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Sous Vide: The Art of Precision Cooking is a practical handbook rather than a book to sit down and read, and it does that job well.
Sous vide is based on a simple principle. The ingredient is vacuum-sealed and cooked in a water bath at exactly the temperature at which it is meant to finish, which means it can never overcook. The difficulty lies not in the method but in knowing what temperature and how much time each ingredient actually requires, and in that respect an entrecôte differs from beef brisket as much as salmon differs from a carrot.
That is precisely the question this book answers. More than 100 recipes arranged by main ingredient, with temperatures and times for meat, fish, shellfish and vegetables, plus suggestions for putting the dishes together and tips from the chefs. The opening section covers brines, salting, flavoured butters and marinades, and there are also sections on curing and smoking. It is designed to sit open beside the circulator, not to be read on the sofa.
Written by Alex Shannon, Chris Holland and Gary Wooliscroft, and according to the publisher the first British book on the subject. It is aimed as much at professional kitchens as at home cooks, which shows in the way both portions and methods can be scaled.
If you have just bought sous vide equipment and want to get beyond your first tentative attempts with steak, this is the quickest way forward. If you want to understand the method in depth, there are more comprehensive works, but few that are as immediately useful at the cooker.
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 208
Language: English
First published: 2013
