cooking vegetables sous vide
Sous vide vegetables. - 85° [Until done] -
Thomas Keller says in his book “under pressure” that every vegetables can be cooked sous vide. All, with the exception of green vegetables, they loose their colours at low temperatures. In fact you should always cooked green vegetables in a large pot of salted boiling water, this technique is known in french culinary tradition as “cuire a l’anglaise” meaning “cook english style” indeed if the water is not boiling the chlorophyl starts to leach out into the cooking liquid. hence a very nasty gray-green vegetable in a very nice green water, memories anyone? Chlorophyl start to leach out at around 70°C (158°F) A large pot of water will make sure that when you throw your vegetables in it the water temperature doesn’t drop down too low.
Let’s come back to our sous vide veg. Listening to Keller I chose two vegetables. a handful of Jerusalem artichokes (Sunchokes, Topinambour) and some endives.
For the Sunchokes I decided to keep it simple. Salt, Pepper (Freshly ground please) and a knob of butter, and a couple sprig of chervil. Nothing more. I really like sunchokes and I’m convinced that less is more when it comes to these little balls of goodness. I seasoned them and placed them in the plastic pouch trying to keep them on one plane for even cooking.
For the endives though, I chose them for a couple of reasons, first I really enjoy endives, second they have a little bit of green and wanted to illustrate what Keller was writing about green vegetables and sous vide, sadly I completely forgot to take an “after cooking” photo which makes this reason obsolete. I seasoned them with salt and pepper (You know which) Butter and to counter act the bitterness of the endives I added a couple of orange suprêmes and some orange rinds cut into julienne as well as a pinch of sugar. I vacuum packed the whole thing.
ééé
I placed the pouches in the water bath with the Swid and set it at 85°C (185°F) for 1 hour. I thought that it will be enough.
How do you know when they cooked? Just check them out, feel them you’ll know. If they’re too firm they not done yet. The good point is that they will never overcooked. If the pieces are the same size, they will all cook at the same time, if you have small and big piece, the small one will stay hot without overcooking while the bigger pieces will get to temperature.
recap:
Jerusalem Artichokes
Endives
Orange rind julienned
Orange suprêmes
Salt (Sea or Kosher)
Freshly ground black pepper
Butter
In a stirred bath: - 85°C [Until done] -
English
French
Voici un petit lien qui illustre l’exercice avec des endives sous-vide très semblables aux vôtres. Et pour éviter la perte de couleur verte, ce chef utilise le safran