Sous vide

Sous vide is a cooking method in which food sealed in a bag is heated in a precisely controlled water bath. Its temperature control enables consistent cooking and reduces the risk of overcooking.

Water bath: A vessel of water maintained at a chosen temperature for cooking or laboratory work. The bath transfers heat evenly to the sealed food while holding a stable temperature.
Sous vide steak: Steak cooked in a sealed bag in a controlled-temperature water bath. A steak can reach a consistent doneness from edge to center before a finishing sear.
Benjamin Thompson: An eighteenth-century physicist and inventor known as Count Rumford, who studied heat and cooking. His experiments included slow cooking meat at low temperatures, an early precursor to sous vide.
Pressure cooking: Cooking food in a sealed vessel at elevated pressure, which raises the boiling point of water. Pressure cooking uses high heat and pressure to shorten cooking time rather than tightly limit temperature.
Immersion circulator: A device that heats and circulates water to maintain a set temperature. It keeps the cooking bath uniform instead of allowing hot and cool zones.
Sous vide eggs: Eggs cooked in their shells or sealed containers at controlled temperatures. Small temperature changes produce distinct textures in the yolk and white.
Bruno Goussault: A French food scientist who developed and taught precise low-temperature cooking methods. His work helped establish practical time-and-temperature guidance for cooking food sous vide.
Slow cooker: An electric appliance that cooks food slowly at relatively low temperatures in a covered pot. A slow cooker offers less precise temperature control and usually cooks food without sealed individual bags.
Heat transfer: The movement of thermal energy between materials at different temperatures. Heat must pass from the water through the bag and into the food.
Sous vide vegetables: Vegetables cooked in sealed bags in a temperature-controlled water bath. Bagging limits leaching into cooking water and helps retain flavor.

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