Ten Things You Didn’t Know You Could Cook Sous Vide

If you love sous vide as much as we do, you’ve probably already experienced the perfect sous vide steak or chicken dish and have spent weeks raving to friends, family, colleagues and anyone who will listen about how great it tasted. That, of course, we fully understand, however for the adventurous chef inside of you, why not try something a little different?

Those just getting to grips with sous vide will likely try steak, chicken and other meat recipes first, perhaps also cooking fish, but what next? What else can be cooked sous vide? Perhaps the question you should be asking is what can’t!

The possibilities are almost endless and you’ll be surprised at some of the stuff that can be cooked in your sous vide water bath, so read on and discover the true potential of sous vide.

Yoghurt

Yoghurt is great, especially as an alternative breakfast, snack or side for those who are trying to eat a little bit healthier.

But…have you ever considered making it yourself? It’s not as hard as you might think, and you can even do it sous vide!

It’s an incredibly easy process, and you can read more about how to make sous-vide yoghurt in this article from ChefSteps.

Making your own yoghurt can sometimes take hours or even days, but one of the great advantages of the sous vide approach is that by accurately setting the temperature to optimise the culture growth, you can easily cut down that time significantly.

Custard

One of the worst things about making custard is that ever-present danger of curdling, leaving you hovering around the stove constantly fretting that your custardy creation is going to be ruined.

Thankfully, making custard in a water bath removes this worry, and makes it much easier to create a light and smooth curdle-free custard without the constant stirring.

Why not check out our recipe for sous-vide crème brûlée to achieve the perfect and ultra modern custard dish?

Cocktails

If you fancy yourself as a bit of a mixologist, did you know sous vide can be used to infuse alcoholic cocktails?

Sous vide cocktails really lend themselves to experimentation and you can have a lot of fun mixing ingredients to make your own signature drinks.

The precise heat of the sous vide bath will speed up the infusion process, shortening it from days to hours.

We have a range of sous-vide cocktail recipes for you to try, or why not experiment and make up your own?

Burgers

This one might seem a little bit odd, and it kind of is. After all, it’s easy enough to cook a burger through traditional means, so why do it sous vide?

Well, burgers are really no different to steaks, and if you’ve seen the consistent level of juiciness sous vide can give your steak, why not do the same for your burgers?

Remember, however, that like steak they’ll need quickly finishing off just to add the crispy brown edge.

We have a delicious recipe for sous-vide chuck and marrow burgers here which makes the perfect treat!

Kale

The ultimate superfood of the last couple of years, it’s all about kale at the moment.

And you guessed it: it can be cooked using sous vide! It only takes ten minutes to prepare, and you’ll never have to worry about overdoing it.

We have a video on how to prepare this trendy superfood sous-vide here.

Barbecue

How can you have a barbecue without a barbecue? With sous vide of course! Like burgers, this one might seem a little strange, but as with all of our sous vide recipes, we recommend trying it before you knock it!

As you can see in this recipe for BBQ pork ribs from Serious Eats, it’s possible to make tasty, smoky meats, without the hassle and equipment of a proper barbecue!

It also means you don’t have to wait forever for a little sliver of sunlight to cart out the barbecue, all for the clouds to come out and ruin everything.

Chips

This recipe was made famous by one of the biggest supporters of sous-vide, Heston Blumenthal, and will completely change the way you think about chips!

The chips are ‘triple fried’, creating the perfect crispy outside and fluffy inside that is so difficult to nail.

An excellent accompaniment to your sous vide barbecue!

Mashed Potatoes

If you’re like us, then you’ll love your mashed potatoes creamy and rich, and there’s no better way to achieve this than cooking them sous vide with butter and milk!

All the ingredients are infused together in the bag, (including a bit of garlic and other herbs), creating the ultimate creamy potato/butter hybrid.

Desserts

It’s not just starters and mains that you can use your sous vide machine for! You can also make a whole range of desserts, and we have some great recipes for you to try.

It’s worth bearing in mind that because sous vide retains moisture, you won’t be able to cook any light and fluffy cakes, but it is great for richer, moister dishes.

It may seem a little adventurous, but that’s what being a foodie is all about, so why not take the jump and try your hand at sous vide pudding next time you’re hosting?

Eggs

Cooking the perfect poached egg is a milestone moment in any budding chef’s culinary career, but did you know you can cheat using sous vide?

With no stirring, no tentative putting the egg in and out of the pan, and no worrying about how long to leave them, sous vide takes all of the stress out of cooking eggs.

The precision of sous vide means that you can choose exactly how well done you want your eggs, runny or thick, hard or soft boiled, it’s all down to you.

Here’s a simple recipe for the perfect poached eggs.

So there you have it. There’s a lot more to sous vide than you thought isn’t there? So why not get a bit more adventurous with your cooking, and expand your culinary repertoire with our range of sous vide 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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