Keep your cool
For no-sweat summer cooking, do it sous vide
Jake Springfield considers himself a pretty average home cook. A New Orleans cinematographer who works on commercials, he’s not the kind of guy who dabbles in homemade charcuterie or cultivates his own sourdough starter. He isn’t inclined to cook offal, and he has never even fermented a pickle.
Yet when he has a few dozen friends over for a summer barbecue, he doesn’t hesitate to pull out his sous-vide machine. You know, just to make sure his beef tenderloins are cooked to a perfectly medium-rare 132 degrees before he sears them on the grill.
“I’m not a gourmet,” he said. “I used to struggle to get that exact shade of pink on my meat. With sous vide, it’s very hard to mess up. Even my friends who are better cooks than I am ask me how I do it.”
Once considered high-tech pieces of laboratory equipment used only by modernist chefs (and other food obsessives with cash to spare), sous-vide machines have entered the mainstream in the past three years. With prices falling from $1,000 to as little as $45, the devices are in reach for home cooks such as Springfield, who simply wants to serve some nicely cooked steak to his friends without stressing.
And as summer burns on, I think they deserve an even wider audience, because when used in combination with a grill, sous vide takes the sweat out of cooking.
Your kitchen won’t heat up, and you’ll never have to worry about whether your food is done. Whether you’re making a couple of chicken breasts for your picky ’tweens or half a dozen beef tenderloins for 30 of your most beloved friends, you know whatever you cook is going to come out perfectly.
Sous-vide wands (also called sous-vide machines and thermal immersion circulators) work by heating pots of water to a precise temperature, then circulating that water around the pot, keeping the temperature constant. Although the term “sous vide” means “under vacuum” in French, the food doesn’t need to cook in a vacuum-sealed container; putting it in a plastic or silicone bag, squeezing out the air and immersing the bag in water will do the trick.
For chefs, sous vide has become indispensable for cooking food evenly, consistently and in volume — say, 180 runny-yolked “ramen” eggs for a busy weekend brunch service.
But the method can be just as much a boon for home cooks by eliminating any guesswork about when dinner is done. Instead of throwing an expensive rib steak on the grill and trying to ascertain doneness by poking it or by using an only semi-accurate instant-read thermometer, sous vide guarantees precision.
This is because if you want rare steak, you just set the sous-vide wand to 122 degrees; the meat cannot overcook, because the water will never exceed that temperature. Then all you have to do is give the meat a sear on the grill to brown the exterior, and dinner is done. You get the most gorgeously cooked steaks without any of that anxiety that used to be as much a part of summer as mosquito bites and sunburns.
When it comes to cooking fish, particularly salmon, sous vide is one of the best methods I know, with filets emerging buttery-fleshed and more deeply flavored than with poaching. I like to season the fish with fistfuls of fresh herbs, then drizzle it with a tangy caper-laced vinaigrette. It’s terrific served right out of the sous-vide bag, while still soft and silky, and even better after a quick sear, so the skin bubbles, browns and crisps.
Another benefit of sous vide is flexibility. You can cook dinner several hours in advance and let it hang out in the bag, still in the hot water, until you’re back from that long summer hike and as hungry as a bear.
A downside to sous vide is that it’s not for the spur-of-the-moment cook. Most ingredients will take lon-
ger to cook than they would with just plain old grilling (or roasting or pan-frying).
One way to offset this is to use smaller pieces of food, which cook more quickly than fat chunks. Think slim pork chops (30 minutes) rather than an entire pork shoulder (24 hours). And if you start with hot tap water, you won’t have to wait for a large pot to heat up. (The water doesn’t actually touch the food, which is sealed in a bag.)
Sous-Vide Rib Steaks With Spicy Salsa Verde
2 bone-in rib steaks, each 1½ inch thick
Kosher salt and ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, mashed to a paste or finely grated
6 sprigs fresh thyme
½ cup finely chopped fresh cilantro leaves and tender stems
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves
2 green onions, white and light green parts only, thinly sliced
1 serrano chile or jalapeno, halved, seeded and minced
1 garlic clove, finely grated or mashed to a paste
1 ½ tablespoons fresh lime juice, plus more as needed
1 teaspoon hot sauce
¼ teaspoon ground cumin
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Flakey salt, optional for serving
Generously season steaks all over with salt and pepper. Rub garlic paste evenly over meat, then cover with thyme sprigs. Place steaks in a sousvide bag and refrigerate for at least 6 hours and preferably overnight.
Fill a pot with water, add the sous-vide machine and set the temperature to your ideal steak temperature, 122 to 126 degrees for rare.
Lower bag into heated water, weighing it down if necessary to submerge. Cook steaks for 1 ½ hours. If you’d like to dry the cooked meat to get a better char, place it on a wire rack set over a baking sheet and refrigerate for 6 to 36 hours. Otherwise, you can go straight to searing and serving.
When ready to serve, light the grill, or heat the broiler and place a rack 4 inches from heating element.
Remove thyme from meat and pat meat dry if you didn’t already let it dry on a rack. Grill or broil steaks until charred all over, 2 to 5 minutes total. (Make sure to char the fat on the bone as well as both meaty sides.) Transfer to a cutting board and let rest for 5 minutes.
While the meat rests, make the salsa verde: In a large bowl, stir together the cilantro, mint, thyme, green onions, chile, garlic, lime juice, hot sauce, cumin, ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon black pepper until well combined. Whisk in the olive oil, then taste and add more salt and lime juice, if needed.
To serve, slice steak and drizzle with salsa verde, making sure to stir it well to distribute the herbs before using. Season with flaky salt if you like and ground black pepper.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.
Sous-Vide Peanut-Ginger Pork With Celery Slaw
For the pork:
3 tablespoons smooth peanut butter
2 tablespoons sesame oil
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 tablespoon finely grated ginger
2 teaspoons dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons Sriracha or chilegarlic paste
1 ½ teaspoons fish sauce
3 garlic cloves, finely grated or minced
2 (1-pound) pork tenderloins, trimmed Extra-virgin olive oil, as needed
For the celery salad:
2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil, plus more as needed
2 teaspoons rice vinegar or lime juice, plus more as needed
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more as needed
1 large or 2 small ribs celery, cut crosswise into thirds, then very thinly sliced lengthwise
1 cup thinly sliced fennel bulb
¼ cup thinly sliced green onions
¼ cup fresh cilantro leaves, plus more for garnish
Chopped roasted peanuts, for garnish
Sesame seeds, for garnish (optional)
Fill a pot with water, add the sous-vide machine and set the temperature to 135 degrees.
Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together peanut butter, sesame oil, soy sauce, lime juice, ginger, sugar, Sriracha, fish sauce and garlic.
Place pork in a sous-vide bag, then pour sauce all over meat. Lower bag into heated water, weighing the bag down if necessary, and cook pork for 2 hours.
Heat broiler and place a rack 4 inches from heating element.
Remove pork from sousvide bag, reserving sauce in bag, and transfer to a rimmed baking sheet. Pour the sauce into a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over high and let cook until slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Cover to keep warm, and set aside.
Drizzle pork with olive oil and broil until charred in spots, 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a cutting board and let rest, 5 minutes.
White the pork rests, make the celery salad: In a large bowl, whisk together sesame oil, rice vinegar, pepper and salt. Toss with celery, fennel, green onions and cilantro. Taste and add more salt, sesame oil and rice vinegar if needed.
To serve, slice pork and drizzle with sauce. Top with celery salad, peanuts and sesame seeds, if you like. Garnish with cilantro leaves.
Makes 4 to 6 servings.
Sous-Vide Salmon With Caper-Parsley Vinaigrette
For the salmon:
1 (3 ½-pound) boneless, skinon side of salmon, cut into 4 pieces crosswise
½ teaspoon granulated sugar
Ground black pepper
Fine sea salt, as needed
¼ cup fresh dill fronds
¼ cup packed fresh parsley
4 green onions, thinly sliced, divided use
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for brushing
For the vinaigrette:
¼ cup thinly sliced red onion or shallot
¼ cup fresh lemon juice, plus more to taste
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
2 tablespoons finely chopped drained capers
2 small cloves garlic, finely grated or mashed to a paste
½ teaspoon fine sea salt, plus more to taste
¾ cup extra-virgin olive oil
Place salmon pieces skin-side down on a rimmed baking sheet. Sprinkle flesh side with sugar and ¼ teaspoon black pepper, then season generously with salt to taste. Let sit while you prepare herb paste.
In a mini food processor or blender, combine dill, parsley, half of the green onions and oil. Blend into a paste, then smear onto flesh side of salmon. Sandwiching salmon pieces so flesh sides are touching, then place in a sous-vide bag. Transfer to the refrigerator to chill, at least 30 minutes and up to overnight.
Heat water with sous-vide machine to 113 degrees if grilling or broiling to sear the skin before serving, or 122 degrees if serving as is. Submerge salmon in its sous-vide bag in water, weighing it down if necessary to submerge, and cook for 2 hours, or until pink in the middle and barely flaking.
For the vinaigrette: In a medium bowl, whisk together red onion, lemon juice, parsley, capers, garlic, remaining green onion, ¼ teaspoon salt and pepper until combined. Whisk in oil in a slow, steady stream. Taste and add more salt, pepper and lemon juice to your liking.
If you’d like to sear the salmon skin for serving, heat grill or broiler and position rack 4 inches from heating element.
Brush salmon skin with oil. For grilling, lay pieces skinside down in a grill basket, and grill until skin is lightly charred and crispy, 2 to 3 minutes. For broiling, transfer salmon pieces to a rimmed baking sheet and broil skin-side up until skin is lightly charred and crispy, 3 to 4 minutes.
Transfer to a serving platter and serve with vinaigrette on the side.
Makes 8 to 10 servings.