Sous Vide Cooking

[Rocking Rivet]

I have been thinking about how to cook for the extended family whilst away in my motor home (as the pubs may still be shut or overbooked on the 4th July) Has anyone tried cooking with one of these Sous Vide water heater on sites with electricity? They use about 1kw of power
As far as I can see you could cook a large chicken or joint of beef in a sealed plastic bag in a large pan or bucket, whilst of site controlling everything from your mobile phone!
I accept that some people might be wary of cooking food in plastic bags, but this would not be an every day event and apparently a lot of restaurant food is cooked in this way

 

[poppycamper]

Sorry no never even heard of a sous vide. However we use a standard slow cooker and just place whole chicken or joint in very very small splash of water and leave on all day... luverly

 

[dryad]

'tis just boil in the bag innit..

.

 

[DBK]

Its a method widely used in restaurants as it allows relatively inexperienced chefs to get a very consistent product. All they have to do is set the temperature and the time correctly and the meat or fish will be cooked nearly perfectly.

Downside is the food can be a bit bland so for beef say, you need to brown it before or after the "boiling".

 

[Langtoftlad]

It's a fad beloved by the gastro chefs - vacuum sealed, very gentle cooking, just under simmering heat.
Makes sense for a professional but not really for the domestic cook
A proper machine costs several hundred pounds.

Link to pro site
https://anovaculinary.com/what-is-sous-vide/

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[Solwaybuggier]

Lakeland used to sell a water bath for sousvide - they no longer seem to stock them, but they do sell a wand tool to use with a normal pan. But you’d also need to take a sealing device with you, unless you sealed everything before you left. I don’t think even the liner manufacturers offer a built in one as an option, so you’d probably be beating a new path!

 

[Ernesto]

Not sure I'd want to have to take the vacuum sealer, plastic bag wrap as well as a large pot and sous vide heater..... plus leaving it in an unattended van....

I also think sous vide is really aimed at cooking smaller portions - individual chicken breasts, dusck breasts, steaks rather than say, a whole chicken - the warm water won't reach the insides of the chicken in a bag and it would be very hard to get the air out ...

Buy a BBQ - spatchcock the chicken, and its done in no time

 

[jockaneezer]

You can sous vide in a foodsafe Ziploc bag no problem, just try and get as much air out as you can. Some of my bbq chums use them for pulled pork and other stuff. An hour on the smoker for the Smokey infusion, then sous vide till it falls apart. The wands are quite good too.
You could probably pop your smalls in alongside the grub and do your laundry too, saving electric !

 

[Cheshirecat57]

Question about SousVide cooking in a motorhome....best “1st-world problem” EVER

 

[DangerMousy]

I regularly use a sous vide wand at home - its great for lean meat and also for vegetables. I started off just using ziplock bags but getting all the air out is much more difficult than it looks (and if you don't get the air out your food floats in the water bath and doesn't cook evenly) so I now have a vacuum sealer.

I wouldn't even consider taking it away with us in the motorhome though - the wand itself is quite big plus it needs a large stock pot for the water bath. The cooking itself takes a long time: for example a 1.5kg spatchcocked chicken would take about 6 hours, so you'd have a huge pot of water getting in the way taking up space all day. I just don't think it'd be particularly practical in the limited space you have in most motorhomes.

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[poppycamper]

Sorry but despite what you all say I still don't see any advantages this magic machine has over a slow cooker.
Place whole chicken in slow cooker... put lid on and leave all day.. Chicken comes out moist and falling of the bones.
Added advantages also include use for stews..casseroles..puddings etc etc.

 

[PaddyM]

Its not a magic machine its a piece of kit that needs skill to master and experience to use effectively , if you do master the skill then you will be rewarded with some of the tastiest most tender food you have ever experienced .
That said i wouldn’t necessarily recommend it for motorhome cooking as the bath is quite big , and YES you can cook a whole chicken in a sous vide bath .

 

[BobtheBass]

We thought of getting a sous vide in the van but the candelabra kept knocking it off the jacobean sideboard.......

 

[PaddyM]

Its the age old argument with motorhomers , cook like you do at home ( i love high end cookery ) or do you treat motorhoming as a holiday from what some people think is a drudge ( cooking ) ?
Viva Le Différence !

 

[klaatu]

Chef uses one at home, but we don’t bring it with us in the van. We do bring the sousvided food with us, it then just needs a little bit of prep to make a meal. One big advantage is that it has a long “shelf life”.

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[Puddleduck]

Another vote for a slow cooker (or even an electric pressure cooker / multi cooker of you are on EHU)