SOUS VIDE – SIMPLY ON POINT.

Sous vide made easy - This is how cooking under vacuum works

The term sous vide is a French term that means "under vacuum". But what does vacuum sealing have to do with cooking, and what is sous vide exactly? It's actually quite simple. Before the cooking process begins, food such as meat, fish, or vegetables, is vacuum sealed in a bag. The food is then placed in a water bath and cooked gently and evenly at a consistent water temperature. By cooking this way, the food can be cooked to a pre-determined temperature, consistently throughout.

The advantages of sous vide

Regardless of whether you prefer your steak medium or medium rare, finding the right cooking temperature and the optimal cooking time is not always easy, and can challenge even the most experienced cooks. But sous vide cooking puts the control in your hands. Simply choose the cooking temperature you prefer, and the sous vide stick will do the rest.

Vacuum cooking in a water bath involves cooking at a low temperature over a longer period of time. This offers several advantages: Because you set your desired temperature on the sous vide stick, the perfect cooking temperature won’t be missed or exceeded. The advantages of sous vide cooking come into play most significantly when preparing meat and fish. Meat or fish loses significantly less liquid and remains more tender when cooked sous vide as compared to cooking at a low temperature in the oven. On top of that, meat or fish cooked in the oven or on the stovetop must be monitored constantly, so that it is not over or under cooked. With sous vide, you can set the temp and walk away.

Slow cooking for better time management

And that brings us to yet another advantage of sous vide cooking. With vacuum cooking, the optimal temperature is kept constant for the entire cooking time, so you can’t overcook. This advantage has been appreciated by professional chefs for years, as the busy professional kitchen requires superior time management, with as few mistakes as possible. But this aspect of sous vide cooking is also a huge boon to home cooks. If your guests are late, or there is a delay in the side dishes, or you simply want to prepare dishes in advance – food that is cooked sous vide can simply remain in the water bath longer – without cooking any further. Sous vide cooking virtually guarantees success in a busy kitchen!

Why vacuum cooking provides better taste & more flavor

Not only does sous vide cooking make your life easier in the kitchen. It also makes everything tastier. That’s because cooking under vacuum locks in flavor and seals in liquids. Flavors and juices can’t escape the bag so food cooks in its own juices. Vacuum seal packaging ensures that food, no matter what kind, doesn’t come in contact with water or air, ensuring that there is no oxidation or loss of liquids, vitamins, or nutrients. 

What you need for sous vide

If you want to try sous vide cooking at home, you'll need just a few pieces of equipment. You will need:

- A vacuum pump with sealable bags

- A sous vide device

- A water bath (which can simply be a large pot)

The vacuum bags you use should be heat-resistant and BPA-free. To add even more flavor, food can also be marinated in the bags before cooking sous vide. To do this, simply add the desired marinade, aromatics, and/or herbs to the meat, fish, or vegetables, and vacuum seal everything together. Marinating under vacuum can be done in as little as 10 minutes.

Depending on which sous vide device you choose, the water bath will look a little different. Some sous vide products have an integrated water bath container, others (like the ZWILLING Enfinigy Sous Vide Stick) are compact sticks that can simply be placed in any kitchen pot filled with water. The advantage of sous vide sticks is they’re compact devices that are flexible to use with any pot and can be stored after use to save space in your kitchen. Other sous vide accessories, such as racks for organizing the bags in the pot, are also available. 

You want to keep sous vide as simple as possible? Our handy Enfinigy Sous Vide Starter Set combines a FRESH & SAVE vacuum pump and bags with our new Enfinigy sous vide stick. You just need to grab a deep pot from your kitchen and you are all ready to get started on sous vide cooking. 

The sous vide stick brings water to the preset cooking temperature and time. All you need to do is set it based on the type of food and portion size, as well as the degree of cooking (medium rare or medium, for example) and forget it. Our convenient cooking table tells you which temperature and cooking time you should select for which food - download here!

You can then place the vacuum-packed food in the water bath and remove it after the cooking time has elapsed. Afterwards, meat or fish can simply be seared briefly. Or veggies can be sautéed with aromatics or sauce to complete your dish.

Which foods are particularly suitable for vacuum cooking?

Sous vide is a particularly convenient cooking method for precisely preparing meat and fish. You can sous vide everything from salmon and beef steaks to poultry and pork roasts. But you can also sous vide vegetables, eggs, fruit, or even desserts. Vegetables such as broccoli or green beans can quickly overcook when you are boiling them. Just as with fish and meat, sous vide cooking can remedy this making it a turnkey solution for all types of food.