Ask Margaret
My kitchen is closed, since we are out
almost every meal attending the events
and fundraisers you read about in Tampa
Bay Magazine. So although I have eaten and
enjoyed dishes prepared using sous vide
cooking, I contacted Chef Craig Tinling
of the Dunedin Fine Art Center’s new
Food Arts Studio to find out more about
this manner of cooking. Chef Craig is not
only knowledgeable about it, but he has
instructed others on its use in the center’s
new state-of-the-art demonstration
kitchen. He first learned about sous vide
cooking in 2008, when he read Michelin
star Chef Thomas Keller’s book Under
Pressure, which predicted that in ten years
this cooking technique would be used in
every home across America. While sous
vide hasn’t taken over our kitchens quite
yet, its popularity and use continues to
grow rapidly.
Sous vide (pronounced sue-veed) is
a popular cooking technique that uses
an immersion appliance to provide a
temperature-controlled circulating water
bath to precisely cook food. This method
involves using low temperatures of about
100 to 200 degrees Fahrenheit for longer
than usual periods of time to transfer heat
from water to food items, which will reach
and maintain the exact temperature you
desire without the possibility of being
unevenly or overly cooked. Sous vide
by Margaret Word Burnside
I keep hearing about
sous vide cooking, what
is it and is it something
I can do at home?
R.S., Palm Harbor
cooking is also considered to be both
healthy and efficient by helping to retain
more vitamins and minerals and by using
less electricity than traditional cooking
methods.
The sous vide method is normally used
for meats, especially tougher cuts, which
can benefit from pre-seasoning and from
140 TAMPA BAY MAGAZINE | MAY/JUNE 2019
continuing to marinate during the cooking
process. Whether a large leg of lamb or a
single T-bone steak is cooked in this sous
vide manner, the results will be consistent
throughout the meat’s inside and outside,
reflecting the device’s pre-selection
settings of rare, well-done, or something
in-between.
Originally, the sous vide device was
primarily used by professional chefs in
restaurants and for catering. However, it is
now easy to cook in your own home with
a sous vide tool, which you can find at most
retailers that sell kitchen equipment and
gadgets. The fancier sous vide appliances
are self-contained units that can hold a
greater volume of food and water.
Sous vide means “under vacuum” in
French, but you do not need to vacuum
seal your food in order to cook it sous
vide style. The process is relatively simple
because all you need is the uncooked food,
generally but not necessarily a protein
such as chicken, beef, pork or fish; along
with a heat-safe sealable BPA-free bag
or glass canning jar or special, reusable
silicone vacuum seal bag; a pot of water;
and a sous vide device, which can be a small
electrical appliance or a larger all-in-one
cooker. You simply set your sous vide device
for the time and temperature you want,
attach it to the pot, put your food and
seasoning into a sealable, airtight container
If you have any questions about the
people, places or things in the Tampa
Bay area, please send them to
“Ask Margaret” at Tampa Bay Magazine,
2531 Landmark Drive, Suite 101,
Clearwater, Florida 33761.
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