Jason Logsdon's Blog, page 44

Modernist Cooking Blog: How Much Energy Does Sous Vide Use? The Sous Vide Power Consumption Benchmark

On this website, as well as other places online such as the sous vide subreddit, there are often questions regarding the power consumption of sous vide cooking. Questions like the following:

How much power is used for a typical sous vide cook?
How much impact does the water bath insulation have on sous vide power usage?
How do water ovens compare to sous vide immersion circulators on power usage?
Is sous vide power usage something that we really need to be concerned about?

Motivated by this and our own curiosity, we decided to define and run a Sous Vide Power Consumption Benchmark to gather some empirical data on this interesting topic. Hopefully, this article will answer some of the questions you have regarding power usage during sous vide cooking.

Read the entire entry...

Exploring Sous Vide Email Course: How to Determine Sous Vide Temperatures

The most important thing to know when trying to consistently create amazing food with sous vide is understanding how time and temperature work to cook your food. There are a few different categories of food, but in this lesson I will focus on meat. It applies to beef, lamb and pork, as well as poultry and game meats. Later lessons will cover vegetables, infusions, custards, and other foods. Read the entire entry...

Modernist Cooking Blog: How Does Temperature Affect Meat

Viewed from a high-level perspective, as meat is heated the components that make it up change. These changes result in structural transformations that affect the texture, juiciness, and mouthfeel of the meat. The higher the temperature of the heat applied to the meat, the faster these changes happen.

Here is a more detailed look at the process.

Raw meat is generally squishy, chewy, and full of moisture.

At 120°F (48.9°C) meat slowly begins to tenderize as the protein myosin begins to coagulate and the connective tissue in the meat begins to break down. This also causes the meat to firm up as the protein contracts. As the temperature increases so does the speed of tenderization.

Read the entire entry...

Exploring Sous Vide Email Course: How Does Temperature Affect Meat

Viewed from a high-level perspective, as meat is heated the components that make it up change. These changes result in structural transformations that affect the texture, juiciness, and mouthfeel of the meat. The higher the temperature of the heat applied to the meat, the faster these changes happen. Here is a more detailed look at that process. Read the entire entry...

Exploring Sous Vide Email Course: How Sous Vide Times Work

It seems like a lot of the confusion for how long to sous vide certain items for comes down to the difference between cooking by thickness and cooking by tenderness. I wanted to take a more in-depth look at those types of cooking to help clear up any uncertainty around them. Read the entire entry...

Exploring Sous Vide Email Course: Sous Vide Thickness Ruler

When using sous vide to cook by the thickness of the food, it can be hard to remember how long different thicknesses take. To help you out, I've created a sous vide thickness ruler that you can use to quickly see how long you need to cook the food for. Read the entire entry...

Exploring Sous Vide Email Course: Is Sous Vide Safe? Key Safety Guidelines

If there's one thing you need to know when cooking, whether it's using sous vide or any other technique, it is what procedures you need to follow to be safe when preparing your food. I've put together a list of the top safety points in regards to sous vide. If you follow them, you won't get sick according to the US Government, Harold McGee, Douglas Baldwin, and Serious Eats, whose more scientific-based leads I follow. Read the entire entry...

What is Sous Vide

Sous vide is a wonderful method of cooking that makes it easy to turn out delicious, amazing food that will impress your friends and family. However, there are some basics you should understand before you get started, as well as some more advanced techniques to maximize your sous vide experience. Read the entire entry...

Media and News: La Presse Quoting Jason Logsdon in Their Sous Vide Article

In their recent sous vide article, La Presse, a newspaper from Montreal, Canada, reached out to Jason Logsdon to get his thoughts on sous vide cooking. Read the entire entry...

Media and News: Expert Interview Serives Interview With Jason Logsdon

Jason was recently interviewed by Cilantro as part of their Expert Interview Series. You can read about his thoughts on modernist cooking, pasta, and desserts. Read the entire entry...