10 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Sous Vide In Your Commercial Kitchen


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10 Things You Didn’t Know You Could Sous Vide In Your Commercial Kitchen

 

Steak. Chicken. Fish. Ribs. Sous vide cooking is often synonymous with juicy meats. But that isn’t a
limit—it’s just the beginning.

With the correct tools, and some creative flexibility, a sous vide will transform your methods and your menu. From flavor-infused cocktails to one-of-a-kind condiments and even cannabis butter, there’s a place for sous vide in every commercial kitchen and every menu.

Essential Tools

 

Sealant Methods

  • Vacuum Sealer & Bags
  • Mason Jars with Lids
  • Water Displacement with Zipper Lock Bags
    • Place food in a resealable zipper lock bag. Do not seal it yet. Slowly lower the bagged food into your water bath. The water pressure will force the air out through the top of the bag. Once most of the air is out of the bag, seal it just above the water line.

 

Tips for Sous Vide

    Unless otherwise indicated, be sure to pre-heat the sous vide water bath to the correct temperature before cooking.

    Ensure the counter or surface beneath the water bath is heat resistant, such as wood or stainless steel.

    Fully submerge food during cooking with either weights or clips.

    Cover the water bath (such as with a lid, tinfoil, or plastic wrap) or use thermal balls to help retain heat and prevent evaporation.

Eggs

Skip the tedious tending of traditional poaching or the grease-spitting griddle. Opt for a perfectly prepared, soft-poached egg—every time—with a sous vide.

Ingredients

  • Eggs (fresh is best)

Sous vide (in shell) at 165°F for 14 minutes. Remove and cool immediately for tender, perfectly poached eggs. Enjoy!

Pickled Vegetables

Carrots. Onions. Peppers. Cauliflower. Asparagus. Pickling vegetables is both delicious and practical, intensifying their flavors and prolonging their shelf-life.

Ingredients

  • Vegetables of choice (cucumbers being the perennial favorite):
  • Vinegar
  • Sugar
  • Spices, Herbs and/or garlic

Combine ingredients for brine. Add vegetables to jar and fill with brine, ensuring liquid covers the entirety of the vegetables. Gently hand-tighten the lid. Sous vide at 140°F for 2-3 hours. Cool and keep refrigerated. Enjoy!

Oatmeal

Rich, wholesome, and healthy, oatmeal is a comfort staple in many homes. Adding it to your menu is as easy as one—two—sous vide.

Ingredients

  • Steel cut oats
  • Water

Proportion roughly 2 cups of water to ½ cup steel cut oats. Add the oats and water to a mason jar. Lightly screw on lid.

Sous vide overnight (8-10 hours) at 155°F. For a quicker result, sous vide at 180°F for 3 hours.

Serve with your accoutrements of choice and enjoy!

Custard, Curd, And Cheesecake

Here, the sous vide replaces the bain marie, ensuring precise temperature regulation. Never overcooked. Never scrambled. Sous vide gets you precision results that can be perfectly replicated and scaled.

Ingredients – Crème Brulé

  • Egg yolks
  • Sugar
  • Heavy cream
  • Flavorings (zest, herbs, extracts, etc.)

Mix up your favorite recipe, which is typically egg yolks and sugar mixed with warm, heavy cream. Fill mason jars 2/3 full of mixture and lightly screw on lid.

NOTE: Add the jars as the sous vide water bath is warming, to allow the contents to gradually rise in temperature.

When the sous vide water bath has reached 180°F, start the timer for one hour. After an hour, remove the jars and cool. Once they’re fully cooled, they can be served as is or with a sugar brulé topping. Enjoy!

Cheeses and Yogurt

Never buy store yogurt again. With a simple yogurt starter and some high-fat milk, you can prepare fresh and flavorful yogurt in your own kitchen.

Cheeses can also be made with a sous vide as well, like cheddar, ricotta, mascarpone, cotija and mozzarella.  But with such a wide range of recipes and techniques, we’ll stick to the straight-forward yogurt.

Ingredients – Yogurt

  • Milk (whole or 2%)
  • Yogurt starter (yogurt with live, active cultures)

Fill the jar about 2/3 full of milk. Loosely screw on the jar lid and add to the water bath.  Ensure the water bath rises far enough up the side of the jar to cover the mixture inside. Sous vide for 30 minutes at 180°F.

Remove jars and cool until they’re below 110°F. Reduce the water bath heat to 110°F.

Add yogurt starter (For every 100 grams of milk, use 5 grams of yogurt starter. Or multiply the number of grams of milk used by .05. The result is the number of grams of yogurt starter to add.). Whisk together.

Return the lid and add jars to bath. Sous vide for 12 hours at 110F.

Chill and enjoy!

Condiments, coulis, and compotes

Cherry compote. Raspberry coulis. Mango chutney. Tomato coulis. Hot sauce. There’s practically no end of flavor combinations or culinary twists.

There’s a broad range of ingredients and cooking techniques between a condiments, coulis, and compotes.

Ingredients – Blueberry Lemon Compote

  • Blueberries
  • Sugar
  • Corn starch
  • Lemon juice & zest

Combine ¾ cup sugar with one tablespoon cornstarch. Add lemon juice and zest to one pound of blueberries. Toss blueberries and sugar mixture. Add to mason jar with

Sous vide at 180°F for one hour. Serve—warm or cool—over cake or ice cream and enjoy!

Bone Broth and Stock

Broths and stocks are the base of so many delicious recipes. Avoid unpleasant odors, splatters, and greasy flare-ups by switching to the sous vide method.  Mason jars keep things cleans and allow for multiple broths to cook at the same time.

Ingredients – Bone Broth

  • Bones (previously cooked)
  • Mirepoix vegetable mix
  • Salt, spices, and herbs to taste

Compile the typical ingredients you’d want in a stock—two pounds or so of bones and three to four cups mirepoix vegetable mix (carrots, onions, celery), plus your favorite seasonings. Add to a mason jar with about eight cups water and gently tighten the lid.

Sous vide at 180°F for 12 hours.

Remove from water bath. When cool enough to handle safely, filter out remaining solids with cheesecloth. Keep refrigerated. Enjoy!

Cold brew coffee

Cold brew coffee typically takes up to 24 hours to make. Thanks to the sous vide method, cold brew coffee can be made in as little as two hours.

Ingredients

  • Course ground coffee
  • Water

Proportion about ½ cups coffee to about 4 cups of water.

Combine water and course-ground coffee in large mason jar and gently hand-tighten the lid. Sous vide at 150°F for two hours.

When cool enough to handle safely, filter out the grounds with any standard coffee filter. Chill and enjoy!

Infused Alcohols & Spirits

Grapefruit gin. Mint rum. Mulled wine. Spiced mead. Vanilla bourbon. Jalapeno tequila. No alcohol is off-limits from delicious infusions of flavor.

Ingredients

  • Spirit of your choice (vodka, tequila, rum, brandy, etc.)
  • Spices, fruits, or herbs of your choice

Combine alcohol and flavorings to the mason jar and lightly secure the lid. Sous vide for 45 minutes to an hour (depending on your desired level of flavor) at 135°F.

Remove the jar from the sous vide bath and filter out any solids and particulates. Let cool, then serve and enjoy!

Cannabis Butter (THC Butter) or Cannabis Infused Oil

As with all things sous vide, avoid hours of standing over a hot stove or the permeating skunk smell of cooking cannabis. Prepare your edible butter in just a couple of hours.

Ingredients

  • Cannabis (roughly ground)
  • Butter (or other fatty base such as coconut oil or ghee)

 

Step 1: Decarboxylate or “decarb” the cannabis flower

NOTE: Failure to perform this step can result in weak or inactive final product.

Vacuum seal the ground cannabis and sous vide at 200° F for one hour. This activates the THC.

 

Step 2: Infuse the butter

NOTE: Experiment with proportions and potency to determine what provides the best results.  

Add the “decarbed” cannabis and butter to a mason jar. Gently secure the lid and sous vide for 3 – 4 hours at 200° F.

When cool enough to handle safely, strain out the ground cannabis with a fine mesh filter or cheesecloth.

Chill, keep refrigerated, and enjoy!

 

Sous Vide Solutions and Highlights

There are numerous benefits to sous vide cooking for commercial kitchens. Enjoy the flexibility of precision, to-the-degree cooking. Reduce food waste. Retain flavors, moisture, and volume. Easily replicate recipes for consistent quality. Help manage the peaks and troughs of demand with fewer staff.

From traditional to quick serve restaurants, bars, cafes, coffee shops, food trucks and more, sous vide cooking can expand your menu and capabilities. No matter the size of your food service operation, you’ll find abundant benefits to sous vide cooking.

Visit the Everidge website for more information about the PVS50-Wifi Circulator and additional tips for sous vide cooking.