Compression

Compression is our newest sous vide technique, discovered (if you will) by Mark Hopper, chef de cuisine at Bouchon in Las Vegas. We use it almost exclusively to change the texture of a food, specifically porous fruits such as pineapple and melon. Compression, which requires a great deal of pressure, can transform a crisp, light bite of fruit into a dense, almost meaty one. We also compress cucumbers, celery, and tomatoes.

A secondary effect of compression is what might be called “setting”—in other words, using the pressure to bring a food to a specific shape and maintain it, so that when it’s briefly cooked, the food sets in that shape but remains raw inside. It can then be finished using another cooking method without losing its shape. We set the shapes of different fish and meat this way—a loin of rabbit wrapped in bacon, a piece of delicate St. Peter’s fish (John Dory), a stuffed squab breast.