Ana, Ben and Bella Hopkins: Cooking Sous Vide- how to cook french food in a beer cooler

Ben and I REALLY love cooking. A lot. We also REALLY love eating. A lot. Don't be like us.

We also like watching cooking shows. Top Chef, Top Chef Masters, Chopped, Iron Chef, Cook like an Iron Chef, etc etc etc. AND we love buying all sorts of cooking tools, gadgets and kitchen paraphernalia in general. I'm telling you. Don't be like us.

So, when Ben found out that there was a french technique that most chefs were using and that required the use of some sort of cool gadget to turn even tough cuts of beef into soft chunks of deliciousness, he was ALL. OVER it.

Sous vide(pronounced /suːˈviːd/) is French for under vacuum. It is basically cooking food in airtight plastic bags in a low temperature water bath for long periods of time. The temperature needs to be precise and constant. A typical cooking temperature would be 60C or 140F.

The objective of cooking sous vide is to maintain the integrity of the ingredients and enhance the flavor. It helps keep food moist, make meat tender and it is a very healthy way of cooking since it doesn't require fat.

Because we are gadget oriented geeks, we recently purchased our very own Sous Vide Supreme Demi.

It is a very simple (yet very cool) contraption that is basically a water oven. What it does is heat the water and keep it at a very consistent temperature through the whole cooking process. It also features a timer which, for the most part, is not necessary, because when you are cooking sous vide, there is a minimum cooking time, but you can leave the food in the water bath for much longer than that without altering the doneness at all.

We also bought a vacuum sealer and the plastic bags to go with it, but it broke down after a couple weeks (and a scrambled egg experiment),so while we are waiting for it to be replaced we have been using these handheld little guys or even just regular Ziploc bags.

We have been getting AMAZING results! The steak is always so tender, juicy and the flavor of the seasonings seems to be enhanced. We have also made salmon, chicken, broccoli and poached eggs and they all turned out great. It does take some time to cook (steak is usually about 1 hour) but it's totally worth it.

The problem is that buying a Sous Vide Supreme and the vacuum sealer is not cheap. We got ours at Bed, Bath and Beyond with the 20% off coupon and the vacuum sealer on Woot, so it came to about $300. It's definitely worth buying if you are going to be doing this often (and we plan to), but it is very pricey especially if you are not sure you are going to like the results.

The great news is that you don't need a Sous Vide Supreme to cook sous vide at home. All you need is a beer cooler! You heard me right. You can try your hand at this amazing french technique using nothing more that a Ziploc bag, a beer cooler and a thermometer.

Here is how you do it:

1- Place your steak (or rack of lamb, or salmon, fish, chicken) in the bag with salt, pepper and any other seasonings you'd like to add. You don't need any fat, but if you decide that you do want to add some, go for a little bit of butter. If you have a vacuum sealer it is much better and it is the right way to do it, but it you don't, a Ziploc bag will do.

2- Place a BIG pot of water on the stove and heat it till it boils.Place the boiling hot water in a beer cooler ( 2 or 3 degrees hotter than you need). Keep water boiling on the stove. For medium rare steak you need the water to be at 131F.

3- Check the temperature of the water with a thermometer. If you are using a vacuum sealed bag, just pop it in the cooler. If you are using a Ziploc bag, seal most of it (leave a tiny bit open) and submerge most of the bag in the water. The air that is in the bag will slowly come out of the bag and then you can seal it completely. You might need to place a glass, bowl or some other object in the cooler to keep the bag completely under water.

4- Keep checking the temperature of the water with the thermometer and add boiling water to the cooler if the temperature drops.

5- For steak, let it cook for at least 1 hour. You can let it go longer and it won't alter the doneness.

6- After at least 1 hour, heat up a skillet over high heat. When it is hot, add 1 tsp of butter and sear the steak for about 45 seconds on each side. Let the meat rest for about 5 minutes (this is very important!) and serve!

Here is a table of different cooking times and temperatures:

The steak temperature guide is really long so here is the link where you can find it:

http://www.cookingsousvide.com/info/sous-vide-guides/more/sous-vide-steak-guide#times

Because Saint Patrick's Day is right around the corner, here is a recipe for Corned Beef and Cabbage Sous Vide: (You do need a Sous Vide water oven for this recipe because a cooler will not hold the temperature for that much time)

Sous Vide Corned Beef and Cabbage

Time: 24 to 48 Hours
Temperature: 135°F / 57°C
Serves: 4

3-4 pounds of corned beef
1 head of cabbage, cut into ½" wide strips
6 slices of bacon, cut into ¼" strips
1-2 cups fresh chicken stock
¼ cup white wine vinegar

Corned beef cooked with sous vide results in meat with a great texture. It is also much juicier and more flavorful than many corned beefs.

In this recipe we call for it to be cooked at 135°F which was the temperature we liked best. However, our test with the corned beef cooked at 146°F was also very good. It was drier than the 135°F meat but a bit more tender. Either temperature will result in fantastic corned beef.

Pre Sous Vide Bath

Preheat your sous vide water bath to 135°F / 57°C.

Seal the corned beef in a sous vide pouch and place the pouch into your water bath. Let it cook for 24 to 48 hours.

Finishing After Sous Vide

About 45 minutes before you are ready to eat begin to prepare the cabbage.

Cook the bacon strips over medium heat until crisp and the fat is rendered. Pour out all but 1-2 tablespoons of the bacon fat.

Add the cabbage strips to the bacon pan and cook over medium-high heat for about 5 minutes. Add 1 cup of the chicken stock and the ¼ cup of vinegar to the pan. Let the cabbage cook in the liquid until tender, adding more chicken stock if it begins to dry out.

When the cabbage starts to become tender, remove the corned beef from the water bath and the sous vide pouch. Slice the corned beef into ½" - ¾" slices.

Serve the corned beef on a plate with the cabbage piled on top of it. This is also wonderful when served with roasted potatoes, fresh bread, or a light salad.

This recipe and many others can be found in this book:

We got it and it's great if you want to learn the basics of this great technique.