Dreams of Being Hip: Hipster Foods Part 2: Sous-Vide
Holy potatoes, I am so excited. This came into the place I work today:
That's right, it's a sous-vide machine. What is sous-vide? Well, it's the most hipster way to cook almost anything.
How it works: you vacuum seal your food, put it in the water bath for 8-72 hours, remove it from the water bath and finish.
There are a lot of reasons to use sous-vide:
1. It keeps the food's texture and flavor in tact
2. Prevents weight loss of meats
3. It's really hip
So, what I'm doing is making filet mignon (above). This is my favorite cut. It's low fat (for red meat), high-protein and delicious.
So this filet mignon I'm drooling over, going to season it in salt and pepper (as you should do with all meats), vacuum seal it, and put it in the water bath for 24 hours. It takes so long because it uses low temperature water for a long period to cook the meat perfectly.
Once it's done, you put it on a sauté pan for about 1-2 minutes on each side just to get a nice texture on the outside. It's important not to cook it too long, or you remove benefits 1 and 2.
This is delicious. You guys have no idea until you try it. Now a lot of people buy expensive sous-vide machines ranging from $400 to thousands of dollars.
However, you can make your own in a DIY hipster way.
First, get a large pot, and a small oven rack with a stand. Put your meat in plastic wrap, and drop it in a pot of water around 150 degrees. Cover the meat with the small cooking rack so the meat stays submerged in the water. Cook for 8-24 hours depending on thickness of the filet. The reason you can do this with plastic wrap is because it doesn't melt until temperatures of 375 degrees!
This is the rack (not the work out equipment) Which is quite affordable at only $14.99!
Once done, finish the same way as before on a sauté pan. While this isn't nearly as elegant as a professional machine, it works and it's great. I was fortunate enough to use a real machine and it's hard to go back.
That's why this weeks dream of being hip is to have my homemade sous-vide ghetto rig work as well, and elegantly, as a dedicated machine.