Mastering the Art of Sous Vide Cooking
Sous vide cooking, once accessible only to the most advanced professional kitchens because of the once costly, specialized equipment required, has made its way to the realm of home cooks far and wide thanks to the relatively recent availability of more affordable sous vide machines tailored for their use. With this technique now available to a much larger audience, many are expanding their cooking skill sets beyond the fundamentals of roasting, sautéing and braising into the world of low, steady-temperature cooking.
In sous vide cooking, generally speaking, food is sealed in a plastic bag and submerged in water held at a constant temperature, leading to consistent, perfectly prepared dishes. Chef Justice Stewart authored Mastering the Art of Sous Vide Cooking to give people the knowledge to master this epicurean realm.
Having grown up in the Ravenswood Houses in Long Island City, Stewart was a relative latecomer to the professional culinary world. After many years in construction, he finally made the leap at 40 years old from passionate amateur to qualified professional. In addition to cooking for celebrities and other high-end clientele at large events, Stewart founded the blog Gourmet De-Constructed. Along his journey, he fell in love with all that sous vide has to offer. He is now on a quest to spread its gospel to the world, proclaiming its value in preparing food for everyday dinners and holiday celebrations alike.
Stewart grew up on soul food, which means many Thanksgivings and Christmases were filled with ham, turkey, macaroni and cheese and the like. But having now recently taken over the reins of preparing holiday meals for his own family from his late cousin, he likes to do things a bit differently.
“I like game meats. I would consider them one of my specialties,” he says. “My Christmas would turn into goose instead of the ham or turkey my family would traditionally cook, and I’d combine that with soul food and how I was used to eating on those holidays.”
“The idea for the book was, more or less, ‘around the world in 80 sous vide recipes,’” says Stewart. That translates into dishes such as Memphis-style barbecue bleu cheese burgers, Jamaican oxtail stew, Madras curry chicken, feijoada (Portuguese stew) and gochujang cold squid.
At his holiday table, Stewart draws inspiration from the many cultures represented in New York City. For Thanksgiving and Christmas meals, Stewart recommends his cookbook’s grilled leg of lamb with Gjetost sauce, made from a sweet-savory Norwegian cheese—“more of a Scandinavian take on a holiday recipe.”
You can’t go wrong with the classic duck confit or his pork cutlets with Marsala wine and wild mushrooms recipes, either. However, for a holiday meal that truly wows, Stewart recommends his recipe for chateaubriand with red wine sauce—a center-cut beef tenderloin cooked to perfection, accompanied by a classic French-style sauce. You can up the ante even more by slicing it tableside, as he recommends in the book.
One of the many reasons he loves cooking sous vide is because, “It’s like having your own personal sous chef in the kitchen.” Yes, there might be a large time investment required with some of these recipes—sometimes days—but the hands-off nature of sous vide cooking frees you up to focus on other parts of the meal, and, as is Stewart’s hope, gives you the space to experiment and expand your repertoire. With the right sous vide recipe, you no longer have to fret over whether the main course will come out dry, because the technology ensures perfectly cooked results every time.
Though many praise sous vide cooking for the way it handles meat, you can also prepare your sides with this method. Stewart’s book includes recipes such as honey-glazed heirloom carrots, buttery root vegetables and garlic mashed potatoes, perfect complements to your holiday’s main attraction. There’s even dessert! Stewart says his favorite for the holidays is the cardamom-spiced pears in red wine.
The holidays can be stressful, but with Mastering the Art of Sous Vide Cooking by your side, you are given peace of mind (at least when it comes to getting a great meal on the table). And whether you prepare a sous vide feast or opt to just use the method for one or two dishes, that incremental mental freedom is one of the best gifts that anyone could ask for during the holiday season.
Mastering the Art of Sous Vide by Justice Stewart (Page Street Publishing, 2018)
Chef Justice Stewart | @chef_justice_stewart
Gourmet De-Constructed
