Sous Vide Cook A Three Course Meal | Sous Vide Tools

Traditional vs Sous Vide: Cook a Three Course Meal Without the Stress

Want to impress your friends, family or other half with a gourmet meal? Well, now you can without leaving your home.

For years, chefs have been using the sous vide method of cooking, and now that this has become more accessible and affordable for the home chef, it’s easier than ever for you to create a restaurant standard three course meal at home.

With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, we wanted to show you how sous vide can eliminate the stress of traditional methods.

Traditional Methods

If you choose to create a three course meal using traditional methods, you will have to implement several steps that have the potential to ruin your evening, including:

1. Time Schedule

Trying to guarantee that each element of the starter, main and dessert is cooked to perfection and plated on time can be difficult when you have to focus on several different instruments, such as the oven and hob.

This is why, when using traditional methods, you will need to create and stick to a time schedule which outlines when and what you need to prepare and cook.

2. Preparation

Perfecting each element is a task for any chef which is why many choose to prepare vegetables, sauces and other sides in advance to prevent stress when serving. Although a great time saver, this won’t deliver the best results in terms of flavour and texture.

3. Hob Hovering

There is nothing more stressful and unromantic than hovering over a hob whilst your date waits in the next room.

However, as there is a fine line between disaster and perfection, especially when it comes to meat and fish, leaving the meal is sometimes a must.

A Stress Free Solution

By using sous vide methods, you can replace a time schedule, extensive amounts of preparation and hob hovering with three simple, stress free steps:

Season and vacuum seal the ingredients
Place in a water bath and set the timer
Serve and enjoy

Instead of focussing on several different cooking times, you can rely on your sous vide machine to regulate the food’s temperature and deliver quality results. All you have to do is set the timer in line with the recommended cooking times and concentrate on the romance of the evening as your water oven does all the work.

As well as being extremely convenient, this style of cooking is fool proof; making it the ideal solution for every romantic on Valentine’s Day.

Recipe Suggestions

To impress your date this Valentine’s Day, you will need to deliver delicious food. Here are some of our favourite recipes, ideal for the occasion:

To ensure you can both enjoy all three courses, make sure portion sizes are respective of the course. Salmon is the perfect way to start a meal and can be used in several delicious yet light recipes. Turn Sous Vide Copper River Salmon into dainty blinis, a delicate risotto or salad.
Now you don’t have to worry about timings, you don’t have to stress about whether you are going to ruin a fillet steak, duck breast or lamb rump steak. Put one of these on your menu and instantly impress with your cooking ability.
Deliver the perfect end to a wonderful night with a dessert classic – Crème Brûlée. You and your date will both enjoy cracking through the golden caramelised top into a rich and creamy centre. To really impress, infuse the dessert with delicate spices and flavours, like our Masala Chai Crème Brûlée.

Want some more recipe inspiration? Check out all of our recipes.

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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