Beginning Sous Vide: Low Temperature Recipes and Techniques for Getting Started at Home Paperback – November 13, 2010

Sous vide eggs 142 over easy 45-60min 142 poached 45-60min 148 "Perfect" 46-60min 149-152 "hard boiled" 45-60min 135 75min pasteurizedHa! Ubsurd 148 "Perfect" is perfect yoke with snotty whites!

I have been interested in sous vide cooking techniques for some time and have experimented extensively in my own kitchen. I wish that I had this book when I began, because it pulls together a large amount of information that has been widely distributed in various websites and periodicals. Jason's book is an excellent review of why you would want to go to the trouble of using sous vide techniques for cooking at home (Briefly, because you can achieve results which you cannot duplicate with any other cooking technique. you can utilize some cuts of meat and poultry that are difficult to cook with conventional methods, and it is an extremely convenient way to prepare meals). For example, Thanksgiving dinner this year was the most stress free I have ever prepared because I cooked the turkey with sous vide and therefore I knew exactly when it would be ready, I knew that i could keep at exactly the right temperature until all of the other dishes were ready, and I knew that it would be moist and tender.He outlines the rationale and describes how to perform the basic steps necessary for using sous vide techniques, and gives one of the best summaries that I have seen of the safety issues you need to be aware of when cooking with this method. There is a very nice discussion of the equipment options that you have if you want to sous vide at home.The bulk of the book is divided into chapters on various types of meats and vegetables. The beginning of each chapter presents an overview of the things you need to keep in mind when using sous vide with that type of meat or vegetable, and a general outline of the cooking process for that particular product. Each chapter contains a number of nice recipes that can be used as is or can be used as a guide for making your own creations. For me, however, the most useful part of the book is the extensive time and temperature charts located at the end of the book. It is extremely helpful for me to be able to quickly look up the kind of food that I am preparing and instantly have time an temperature guidelines that I can use for that particular food product.If you have any interest in trying sous vide techniques at home, I would strongly recommend that get a copy of this book. I know you will use it frequently.

I recently purchased the Anova Precision Cooker and bought this book to learn some sous vide techniques before starting to use it. I tried a few recipes from other sources and was extremely pleased with the results (chicken breast, salmon and pork tenderloin - all excellent). The recipes all involved cooking the meats for around 2 hours and they came out moist, tender and very appealing. I was intrigued by the idea of cooking a tough cut of meat for a long period of time and chose the Spicy Garlic Leg of Lamb (p. 144). I cooked the leg of lamb for approx. 48 hours (the recipe says 2 to 3 days) and the result was a disaster! We expected to see a tender, delicious medium-rare leg of lamb but what we got was lamb pudding.I accepted the failure as a good lesson for the future but was wondering how this recipe could have gone so wrong. I found the answer on the Serious Eats website (The Food Lab's Complete Guide To Buying, Storing, and Cooking a Leg of Lamb). Here is what they said:"So I decided last year to spring for one of those fancy sous vide machines. Can I use that to cook my lamb?Yes, absolutely. It's one of the best ways to do it. Season your lamb and seal it in a large vacuum-bag, then drop it into a water bath at your desired finished temperature (I go for around 140°F). Since the lamb is so large, it'll take some time to heat through to the center, so you'll want to give this at least 8 hours and up to around 12. Any longer than that, and the meat will begin to turn mushy from the accelerated enzymatic breakdown of muscle fibers. Nobody likes mushy lamb."I won't let the experience deter me but there appears to be a problem with the recipe in Beginning Sous Vide. The leg of lamb cost over $25 at Costco so it was an expensive lesson.

Sorry, but I am a cookbook snob. I can read these just like any other book. I recently got into Sous Vide and there are not many cookbooks out there for this process, much less ones that are affordable. If you haven't tried Sous Vide, try and take a cooking class with it. I did and it was the best $10 that I ever spend. The cookbook is great since it gives you the temperatures and length of time to cook the food. Try it, you'll like it. Or go take a class. The equipment can be expensive but I love it. I have purchased London Broil at Costco, put them in the bags with marinade and seasoning and put them in the freezer. My husband has even gotten into liking using the Sous Vide. We set the temperature for 129 degrees, medium rare, and when it is done, all you need to do is dry off the meat and then put it on a hot grill or sear it in a pan on the stove. You really can't screw it up and for whatever reason, the meat comes out much more tender and perfect. The drawback to Sous Vide, it is not quick. You can almost think of it as using a slow cooker but I think with better results. The thicker the pieces of meat, the longer the cooking times. There are some recipes that can take days to cook, like a pork shoulder for pork barbecue. Seriously, this is great concept, prices have been lowered on the equipment and the food is excellent. But before you invest, take a class and see if it is for you. I did and I'm glad I did.

A very apt title. I bought this book prior to buying a sous vide machine. I read it cover to cover in one sitting. Although it is American I felt this in no way detracted from the content. I feel far more confident about sous vide cookery now, thanks to all the information contained in this book - rather than having to research it myself from numerous websites. So glad I bought it. I shall be buying more of Jason's books in the future.

This is an interesting book but, for me, it's a bit 'dry' and hard to get into. The technique is well explained but it's a bit light on recipes and explanation of some of the terminology. I'm a competent cook, if not quite Masterchef, and could follow the structure quite well but it's perhaps not aimed at newbies.Having said that, the guy knows his stuff and I'll certainly be exploring the rest of his library, which looks very exciting.

This is working for us as newbies to SV cooking. Info is missing in some recipes, like whether boneless/skinless chicken thighs are used or with skin/bone. And although the recipes give time/temp guidelines they typically are missing the thickness info which is a big deal in SV cooking because twice the thickness requires 4 times longer cooking.

Pour commencer, ce livre manque cruellement de photos, surtout à ce prix.La description faite par amazone suggère qu'il permettrait de faire du "sous vide" à la maison, à prix dérisoire. Si 300-400€ vous parait dérisoire, vous y trouverez peut être votre bonheur, sinon, économisez déjà 21€ !Du coup, je n'ai pas pu tester la moindre recette, dommage.J'ai quand même lu l'introduction qui explique pas mal de choses malgré tout. Sans doute utilepour commencer si on est près à mettre tout de suite des sous dans le matériel de base

Hard to write a good review on this one! It's written entirely in black and white, it has two or three pictures also black and white, basically this is a homemade effort. Regarding the information in the book, most of it (as in 80%) is available for free on the books website, what is left out are recipes and cooking time charts, both widely available from numerous sources on the web. I cannot return it as I have written a note on one of its pages, otherwise I would gladly do so!