Santa was good to me this year. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that my birthday is three days before Christmas and I expressly forbid gifts for that occasion, so Santa was able to splurge a bit on Christmas. I know, I know, Santa wouldn’t have gotten me a birthday gift anyway under normal circumstances, but you see, we’re good friends outside December 25^th and all its implications, so he tends to be there for me other times of year as well. 

In any case, Santa brought me a Sous Vide Supreme this year and for that I’m over the moon.  Don’t know what sous vide cooking is? Chances are you’ve had sous vide prepared veggies or meat a hundred times and just didn’t realize it as it’s a relatively established cooking technique in both industrial and restaurant settings, however until now the price barrier to entry for the home chef was impractical to say the least.  Cue Drs. Michael and Mary Dan Eades and their relatively affordable new invention, the Sous Vide Supreme.  They invented a countertop sous vide cooker that’s attractive stainless steel, not gargantuan, and holds a precise temperature to within .5 a degree, more or less.  The premise of sous vide cooking is that if you cook something at the temperature at which it should ultimately end up, but over a long period of time in a regulated water bath, it will come out tender, consistent throughout, and full of flavor.  I can now wholeheartedly attest that this is true. 

Different foods have different ideal “doneness” temperatures; let’s say 134° for a medium rare steak.  In order to sous vide said steak, you marinate it if you like, seal it in a Foodsaver airtight bag, and plunge it into the water bath for a couple hours, or even six or eight. The beauty of sous vide is that you don’t need to pay a ton of attention to time as you’ll never really overcook something because you’re cooking it at the temperature it ultimately needs to be.  Instead, the meat gets more and more tender as it basks in its water bath, but maintains a consistent medium rare throughout the steak.  There are certainly ideal ranges for time depending on the cut, longer for tougher cuts, and shorter for things like filet mignon, but the style if fairly forgiving.  You can see by the photos of my veal chops, the meat is all one color top to bottom- makes for such a succulent bite! 

I will be playing around with sous vide recipes quite a bit in the next month, stay tuned for Moulard duck leg confit and more.  For now I wanted to share this veal chop with you as it’s one of the first things to come out of the bath that I ate without words, it was that good.  I seasoned it mildly so that the flavor of the gorgeous chops (that I got at Select Gourmet Foods in Seattle, my new favorite butcher) would really shine.  I merely added salt, pepper, a bay leaf and a touch of bacon fat- for added oomph, bagged it, dropped in and let it ride.  Four happy hours later, I pulled the chops, pan-seared them very lightly just to develop a bit of caramelized crust, and served them all beet-en up.  Words cannot describe! 

Yes, the chops were the star of the show, but I can’t resist mentioning how amazingly versatile beets are, and how well they complemented this dish.  I picked up some beets at the market, but forgot to grab a green vegetable for dinner.  No problem, because braised beet greens are among one of the most delightful comfort foods there is, and they are so good for you to boot.  Just make sure and cut away the bitter red stems and you’re good to go.  I braise in bacon fat, a splash of wine from the bottle I’m inevitably drinking, and a touch of garlic- couldn’t be more delish. 

I can’t wait to share more sous vide with you peeps, it’s exciting times in the casa di SaltySeattle, just you wait…