Low temperature cooking: liquid cooking and sous vide
Keywords
Low temperature cooking, roner, sous vide, vacuum cooking, meat, fish, vegetables, eggs
Level
Advanced
Low temperature cooking: dry cooking and steaming
We can cook at low temperature using different techniques: dry cooking, steaming or in liquid. The main objective we want to achieve by cooking at low temperature is that the temperature of the cooking medium equals or approaches to the temperature reached inside the food.
We can dry cook in the oven or on a griddle. The heat is transmitted to the food through the air, but this requires a thermostat, as the temperatures of these small appliances are not very precise.
We can also cook at low temperatures by steaming, a well-known and easy-to-apply technique. (For more information see Module 4, Basic Level, Unit 1).
Low temperature cooking: liquid cooking and sous vide
The technique of cooking at low temperature through a liquid medium can be done in two ways: by introducing the food directly into a liquid which can be water, broth or oil, for which we will need a specific probe thermometer to control the temperature, or by means of the famous French Sous Vide technique. The Sous Vide technique consists of vacuum-packing the food and placing it in water, controlling the temperature to transform the food from raw to cooked, maintaining all its nutrients. It is a technique widely used for cooking fish, meat, vegetables and eggs (in this case without vacuum-packing, directly in the water with the shell). To do this, we have to prepare the food before cooking it, clean it very well, add salt, pepper or any sauce or spice we want to apply before vacuum-packing it. Once they are vacuum-packed, we introduce them into the water and we will have to use a roner. The roner is an immersion thermostat that we can attach to any container. We just have to introduce it into the water, set the temperature and when the water reaches the desired temperature, we introduce the vacuum-packed food. The roner will maintain a homogeneous temperature throughout the cooking time.
We can also buy the famous Sous Vide machine. In this case, the vacuum-packed food is introduced into the machine with water, which already incorporates a roner to control the temperature. (For more information about vacuum conservation see Module 3, Basic level, Unit 2).
Description
Low-temperature cooking is a culinary technique that is very fashionable and widely used by today's top chefs. It involves cooking food at temperatures between 50 and 100°.
Labels
Benefits
The main advantage of low temperature cooking is that it is a very healthy technique, especially if we apply it dry, steaming or vacuum cooking, as the food is cooked evenly on all sides and to its perfect doneness. Being cooked in its own juices, the food retains all its nutrients and is so soft that it melts. In this way, the textures and flavours of the food are enhanced, so we can enjoy delicious, soft and very juicy dishes.