Do You Sous Vide?

While checking out the food blogs this morning, I saw this wonderful little video on the Chow.com The “sous vide” style low boil described in the video is a simplistic, yet effective variation on the much more precise method used by some professional chefs. (I tried it  and the eggs poached that way-but for a little less time- are really excellent!)

Sous vide literally means under pressure vacuum (thanks to Addélice’s comment) and refers to a cooking technique in which the chef seals food into an airtight plastic bag with a vacuum-packer (like a food saver or Seal-A-Meal) and then simmers it in water at a low and precise temperature.

The sous vide cooking method is memorialized in the book Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide by Thomas Keller, famed chef-proprietor of  Per Se in the Time Warner building in Manhattan’s Columbus Circle and The French Laundry in Yountville, California, in the Napa Valley. The book includes commercial preparation of receipts like Compressed Watermelon and Hayden Mango “Yolk”;  Salad of Heirloom Beets, Anjou Pear, Mache with Candied Walnuts and Blue Goat Cheese Coulis;   Air-cured Waygu, Treviso Leaves, Compressed Asian Pear and Whipped Pine Nut Oil.

The secret to sous vide is discovering the exact temperature required to achieve the most sublime results. My wife and I discovered these sublime results when we celebrated our anniversary last august at Per Se.