Sous-vide cooking

Sous vide cooking is a new method of cooking food kept in a vacuumed plastic bag by controlling precisely the temperature. Different foods have different temperature that they should reached in order to be cooked. It ranges from 40°C for some fishes, between 50°C and 60°C for meat and around 80°C for vegetables.

In traditional cooking, for meat in particular, one can use a thermometer inserted in the heart of the piece to cook in order to check when it has reached the target temperature. This is why controlling time in traditional cooking is so important to prevent overcooking.

Sous vide cooking cannot overcook the food. It does cook the food very evenly. The duration of cooking should ensure that the the center of the food has reached the desired temperature. Therefore large pieces will require longer times. Since the temperature is precisely controlled, the duration may be somewhat flexible assuming it is sufficient to cook the centre of the food. Sous vide cooking is unattended cooking since you don't need to check that the food is getting overcooked.