Sous Vide Cooking

cooking · precision · French technique · food science

Water bath cooking. Sous vide means 'under vacuum' in French. Food gets sealed in a pouch or jar, then sits in water heated to an exact temperature, often for hours. This gentle heat cooks food evenly all the way through without drying it out.

Precise temperature control. The water temperature stays exactly the same the whole time, which means you can't overcook your food. A steak cooked at 129 degrees Fahrenheit will be perfectly pink no matter if it cooks for two hours or three.

Invented by a chef. French chef Georges Pralus came up with this method in 1974, and it started as a way for fancy restaurants to cook meat perfectly every single time. Today, home cooks use it too with special machines called immersion circulators.

Super tender results. Because the food cooks slowly in its own juices, it stays incredibly moist and tender. Tough cuts of meat that usually need long stewing can become amazingly tender with sous vide.

Longer cooking times. Sous vide takes patience. While normal cooking might take 30 minutes, sous vide can take 1 to 4 hours. But the payoff is food that's cooked exactly how you want it.