So I’ve been reading a lot into Sous Vide cooking and I’ve learnt three things:

Sous Vide cooking is more consistent It is gentler on the foods you are cooking I can’t afford a Sous Vide Setup.

As I did more research into Sous Vide cooking, however, I started to understand the concept behind it.

Sous Vide cooking is basically keeping your food in a environment kept at a specific temperature for a long time – eventually your food product will equalize to that set temperature, cooking it through.

That means no overcooking of foods. No need to char the outside of your steak to get its internal temperature up to 60 degrees. Your meal is cooked evenly through all the way through.

I wanted Sous Vide results, but a proper Sous Vide setup will set you back at least $500, which I didn’t have. So I improvised.

I picked up a $10 candy/deep fry thermometer from my local kitchen supply store. My plan of attack was to fill a pot with water, and bring that up to my desired temperature.

The Water

Expensive Sous Vide machines have computers and stuff that regulate and circulate the water to maintain a constant temperature. We won’t be paying for that convenience, so how are we going to maintain the temperature?

Warning: Physics!

Well, the pot of water loses heat to its environment at curve – the hotter it is, the faster it loses heat.

Since our pot will not be insulated, it will lose a lot of heat to its environment, and we’ll have to keep adding heat in to keep that temperature up.

That’s great, because that means that by adjusting the intensity of heat, you’ll push the water temperature up until it loses heat as fast as it gains heat (at that gas mark), so it holds at a fixed temperature.

So with a bit of experimentation, you could theoretically find a point whereby your water temperature balances out at whatever it is you want it to be.

End Physics.

The short answer is – find a gas mark where your water temperature holds steady at your desired cooking temperature.

The Packet

The next part of Sous Vide we have to emulate is the vacuum packing of food.

Food cooked Sous Vide doesn’t mean that you throw it in water and boil – you’re not boiling food, you’re cooking food at a very controlled pace. That means that your product must be properly sealed away from the water bath.

Normal Sous Vide cooking has the food vacuum packed with the desired herbs/spices and enough oil to aid in the conduction of heat.

To emulate this, I tried two things (because the first one didn’t work out so well).

First, I tried to just suck the air out of a zip lock bag.

I gagged a few times from the rush of raw oil and herbs but in the end I was pretty satisfied with the result.

Unfortunately, it was not enough. The packet still contained some pockets of air that caused it to float up to the surface.

The next method I tried was a bit counter intuitive. I put the bag in without sealing it.

Well, not really. Holding the bag open, I slowly lowered the bag into the water. The water pressure forces the air out of the bag from the bottom up, allowing your food to stay submerged in the water.

Just lower it until your meal is fully submerged and clip the open bag to the edge of the pot.

The Cook

So now the cooking – depending on what you cook, you’ll need different timings and temperatures. In future recipes I’ll include them as I find them, but this is not something you should leave to guesswork. Cooking at too low a temperature for too short a time may mean that harmful food-borne bacteria are not killed, making your food dangerous to eat.

That aside, once you know what temperature to hold it at, and how long to hold it for, be sure to keep checking back every 15-20 minutes or so to stir the water (make sure the bath’s temperature is even) and monitor the temperature, adjusting the flame as necessary.

Notes

I’ve found that the best way to hold a stable temperature is to start heating your water bath about an hour before you intend to cook. That way, you have time to find a stable resting point where your water holds at your desired temperature for about 20-30 minutes.

Be warned that when you immerse your food packet, the water bath’s temperature will drop at first, then slowly come back up to temperature. Do not over compensate for the drop in temperature when it happens.

Most meats benefit from being seared PRIOR to being cooked sous-vide, then one more time again after. Sear the meat to a nice color, then cook. When it’s done, take it out, allow it to cool to room temperature, then sear it again once more to develop a nicely browned crust.

As Chef John from FoodWishes usually says, “Do as I say, not as I do”. In the picture above you’ll find that I’ve packed a huge amount of herbage in with my pork chop. Don’t overcrowd your food! It hinders the cooking of the food, and I’ve found that when cooking Sous Vide, a little bit goes a long way.

So that’s my experience with budget Sous Vide cooking. Hit the jump for a quick recipe that features this method of cooking: Sous Vide Brined Pork Chops w/ Caramel Apple Glaze