5 Common Sous Vide Myths Debunked | The Tool Shed

5 Common Sous Vide Myths Debunked

With sous vide gaining in popularity with pro chefs and home cooks alike, many people who are new to the concept have a lot of questions on their minds.

Sous vide is a cooking technique which involves slow cooking your food in a water bath at a precise temperature, allowing you to cook your meals to perfection time and time again.

However, if you have your reservations, this guide is for you as we’re debunking five of the most common sous vide myths.

It’s boil in the bag

This first myth is so daft that it can be debunked in a single sentence: Sous vide food is cooked consistently at a low temperature, so it should never reach boiling point.

Cooking food in a plastic bag means that you’ll be ingesting dangerous chemicals

Some plastics do contain nasty chemicals, but not the type of plastic used in sous vide cooking.

We can see why people are concerned about cooking their food in plastic bags but, in reality, there’s nothing to worry about at all.

Sous vide vacuum bags are designed with this concern in mind: all pouches designed for sous vide cooking are free of BPA, phthalates, and other harmful plasticisers, in accordance with EU Directive 2002/72/EC.

It would be different if you were cooking your food in standard plastic bags but, if you’re cooking sous vide properly, you won’t encounter any problems, as you’ll be sticking to bags made from nylon and polyethylene glycol.

Sous vide is only for cooking meat

Yes, the sous vide technique is great for cooking perfect meat every time, but it’s not just for meat. You can cook full meals with the sous vide technique or just cook elements of meals this way, but there’s absolutely no rule that sous vide is only for meat – sous vide eggs are a dream!

If you’re looking for some inspiration, our recipe page can show you how to cook fruit, vegetables, and sides the sous vide way, too.

Sous vide cooking dulls creativity

With home cooking, the sous vide technique actually allows you to be more creative if you want to be! With sous vide, you will have more space in your kitchen to work with, less mess to clean up, and you’ll be able to experiment with more flavours in a smaller space. The reality is, sous vide cooking can only subdue your creativity if you want it to.

Sous vide cooking is only good for people who have loads of time on their hands

It’s true that sous vide involves slow cooking food, but that doesn’t mean that you’re going to be waiting for your lunch to cook for three days.

You can cook so many sous vide dishes in under an hour, such as most sides and, in most cases, chicken, steak, and fish. With this technique, you don’t have to keep opening the oven to see if your food is cooked properly and you can leave your water bath mostly unattended, so it actually can leave you with more time to relax or prepare the rest of your meal.

It also leaves less room for things to go wrong, so instead of worrying or having to start again from scratch, you can be safe in the knowledge that your food is going to be cooked just the way you like it.

If you want to give sous vide cooking a go, take a look at our online store where you can find the latest equipment that will have you cooking perfect food in no time at all.

Post by Chris Holland

Our Chef Director Chris Holland worked as Head Chef at the prestigious Alderley Edge hotel before joining us. He has a passion for using the best produce and never compromises on quality. Author of our best selling book Sous Vide The Art of Precision Cooking, Chris is a expert on the sous vide technique.During the later part of my school days at Wardle High School Rochdale I always wanted to be a chef . I knew from the very start that my path to work was never going to be academic it was always going to be something practical and hands on.

As a young boy growing up I was inspired to cook with my Grandma who was and still is an inspiration to me . I have memories of helping make the cakes that she always had made for visitors and family alike . She made the most amazing cakes and I loved nothing more than eating the sweet raw cake batter straight from the bowl . We used to fight over who got to lick the bowl/spoon after the cakes were made. My grandma’s philosophy for cooking even on a shoe string budget was always to use fresh and seasonal ingredients either home grown or bought from the market.

School was somewhat of a drag for me as I was itching to learn to become a chef.

I started at Hopwood Hall college as a chef and instantly fell in love with it .To me it was the only real time I excelled in something and this inspired me to really get my head down and put in the hard work. College was the first time I really excelled in something and gave me the opportunity to laugh at the teachers who said I would never make something of my life!!!!

During the three years at college I also took on a part time position in a local hotel working the bar and restaurant first and then the kitchen. These were great days and gave me the opportunity to see how the industry ticks. I learnt a lot from those days both good and bad !! But I have to say I was itching to work only in the kitchen but it was a good insight into the catering world .

After completing college I moved away from Rochdale for a full time roll at one of Cheshire’s most talked about Hotel restaurants The Stanneylands Hotel. This was the school of hard knocks for me as I quickly realised that although excelling at college meant nothing in “The Real World”.

I loved every minute of the 18 hour days 6 days a week on minimum wage . Although difficult I feel that without this grounding I wouldn’t have achieved what I have today. After 18 months of hard graft I left Stanneylands and went with the Head chef to open a fine dining restaurant at Mere Golf and Country Club. The opportunity to work alongside Matthew Barrett was too good to turn down. I learnt so much from the ex-Ritz chef and working in a much slower paced role helped me develop a much better understanding of how to organise and run a kitchen. We were a very small team and teamwork was and still is the only way to go for me.

After 2 years at Mere I got the opportunity to go into The Alderley Edge Hotel as Junior Souschef. The Early days at the Edge were all about learning new styles of cuising which is invaluable in any role as a chef. I got the opportunity to grow and learn all aspects of every section which was inspiring . I was offered the opportunity at the age of 29 (2004) to take the role of head chef. For me this was when I really started to develop my own style of food.

After 9 years at the top winning Cheshire restaurant of the year , Chef of the Year and appearing on GBM amongst many highlights including cooking for many celebrities and famous people I decided to move on into development with Sousvidetools.

The main inspiration for this was to train and educate people . I always had a great passion for education but could never really see myself at a college . The job is super rewarding and I am proud to say we have become the leading light in sous-vide education in the UK . This is something I am very proud of . Food is my biggest passion and this is what keeps me interested the most . I love to travel and try out other countries cuisines. I am constantly inspired by ingredients and the pursuit of getting the best out of them without destroying their natural flavour .It is super important to me to continue to try and be at the forefront of the food scene this is what inspire me and the team to keep driving forward .

Technology is now widely used in the industry and I am super proud to say we have been a big part of spreading that message.

I am very lucky to be in the position I am and the drive to constantly improve our training and links to the next generation of young budding hospitality chefs.

TI feel that my experience over the last 25 years really enables me to get close and educate the “next generation” of chefs .

The industry which I love is really struggling to bring through new recruits and if I can help that process I will be immensely proud.

The food seen in the Uk has improved dramatically over the last ten years and I feel this will continue with the correct education. What happens next only fate will tell us...

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