Sous Vide Cooking

Bruno Goussault’s DVD mentions a recipe of a pear cooked sous vide:

• 1 pear
• 30 g chocolate
• 20 g vanilla sugar (vanilla extract plus sugar)

The recipes mentions puting the pear sous vide and immerse the pouch in a water bath set at a temperature of  8O°C  until the pear is “done”.

Their is no mention of the cooking time. I checked several times the pear before it becomes too soft and therefore decided to stop cooking the pear after 30 minutes. I chilled the pear and kept it in the fridge one day before serving it.

The result is a very nicely cooked pear but I can’t say this pear was something special. It was good but nothing amasing. I think the main advantage of this way of cooking pears is the possibility to keep them 15 to 25 days in the fridge (at the condition to keep them in the pouch). This is definitely a very good point for professionnals.

Jean-François

This is my first try with cooking shellfish sous vide : a lobster tail.

I looked at Thomas Keller’s time and temperature table which mentioned a cooking temperature at 60°C during 15 minutes for a lobster tail. I am realizing more and more that Baldwin’s Sous Vide Guide is very practical. The information about the thickness is key. Douglas Baldwin indicates a 20 mm shellfish is pasteurized at 60.5°C at the condition being cooked during 41 minutes. I have decided to follow Douglas’ recommendations.

I took off the shell and seasoned the lobster tail with salt, pepper and a frozen teaspoon of  “extra vierge” olive oil. After cooking I seared the lobster tail some seconds in a skillet with some olive oil.

The result was very good. The flesh of the lobster was moist and had a very pleasant flavour of olive oil.

Another successful try!

Jean-François