Guess what? This week I ate by far the best, most professional and in every way the most delicious food that has been created in my own home kitchen. The secret to this was the new sous vide circulator and vacuum packaging machine I got for testing from Power, which together enable restaurant-level cooking even at home. If you don't know what circulator and vacuuming means, don't worry, in this post I'll explain the matter to its roots. At the end of the post there is also a wonderful recipe with seasonal ingredients, this dish will charm anyone!
This time I didn't have to work alone, but I had the help of my friend Johannes Berlin, who has worked in top kitchens around the world. Johannes knows the sous vide method better than he knows how, and during the dinner he shared his brilliant tips for success. I became convinced of the clarity and guaranteed success of the whole thing at the latest when the egg yolk was so good that all the diners wanted to cover themselves with it from head to toe. Someone also wanted to be vacuumed and get into the water bath to bathe.
Well, that's all. Let's get to the heart of the matter, that is how you take over the sous vide cooking method and manage to conjure up a Michelin star meal in your home kitchen.
MEANS
First of all, you need a sous vide set. Power's selection includes all the necessary parts and also bags for vacuuming. You need at least a Point Pro sous vide circulator, the device heats and keeps the temperature of the water unchanged, this allows for an even and precise cooking temperature. In addition, you need a Point Pro vacuum packaging device, which removes the air from the bags and seals the bag watertight. Power's selection also includes vacuum bags, Point Pro medium-sized bags are an easy option, and Point Pro large-sized bags can hold larger ingredients, such as a whole fish. Both the circulator and the vacuum device work with mains power, so you can easily use them in, say, a cottage kitchen. Also, the good thing is that the circulator works with any pot or container, and it is attached to the edge of the container with a handle.
RAW MATERIALS
The sous vide method is best suited for sensitive ingredients and always gives a precise, perfect end result. For example, egg, fish and meat proteins are cooked at certain temperatures, and sous vide cooking helps to achieve the desired level of doneness. Sous vide is based on slow cooking in a water bath, which means the end result is always particularly soft and juicy, when the liquids and flavor of the raw material are tightly preserved in vacuum packaging. In addition, a vacuum device is a smart way to preserve raw materials: a vacuum bag significantly extends the shelf life and thus reduces food waste. Of course, plastic bags are properly recycled after use.
GETTING STARTED
Put plenty of water in a large pot, attach the circulator to the edge of the pot with the handle clip, plug it into the wall, set the desired temperature and turn on the device. So easy! The circulator has a built-in timer, so it's easy to keep an eye on the time. The device beeps when the desired temperature is reached. PREPARATION OF RAW MATERIALS
This time, with Johannes's instructions, we cooked domestic trout (preferably farmed, the wild trout population is endangered in Finland), 65-degree chicken eggs and green asparagus. The fish becomes perfect at a temperature of 42 degrees, and 20 minutes in a circulator in a water bath is enough for a thin fillet. The proteins of the egg yolk, on the other hand, start to coagulate at 65 degrees, when the composition is gel-like: neither loose nor firm. That 65 degree egg is some sort of target state where the egg's texture is at its best. We cooked the asparagus in a water-oil mixture in a pan, five minutes is enough.
Before cooking, the fish was filleted skinless, with plenty of salt and a pinch of sugar on top. Put the dill sprigs on top and put it in the fridge for a while to flavor under the plastic wrap. In the meantime, the eggs had already had time to incubate in the 65-degree water bath, in total the eggs took an hour and 10 minutes to cook. If I had been smart, I would have cooked a dozen eggs with the same effort. Six pieces disappeared under the unit of time. Eggs do not need to be vacuum sealed, the shell acts as protection in the circulator.
VACUUM PACKING
Then it was the turn of the vacuum packaging. Salted fish fillets in a vacuum bag, followed by a generous drizzle of oil. If the raw material is from the smaller end, you should cut the extra edge from the edge of the bag with scissors. This way the bag fits better in the pot. The vacuum packaging device is really easy to use and works with mains power. Before use, you should check that the seal on the edge has opened properly, so that the device works as it should. The mouth of the bag is placed close to the edge, the lid is clicked on its edges (check that you hear a "click") and then the button is pressed. When the device has removed the air from the bag, it closes the opening of the bag automatically
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