering there for a long time. Therefore, it is quite difficult to understand who was first. It doesn’t matter, the main thing is that a new and ingenious food preparation technology has emerged in the culinary world. And since then, the vacuum method has been successful in many places on the planet.

Brief description of the method

The Sous Vide method is associated with both cooking and storing food. The whole essence of the technology comes down to the following: a fresh product is packaged in a vacuum bag for cooking (if necessary, various spices are placed in it) using a special vacuum packaging apparatus. Then the bag is dipped into a tray of warm water and cooked at a certain temperature for a certain time. And then the “vacuum” product is put in. In the refrigerator chamber, such a product can be stored for a long time.

Before serving, meat dishes can be lightly fried on the grill or in a heated frying pan to enhance the aroma and create a golden crust. The sous vide cooking temperature is 50-70 degrees. Absolutely any products are suitable for this method, but this technology is best suited for preparing seafood and fish.

Benefits of technology

Sous vide technology is extremely popular these days. We have already told you what it is, now we will look at the advantages of this method. So, as a result of using vacuum cooking, the following goals are achieved:

1. During baking or frying, the surface of the meat is exposed to temperatures that are several times higher than the cooking temperature. The sous vide technology allows you to cook food gently, the temperature inside and on top of the finished product will be the same, nothing will burn or dry out.

2. Dishes will be more juicy, since low-temperature processing leaves cell membranes intact.

3. Vacuum packaging allows you to preserve all its smells and tastes in the middle of the product. It also promotes better penetration of marinades and spices into the product.

4. Correct selection of temperature and cooking time makes the food softer. In tough cuts of meat that are stewed or boiled, muscle collagen is converted into gelatin. As a result, even the cheapest cut can be prepared in such a way that it has a divine texture and taste.

5. Vegetables prepared in this way retain a crunchy and fresh texture, which is almost impossible to achieve with regular cooking.

What and how to cook

Cooking using the sous vide method can last from 20 minutes to half an hour. This time is necessary for preparing omelettes, foie gras, and small fish. But tough pieces of meat and pork ribs take a couple of days to cook. The time required to heat a portion of food to the desired temperature depends not on its total mass, but on its thickness. The density of the food determines the amount of time it takes for the food to warm up to the desired temperature. The softness of the food affects the cooking time.

Delicate and soft foods such as lamb chops, pork and veal fillets, foie gras and shellfish will be ready to eat as soon as they reach the correct temperature.

Flaw

Sous vide cooking has its downsides. If food is cooked for more than four hours at a temperature lower than 52 degrees, then there is a chance for the bacteria that causes botulism to grow. In such conditions, these pathogens feel as comfortable as possible. To avoid infection, you should choose higher temperatures for foods that take longer than four hours to cook.

Best before date

Many gourmets prefer products prepared using sous vide technology. They know firsthand what it is, since most modern restaurants specialize in such dishes. These delicacies are good not only for their taste, but also for their long shelf life (for most of these dishes it is at least five days, including the day of production and consumption). But some products can be stored much longer, however, only if these periods have been verified experimentally.

So, fish can be stored for four to six days, but beef and veal can be stored for as long as 25-30 days. For pork, this period is slightly shorter: from 15 to 18 days. Poultry can be stored for 10-18 days, and the shelf life of vegetables breaks all records. It is 45 days.