Characteristics of Sous Vide Cooking
Characteristic 1: Food can be evenly heated.
Possessing precise heating time and temperature control, sous vide cooking provides a method that can effectively control the flavor and texture of food, and it achieves the result that any other cooking method cannot reach by water circulation. Traditional high-heat way of cooking has difficulty controlling the heat and temperature well, so it's not easy to keep the same doneness both inside and outside. Frying, for instance, may result in uneven heating that the temperature of food is high in the middle and low at the side.
Therefore, in order to achieve suitable grades in temperatures, the cooking time and temperature ought to be circulated and controlled accurately. By comparison, the sous-vide technology can adjust the whole doneness excellently, with there being no temperature difference between the inside and the surface, ensuring the food is cooked evenly. Devices, like computer-controlled temperature sensors and high-quality sous vide cookers, are capable of controlling the fluctuation of the temperature within 0.5℃ and effectively preventing food from being overheated.
Characteristic 2: Standardized products can be produced.
When the high-temperature cooking technology is adopted to cook food, the cooking time, degree of heat and temperature are affected by the subjective judgment of the operator, and also by some external factors like personal status, facilities and physical conditions. Hence, the quality and taste of food cannot be guaranteed even if you are an experienced chef.
However, sous vide cooking can make it come true, which is characterized by the constant temperature. It is well known that air is a poor conductor of heat. With the air in the packaging being exhausted, the uniformity of heat will be increased. And in cooking, the moisture of food will not evaporate without air intervention so that the cooling effect wouldn't be produced and the temperature in the bag is similar to that of the air outside the bag or that of the water bath. So due to the above advantages, the product made by vacuum cooking has high repeatability. Nowadays, with the requirement of high standard production in the catering industry, the weight, size and condiments of each product are accurately quantified by sous vide cooking, which means the quality and the food sanitation can be really in control.
Characteristic 3: Microbial growth can be inhibited.
Microbes are the main cause of food spoilage. And the production of most microorganisms, such as Pseudomonas, Micrococcus, Arthrobacter and other aerobic bacteria, needs oxygen which is very important for their reproduction and development. Therefore, vacuum packaging aims to pump the air out of the airtight bag or container and create an oxygen-free environment with extremely low oxygen transmission rate materials. In this way, the living environment of aerobic bacteria will be destroyed and the food spoilage will be prevented, effectively avoiding cross-infection and reducing the risk of food-borne illness.
In addition, sous vide cooking can change the pressure of the food in the bag to a certain extent, with the packaging being the medium of pressure generation. It can destroy the cell membrane structures of microbes and the critical enzymes of cells, and cause the content leakage and damage of metabolic systems, thus achieving the effect of inhibiting microbial growth.
Possessing precise heating time and temperature control, sous vide cooking provides a method that can effectively control the flavor and texture of food, and it achieves the result that any other cooking method cannot reach by water circulation. Traditional high-heat way of cooking has difficulty controlling the heat and temperature well, so it's not easy to keep the same doneness both inside and outside. Frying, for instance, may result in uneven heating that the temperature of food is high in the middle and low at the side.
Therefore, in order to achieve suitable grades in temperatures, the cooking time and temperature ought to be circulated and controlled accurately. By comparison, the sous-vide technology can adjust the whole doneness excellently, with there being no temperature difference between the inside and the surface, ensuring the food is cooked evenly. Devices, like computer-controlled temperature sensors and high-quality sous vide cookers, are capable of controlling the fluctuation of the temperature within 0.5℃ and effectively preventing food from being overheated.
Characteristic 2: Standardized products can be produced.
When the high-temperature cooking technology is adopted to cook food, the cooking time, degree of heat and temperature are affected by the subjective judgment of the operator, and also by some external factors like personal status, facilities and physical conditions. Hence, the quality and taste of food cannot be guaranteed even if you are an experienced chef.
However, sous vide cooking can make it come true, which is characterized by the constant temperature. It is well known that air is a poor conductor of heat. With the air in the packaging being exhausted, the uniformity of heat will be increased. And in cooking, the moisture of food will not evaporate without air intervention so that the cooling effect wouldn't be produced and the temperature in the bag is similar to that of the air outside the bag or that of the water bath. So due to the above advantages, the product made by vacuum cooking has high repeatability. Nowadays, with the requirement of high standard production in the catering industry, the weight, size and condiments of each product are accurately quantified by sous vide cooking, which means the quality and the food sanitation can be really in control.
Characteristic 3: Microbial growth can be inhibited.
Microbes are the main cause of food spoilage. And the production of most microorganisms, such as Pseudomonas, Micrococcus, Arthrobacter and other aerobic bacteria, needs oxygen which is very important for their reproduction and development. Therefore, vacuum packaging aims to pump the air out of the airtight bag or container and create an oxygen-free environment with extremely low oxygen transmission rate materials. In this way, the living environment of aerobic bacteria will be destroyed and the food spoilage will be prevented, effectively avoiding cross-infection and reducing the risk of food-borne illness.
In addition, sous vide cooking can change the pressure of the food in the bag to a certain extent, with the packaging being the medium of pressure generation. It can destroy the cell membrane structures of microbes and the critical enzymes of cells, and cause the content leakage and damage of metabolic systems, thus achieving the effect of inhibiting microbial growth.