Food. Obsession. Pretty much covers how I feel about sous vide cooking, which I've been doing for a couple of months now. Got an early Christmas present just before Thanksgiving and I haven't been the same since.Sous vide has been around for quite a while and I've been longing for a sous vide device for years after seeing it done on the original Iron Chef. Sous vide is a French technique of cooking using vacuum sealed bags of ingredients in a temperature controlled water bath. Pure precision without all the fuss.
It controls the speed, texture and moisture of your ingredients. It's a rather low maintenance, slow cooking process that makes a crock pot look outdated and clumsy, although don't get me wrong, I love crock pot cooking.
This however, takes slow cooking to a whole other level... upscale, classy, perfection.
Now, we all know you do not need any fancy device to poach or scramble eggs. But if you want perfection, replicable perfection, every single time, while you do laundry, set the table, putz in the garden or finish watching your favorite marathon tv adventures, this is almost certainly a cooking technique you will appreciate.
I have an Anova digital sous vide device with a cool little app for android that connects my sous vide device to my phone via Wi-Fi. It also has a great user contributed recipe database where I can search (or upload) recipes and select them to set the sous vide temperature and timer for my device remotely. Geeky, I know. I just love it; without any apology. A perfect present for a gastro-geek like myself.It is precise; so forgiving. It is divine. It is so low maintenance and beautiful, you will want to run it in your kitchen 24/7, just like a chef, so it's always ready when you are.
But, I don't do that, although it is almost a permanent fixture now in my kitchen.
Today, I had a craving for eggs. I get gorgeous free range eggs from the organic farm next door and what better way to do them justice? Plain and luscious and beautiful. I will likely serve mine with a tuna nicoise salad or maybe with a hollandaise. The hollandaise I will make first because it cooks at a lower temperature than the eggs and the eggs will cook in 15 minutes giving me plenty of time to emulsify the sauce before serving with my eggs.
Sous Vide Hollandaise (149F/69C 45 minutes- 1hr):
- 1 tablespoon (15 ml) freshly squeezed lemon juice
- 1 stick (8 tablespoons/114 g) butter
- 3 egg yolks (large), well-beaten
- 1/2 teaspoon (2.5 ml) salt
- 1 pinch (1 ml) dry mustard
I put everything in a mason jar, sealed it with a cap and put it in the water bath with everything else. Once it's done, I will use my immersion blender to emulsify it into a beautiful sauce.
Wish... I.... Would... Have...Tightened...The...Lid.... lol! Next time, I will put it in a baggie and then transfer it to a bowl to emulsify. So needless to say my recipe didn't quite work this time, but there's always next time.
Today I am doing both poached eggs and scrambled at 167 degrees F, for 15 minutes. The eggs are poached right in their shells. My poached eggs will come out of the water bath and into a cup of ice water until cool to touch. Crack the shells and the poachies will come right out in a perfect little ball.
The scrambled eggs are done in a ziplock bag with the air removed. That's it, no real skill to it just be sure to remove the air out of the bag when you seal it. Some massage the bag every so often but I find that unnecessary. I push it around the water bath with a big wooden spoon and that works just fine. I also add a little heavy cream and a little milk to the beaten eggs, but that is entirely optional. A little salt and pepper and then just drop the sealed bag in the water bath and step away.
If after 15 minutes, the scrambled eggs are still a little moist for you liking, just keep cooking in the water bath until you are pleased with the texture. Remember, it is really difficult to overcook or dry out your food when using sous vide, which makes it perfect if you happen to lose track of time on the scrambled eggs. And worse case with the poached eggs, you will simply get hard boiled eggs. But do try to remove the poached eggs at or before the 15 minute mark until you get the hang of what you like in a poached egg texture.
I have been saving my egg shells for the tomato garden as this adds calcium back to the soil (along with banana peels) which helps prevent blossom end rot in the rainy season. You may not care about that, but hey, if you check out RoofGrown, my gardening blog, then you'll know that it all matters to me!
I am serving my poached eggs today over some gorgeous locally grown (as in 5 minutes from my house) beefsteak tomatoes that I will slice thickly in lieu of english muffins. Which I have on hand, but these tomatoes are the bomb, so I am craving those instead. Topped of course, with the hollandaise, it would have been even better.
My breakfast buddy wanted a more traditional poached experience so I made his with a little homemade garlic hummus, fresh Florida avocado, arugula from the garden and one of our favorite condiments, garlic aioli. Since I messed up the hollandaise... lol! but oh jeez this version was so delicious, too! I will post a recipe for that next because it is truly delicious and Tsunami's mother absolutely adores it so next time we make it, we will make extra for her.
Alas, even without the hollandaise the eggs were so good that I ate them without anything but salt and pepper. The poached eggs, once out of their shells, were the perfect soft boiled poached egg. A couple of minutes shy of 15 and it would have been runny enough while still having a set white. I'll continue to update this post once I find my sous vide zen as I could write an entire post just on temps and timing.
The scrambled eggs, well, they had a fluffy custard-like texture that was so delicious. You can never get this out of a pan and with a little of your favorite cheese or fillings, it would make your regular omelette cry out in a jealous rage. Serious competition for pan scrambled eggs or an omelette. Just can't beat it. And if you happen to be entertaining for breakfast or just a big hungry family, this is the perfect way to make a large batch of scrambled eggs without letting them get too dry. Just in case you have sleepy monsters that wake at all hours of the morning or, as is sometimes the case in my house... well into the afternoon.
Tuna Nicoise, you'll just have to wait for another day... I guess all I can say about that is that if you want to serve your poachies a certain way, you should get everything else prepared ahead so they go right onto your dish once they're ready. Otherwise, they are just too good not to pop into your mouth and gobble up as they are. And I actually had my beautiful tomatoes all on the ready so I ended up serving those with the scrambled eggs instead. Divine.
***Update - Made the Hollandaise sauce today (Feb 3, 2016) and not only did the Hollandaise sauce turn out perfectly, but the poached eggs I did at the same time and they too were perfect. That means you don't need a higher temp/short cooking time when you do them together. That gives you perfect time to remove the eggs when the timer goes off, put them in an ice water bath while you emulsify the sauce so they can be served together warm. It was such a gorgeous sauce without any fuss! Talk about a great go to for company! Really doesn't get more luxurious or delicious with so little effort. I also added a dash of garlic powder, which turned out lovely but you could also do a dash of garlic oil. :)
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