Food Safety

Sous Vide is french for "under vacuum" and is the method of cooking that has been implemented by many chefs past and present(more so coming to fame via Top Chef and present day modern chefs) the science of sous vide was created in order to fine a cooking method that allowed us to maintain the integrity of ingredients by cooking them at the exact temperatures evenly throughout the item being cooking. By using water heat and air tight vacuum bags at relatively low temperatures for an extended time meats, fruits, vegetables and other ingredients are cooked to exact doneness the chef/cook has indented.

While we can thank Pralus, Goussault, Kellar, Bocuse and many of today's modern chefs for being revolutionaries of the sous vide technique, we can also add Dr. Michael and Mary Dan Eades to being pioneers in bringing sous vide home to the home cook.

As Sous Vide becomes more mainstream we have to take note on proper food safety and handling. A good guide for reference about safety, the danger zone and proper handling can be found here, by Douglas Baldwin. Food safety and handling are mostly overlooked by the home cook and with more complicated cooking techniques such as Sous Vide are being replicated at home by cooks we must follow certain guides to maintain proper food safety and handling.

Food safety is the first lesson culinary students learn in the classroom to my last as each student had to complete a qualifying certificate in food protection via NYC health board. Food safety and handling are also strictly enforced in each professional kitchen I worked in. The government also has a general food safety information website found here.

This leads us into acknowledging while working with the sous vide supreme home cooks and all chefs alike must keep up with proper cooking temperatures and time guides to prevent the spread of bacteria and other food borne illness.

From what we have seen the Sous Vide Supreme manual provides basic guides for cooking temps which we have found a bit on the high side, to play it safe I assume. Baldwins guide also uses a generally safe guide to cooking, but being chefs today and as we get more and more adept in cooking with our Sous Vide Supreme we are willing to take a little more risk in our cooking temperatures, so I hope all the new budding Sous Vide Supreme chef's out there will do a little more research and think about food safety proper handling, as we move forward.