What to Sous Vide Beyond Meat? | The Tool Shed

What to Sous Vide Beyond Meat?

10 Surprising Things You Can Cook Sous Vide (Some Even While You Sleep)

Anyone who has heard of the sous vide cooking technique will likely first think of it as a method for perfectly cooking proteins: tender steaks, moist chicken, delicate fish and seafood, or 48-hour short ribs. Yum. While these are all very good things to cook sous vide, there is a wealth of other things you can prepare using the technique, that will make your SousVide Supreme^® cooker one of the most versatile tools in your kitchen!

Why sous vide? Because it will intensify the flavours, preserve the nutritional quality, and make the process so fool-proof and hands-free that you can even do it while you sleep! As The New York Times said, “Once you sous vide, you never go back!”

1. Infused Alcohols and Syrups

Why sous vide?

Sous vide intensifies the natural flavours and the gentle heat speeds up the process. Creating your own flavour-infused liquors or syrups for retro cocktails has never been easier or faster. Make your own Limoncello in hours rather than weeks or months! No need to buy flavoured syrups or fruity drinks. Simply create your own flavour combinations and mix into ice tea, lemonade or club soda for non-alcoholic beverages with a bright fresh gourmet twist!

2. Ricotta Cheese, Yogurt and Crème Fraîche
Why sous vide?

The precision temperature control of a non-stirred sous vide water bath makes cheese- and yogurt-making effortless.

3. Condiments, Sauces, Fruits Coulis, Compotes

Why sous vide?

Sous vide intensifies natural flavours and allows you to use your imagination to develop your own condiments. No worries about MSG, or other preservatives found in commercially prepared store bought products. You control what you put into your sauces and it is hands-free effortless. Mustard, Salsa, Chutney and more – the possibilities are endless! Make Hollandaise without risk of curdling or separating. Turn fresh fruits into delicious fruits coulis and compotes that are vibrant in colour.

4. Stock for Soups and Sauces

Why sous vide?

Make your own beef, chicken, vegetable, or seafood stock right in the water bath. No pouch required. You will need to use a non-stirred, self-contained water oven, not an immersion circulator for this purpose.

5. Cheesecake, Bread Pudding, Steamed Pudding, Pot de Crème, or Crème Brûlée

Why sous vide?

An unstirred sous vide bath is a perfect bain marie for cooking those oven recipes requiring a water cushion and constant low temperatures. Eliminates the challenge (and danger) of sloshing hot water onto the floor when filling and removing a pan from a traditional oven.

6. The Perfect Egg

Why sous vide?

Eggs come in nature’s own “cooking pouch” – the egg shell itself! Simply place the whole eggs in the water bath to cook and you will be treated to perfectly soft poached eggs, exactly the way you like them! Cook 1 or many eggs at once and keep them perfectly soft-cooked until serving. Easy for making hard-cooked eggs, too.

7. Custards, Lemon Curd, Dulce de Leche, Zabaglione, and Ice Cream Base

Why sous vide?

It can be better than a double boiler. No constant stirring and attention or worries about curdling or burning on a stovetop. You will never cook custard any other way, once you try cooking it sous vide

8. Overnight Oatmeal

Why sous vide?

Love a bowl of hot oatmeal for breakfast, but no time to cook it on the stove in the morning? Simply drop it in the night beforehand and it will cook overnight and be ready to eat in the morning. Easier than stovetop and no clean up!

9. Pickled Vegetables

Why sous vide?

It’s as easy as stovetop and no lingering vinegar odours in the kitchen. Quickly pickle green beans or asparagus for killer Bloody Marys. Pickle carrots, cauliflower, or courgette for instant antipasti trays.

10. Infused Vinegars and Oils

Why sous vide?

The gentle precise cooking temperatures speed up the flavour transfer of fresh herbs and berries to make gourmet vinegar without permeating the kitchen with strong vinegar odours. Use your favourite dried spices and seasonings to create flavourful oils for cooking or salads

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...

...