Vacuum cooking oven - Sous Vide

The use of the Sous-Vide vacuum oven is based on two fundamental concepts:

1. Cooking under vacuum eliminates contact in a free atmosphere with traditional cooking liquids, preventing the dispersion of substances naturally present in foods
2. Limit the temperature to what is strictly necessary so that the food reaches the heart of the heat necessary for the correct transformation from the "raw" to the "cooked" state by extending the cooking time.

The most obvious advantage of vacuum cooking (Sous-Vide) is represented by the purity of the flavors obtained through the combination of low cooking temperatures and the vacuum packaging of the food which prevents the dispersion of flavors and aromas.
With sous vide cooking you discover flavors of a purity and intensity unattainable with traditional cooking methods.
Since the foods are isolated and exposed to low temperatures, the Vitamins and Mineral Salts, which are the first nutritional principles to dissolve and/or dissolve in traditional cooking liquids, are preserved; this prerogative is even more evident in the cooking of fish and certain vegetables which, cooked sous vide, do not require salting after cooking sous vide in water.
Sous-Vide cooking is particularly suitable for low-calorie and/or low-sodium diets as foods can be cooked (and also consumed: see above) without the addition of seasonings and salt.
In Sous-Vide cooking, foods are "protected and isolated" by vacuum packaging, making them suitable for those suffering from allergic disorders or celiac disease as the dish intended for them cannot come into contact, even inadvertently, with condiments or components to which the diner is sensitive.
A further advantage, this time linked to the combination of low temperature and prolonged times, is related to the tenderness of the sous vide cooked meats; the more valuable cuts require a shorter time and the less valuable and harder cuts a longer time, but in any case the low temperature prevents the coagulation of the proteins, therefore giving the meat a particular tenderness.
In the case of "rare" cooking, the use of very low temperatures (38°C-45°C) allows you to obtain a food that is still "rare", but warm to the core; in this case a quick passage over an extremely hot pan or on the barbecue will allow you to obtain a "grilled" surface with very short exposure times and consequent reduction of the potentially harmful effects of the Maillard reaction.
The structure of vacuum cooked foods is also particularly soft and silky and this result is also impossible to achieve with traditional cooking.
Sous-Vide vacuum cooking is characterized by a series of its own peculiarities, which, if correctly considered, make it possible to obtain excellent products to be finished with short traditional cooking, ready and finished dishes already out, and basic preparations to be combined with procedures or more or less conventional finishes.
The most interesting feature is the possibility of cooking food even without the addition of condiments and, if desired, even without the addition of salt. Failure to directly expose to heat sources and cooking liquids preserves the integrity of the taste of food; the choice to add or not add flavors and condiments is therefore exclusively related to personal tastes and the final result you want to obtain.
Most of the condiments and flavorings that you still want to use will therefore have to be reduced in quantity, as they themselves will be more intense in their flavor as a result of the "protected" Sous-Vide cooking.
To adapt to current tastes, most red meats require finishing in the oven or with a very hot iron pan to create a golden and/or crunchy surface (Maillard reaction). These cuts must therefore be marinated, seasoned and cooked under vacuum at the serving temperature (which is the temperature you want to obtain at the heart of the food) for more or less long times depending on the type and size of the cut itself.
Portioned fish, whether seasoned or not, is suitable for Sous-Vide cooking only (see the case of mi-cuit salmon or a more prosaic white fish fillet without further finishing). Once scalloped in portions, seasoned and vacuum-packed, it can be cooked for a short period at the necessary/desired temperature and plated directly upon exiting the Gourmet SOUS-VIDE.
Sous vide cooking of vegetables: must be cooked at temperatures which are normally higher than meat and fish as carbohydrates require at least 80°C for the product to be edible; they can be cooked in separate bags and finished together in the pan or cooked all together and then only seasoned when leaving the Gourmet SOUS-VIDE. If the vegetables are packaged together with meat or fish they have the function of flavoring, they must be eliminated at the end of cooking or finished separately before serving as they will hardly be cooked at the temperatures normally used for meat and fish

VACUUM PACKAGING:

In these cases, vacuum cooking techniques, procedures and systems can be used which still allow correct packaging, maximum level vacuum creation and perfect sealing of the bag.

1. Leave free space between the food and the mouth of the bag: the greater the distance between the food and the mouth of the bag, the lower the risk of liquid aspiration. It is the system that can be used in the presence of modest quantities of liquids in the food.
2. Double the bag: insert the food into a bag, fold the mouth and insert it into a second bag, making sure that the folded mouth of the first is facing the bottom of the second. In this way the liquids will remain in the first bag, but the vacuum level will still be complete because the folding of the mouth of the first bag will prevent the liquids from escaping but not the air. It is a system that can be used in case of significant quantities of liquids present in the food (rare steaks or fish), and is also very useful for preserving the integrity of the bag in the presence of foods with thorns or bones that could pierce the bag itself .
3. Boxes and containers with lids for vacuum packing: if the quantity of liquids is high, foods can be vacuum packed in special containers and:

• cooked in the containers themselves by placing the container directly in the SOUS-VIDE Water Ovens. Cooking in a vacuum container is a process particularly suitable for all those vegetables that could crush if packaged fresh, but an appliance large enough to contain the container is required.
• placed in the freezer. Once the freezing cycle has been completed, open the container, remove the frozen block and vacuum pack it in the bag. Everything can then be inserted into the still frozen Sous-vide cooker, the final result will be perfect as the level of vacuum cooking created in the container is identical to that achievable in the bag.

4. Freeze liquid condiments: when you want to add a liquid condiment to the food to be vacuum packaged, it is possible to previously freeze the prepared condiment by creating frozen "tablets" using the ice cube packaging accessories. The tablets created in this way can be added to foods to be vacuum packaged, avoiding the risk of aspiration of the condiments themselves. We recommend making rather thin tablets so you can easily insert them into food.

The quality of the vacuum bags used for Sous-Vide cooking is of fundamental importance for the success of the preparations.
The bags to be used must be compliant with food contact, sufficiently robust to avoid punctures due to thorns or sharp parts present in packaged foods and must be thermostable at least for the temperatures used for Sous-vide cooking.