Seal of Approval

As America's top chefs welcome sous-vide cooking to their kitchens, they make safety the top priority and intense flavor a goal.

This article first appeared in the 15 April 2006 issue of Restaurants & Institutions (R&I).

R&I is the USA's leading source of food and business-trend information and exclusive research on operators and restaurant patrons. Editorial coverage spans the entire foodservice industry, including chains, independent restaurants, hotels and institutions. To find out more about R&I, visit its website www.foodservice411.com.

By Allison Perlik, Senior Editor

Picture a New York strip steak cooked to perfect medium-rare throughout, tender and juicy not just in the warm, red center but end to end and top to bottom. Such results are difficult in a broiler or on a grill but not in sous vide, a technique that boosts taste and tenderness not only in beef but for a wide range of proteins and produce.

Meaning "under vacuum," sous vide was developed in France in the early 1970s as a way to reduce shrinkage in foods while ramping up flavor. In the United States, fine-dining operations mostly viewed the process of cooking bags of vacuum-sealed food in temperature-controlled water baths as the domain of high-volume industrial feeders, but that mindset is changing. As top-tier chefs explore techniques that coax different tastes and textures from ingredients, sous vide is gaining prominence in some leading kitchens.

"For me, it's 100% about taste," says Chef-owner Dan Barber of Blue Hill in New York City and at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, N.Y. "No chef in his right mind wants to cook in a pouch. It's not sexy, and you don't get the aroma. But the results are unequaled."

While flavor is the top incentive, there are other advantages. Properly vacuum-sealed, foods are exposed to fewer ambient bacteria, potentially extending shelf life. They also are protected from overexposure to oxygen, which can taint flavor, says food-science author Harold McGee. More nutrients are retained during the cooking process as well.

Purely from an operational standpoint, the technique has merits: reduced waste, improved portion control and some reduction in labor.

"It makes chefs' lives easier," says Tom Parlo, executive chef at the Mandarin Oriental hotel in Miami, where fine-dining restaurants Azul and Café Sambal embrace sous vide for products such as pork belly and Kobe beef strip loin. "If you put vacuum-sealed fish in water at 151F, the cook doesn't have to watch over it. It allows him to multitask a little more."

Determining proper times and temperatures for sous-vide cooking is far from an exact science; chefs rely on trial and error to find the right combination to yield sought-after flavors and textures.

At the Mandarin Oriental, Parlo's team uses temperature-controlled bain-maries to prepare pork belly. The pork is packaged with whole garlic cloves and cure seasoning, slow-poached for 15 hours and cooled using ice baths or a blast chiller. For service, individual portions are sautéed crispy and paired with seared scallops.

Executive Chef Joshua Skenes attaches a $1,300 immersion circulator to a 30-liter basin for sous-vide recipes at Stonehill Tavern at the St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort & Spa in Dana Point, Calif. He relies on the technique to tenderize tougher meats such as short ribs and to evenly cook delicate proteins, including duck breast.

"Sous vide slowly breaks down connective tissue like a braise, but braising is an extraction method while sous vide is a concentration method," says Skenes, who cooks vacuum-sealed short ribs for 20 hours at 170F.

Making It Work

Five Restaurant & Street Lounge in Minneapolis and El Bizcocho at the Rancho Bernardo Inn in San Diego, turn to less high-tech methods.

Five Restaurant Chef-owner Stewart Woodman immerses vacuum-sealed foods in a pot of water placed atop an induction burner. Kept on the pass in the kitchen for easy monitoring, the cooktop is set to maintain a specific temperature that also is confirmed using a thermometer with an alarm.

Woodman, who learned the technique at Alain Ducasse restaurants in Monaco and Paris, loves its effect on vegetables.

"Any time you introduce water into the cooking process, it dilutes the flavor. In the case of sous vide, you have the opportunity to cook vegetables without introducing other elements," he says.

Artichoke hearts, vacuum-sealed with olive oil and a pinch of salt then cooked at 140F for 60 minutes is one of the chef's favorite formulas. Another is endive cooked with butter, sugar and salt for 3 hours, then sautéed for caramelization.

El Bizcocho features a French flat-top that heats to one temperature at the center and decreases in heat as pots and pans are moved away from the middle. Chef de Cuisine Gavin Kaysen places a pot of water for sous vide 14 inches from the center on a ring mold to ensure a temperature between 145F and 155F. Cooks maintain water circulation and regularly check products by feel.

"Sous vide allows more control and consistency," Kaysen says. "Once you teach somebody how to cook a product that way, it will be consistent whether you're making it yourself or another cook is doing it."

To make tender, savory venison, he marinates the meat in red and port wines with mirepoix for 24 hours, then portions and vacuum seals each serving with butter, sage, thyme and garlic confit. He cooks it sous vide at 155F for 6 minutes to medium rare, then sears it on the stovetop to caramelize.

Safety First

Typically prepared at low cooking temperatures, improperly handled vacuum-sealed foods can easily turn into bacterial soup. With that potential, sous vide demands that chefs familiarize themselves with safe food-handling practices and emphasize them above all else. The decision in March of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene to ban sous vide in restaurants without an approved HACCP (hazard analysis and critical control point) plan-and the potential for other cities to enact similar restrictions-is proof of the potentially deadly effects of sous vide gone wrong.

• It is essential that detailed records of how long foods spend under vacuum and at what temperatures they are cooked are maintained. To develop a specific HACCP plan-the best way to protect diners-consult food scientists or other experts to be sure it is thorough and comprehensive. Local health departments also may be able to provide guidance.
• Other basic guidelines apply as well. While properly vacuum-sealed foods may be exposed to less bacteria and have reduced risk of cross-contamination, certain bacteria can grow in a vacuum, says food-science author Harold McGee. Therefore, the cardinal rule of ensuring that products do not remain in the danger zone (41F to 140F) for too long still applies.
• Maintain highly clean environments to store vacuum-packaging equipment and confirm foods are at safe temperatures before they are sealed. Make sure sealed packages are free of creases that could allow oxygen-and bacteria-into the bag over time. Food cooked sous vide ahead of service should be quickly cooled using proper procedures in ice baths or blast chillers.
• If not using specialty equipment to maintain temperature and circulation of water baths, regularly circulating the water is an important step for safety, says McGee.
• "On their own, water baths develop layers. The water at the bottom-near the heat source-may be hotter than at the top. You also have a boundary layer around the cooler object that is being heated, and that slows the transfer of heat from the water into the food if there is no circulation," he says. "As long as you stir every few minutes or have another way of making sure the water is moving regularly, that should be sufficient."