Sous Vide Cooking

Three months ago I tried a soft boiled egg at 63°C during 1 hour. I have admitted that it was not the perfect egg for me and promissed to make another try. This time I cooked an egg 50 minutes at a constant 64.5°C temparature.

And here is the result!

(Soft boiled egg cooked at 64.5°C during 50 minutes)

 The egg at 64.5°C has nothing to do compared to the 63°C one (see the last picture down this post). The appearance of the 64.5°C is better, the white egg is more compact and doesn’t fall down like the 63°C one.

(Soft boiled egg cooked at 64.5°C during 50 minutes)

The yolk is also very different compared to the 63°C one.

(Soft boiled egg cooked at 64.5°C during 50 minutes)

See bellow the picture I made 3 months ago of the 63°C soft boiled egg with the Sousvidemagic and above the 64.5°C egg with the swid of Addélice. This is crazy to see how a difference of only 1.5°C can change so much the texture of an egg.
As I told it before I didn’t really like the 63°C egg but the 64.5°C was fantastic!! Absolutly incredible…I strongly recommend anybody trying it!
I read on internet that such egg was impossible to do without the precision and stability of an immersion circulator. I know understand why. If the temperature variation is equal or higher to 1°C then this can change the final texture of the white egg and yolk. The cool thing is also to be sure to reproduce the same result each time you set your immersion circulator at 64.5°C! I am definitely getting found of this cooking equipment.

(63°C soft boiled egg cooked during 60 minutes)

Jean François

October to April is the scallop season in France. When going on markets you can see very often fishmongers’ stalls full of Coquilles Saint Jacques.  The white flesh of the scallop (the “noix de Saint Jacques”) is very thick and looking beautiful. I purchased 3 noix de Saint Jacques for a very fair price.

I have seen several post on the net with poeple who cooked scallops sous vide at 50°C. I was scarred to get it a little bit overcooked and therefore decided to cook it at 49°C.
I cleaned the scallop, put it in a pouch with salt, pepper and a bit of butter. I left the scallop 40 minutes in the water bath.

As I just wanted to cook one piece of Saint Jacques at 49°C (I have 2 other pieces to make other tries at different temperatures) I thought it was a pity to spoil 8 litres water in a big pot. Therefore I decided to use a small pot that was big enough for the Swid and the tiny scallop pouch I prepared. I was surprised to see the swid was very stable with such few water. After 5 minutes heating the water bath temperature was remaining steadily at 49.0°C!

After 40 minutes cooking I seared the scallop 3 seconds on each side in a hot pan with a bit of butter.
The scallop was perfectly and evenly cooked but, in my opinion, not cooked enough.
Then, I decided to cook the other piece of noix de Saint Jacques at 51°C during 40 minutes. The result was much better. My sister who is a big scallop fan, said it was almost melting in her mouth. She was surprised by the moist texture of the scallop and agreed on the fact it was one of the best scallop she has eaten so far!

Tomorrow I’ll try my last noix de Saint Jacques at 50°C (yes, I know this was the temperature originally recommended by other bloggers!).

Jean-François

Today I woke up and decided to “swid my salmon”!
I purchased 2 pieces of salmon, 20 mm thick, seasoned them with salt, pepper and a little bit of frozen olive oil.
A common problem when cooking salmon, is that the protein albumin leaches out of the fish and coagulates unattractively on the surface. Therefore I brined the salmon 10 minutes in a 10% salted water.

I had look to Douglas Baldwin table about temperatures & times for pasteurized and “mi-cuit” salmon.

Pasteurized salmon (20 mm thick):

55°C         57.5°        60.5C
4:20        1:52            41′

I decided to cook 41 minutes at 60.5°C

Salmon “mi-cuit” (20mm thick):

Very Rare          Rare Medium Rare          Medium Medium Rare
38.5°C                        47°C                                      52°C
26′                               28′                                           28′

The albumin was very present at the surface of the pasteurized salmon. The “mi-cuit” salmon had really less albumin and I could easily take it off before searing it.

(very few albumin appearing on the “mi-cuit” salmon)

I seared the salmon in a pan with a bit of olive oil.
As you can see on the pictures the difference of colour between the pasteurised and the Medium Medium Rare salmon is not obvious.

(left, pasteurized salmon – right, “mi-cuit”)

To sum up I would say the salmon “mi-cuit” 52°C cooked during 28 minutes was definitely the most flavorful. Next time I’ll try both “mi-cuit” 47°C and 52°C during 28 minutes.

Jean-François

I am sorry not being able to answer to all your questions about the Swid but I am very busy at the moment. The best way to illustrate the precision, size and power of the pump is to watch the video I just made.

I didn’t have time to translate my comments in English but I am sure you’ll understand.
So far I am very satisfied of this appliance which is the most competitive immersion circulator of the market: EUR 449 incl. VAT and shipping costs.
Here is a comparision table of immersion circulators dedicated to sous vide.

Addélice confirmed the swid will be available this week.

Jean-François

Two weeks ago, I have been contacted by Addélice who has proposed me to test their new immersion circulator dedicated to sous vide cookery.
I was honored by their proposal and, as you can imagine, I have accepted!

I received the Swid this morning and had only time to take some pictures before leaving. I am very excited to share my first impressions about this sous vide appliance!

I was very surprised by the size and the weight of the Swid. I had to give back the Julabo EC that was borrowed to me during summer holidays and therefore I can’t show you pictures to compare the 2 appliances. Nevertheless I took some pics to compare the Swid with the SousVideMagic.

The Swid is compact and can be stored easily in one of your kitchen draws. This is an excellent point.
The casing is amazing, very soft and sensual to the touch. The protection grid is part of the whole metal structure of the Swid. For the record a metal grid is always coming as an option with the other immersion circulator such as Polyscience and Julabo…The Swid grid as a funny design with holes like bubbles carved in the metal.

I didn’t have time to try it so far but my first feeling about the swid is excellent. I’ll come back to you as soon as I have a little bit more time.

Jean-François