Sous-Vide Cooking at Home

So how can you try out sous-vide cooking at home without a professional vacuum-packing machine?

I will show you how to cook a chicken breast, and you can use the same procedure for other foods. Just glance through the recipe options in the book that I’ve listed and you’ll see how versatile the technique is.

• Put four layers of cling film (plastic wrap) on your work surface. Place a boneless chicken breast in the centre of the cling film, then roll it tightly, pressing out the air to each side as you roll. Make a knot in one end, then press the air out the other side before you knot that end. This will give you a partial sous-vide.
• Of course, you cannot keep the product as though it had been properly vacuum-packed because you have not created a full vacuum. Therefore you need to treat the parcel as you would any non-vacuumed product and store it properly in the refrigerator or freezer for the recommended time only. If you follow your common sense, then you’ll be fine.
• For most sous-vide dishes, there are two alternative cooking methods: boiling and steaming. To boil, place the parcel in a saucepan large enough to hold it comfortably, then just cover it with water. Put the pan on a medium heat and bring the water up to 70°C/158°F. Keep it at that temperature for the time indicated in the recipe, which will depend on the size of the portion. A 180g/6¼oz chicken breast will take about 20 minutes; if it is stuffed, it will take a further 5-10 minutes.
• Alternatively, you can steam the parcel. Put a large saucepan of water on to simmer, with a steamer insert on top. Put the chicken in the steamer, cover and cook for 20-25 minutes.
• When the food is ready, just cut off one end of the cling film (plastic wrap), push the meat through and pat it dry on a paper towel or a clean dish towel.
• Next, to regain the crisp skin, heat a non-stick frying pan (skillet) over a medium heat and panfry the chicken, skin-side down, for a minute or so until crisp and browned. Then serve it with a lovely sauce, or jus.