Episode 90: Sous Vide with Jason Logsdon of Amazing Food Made Easy

We're talking to Jason Logsdon of Amazing Food Made Easy about the cooking technique sous vide. He gets into the why we'd want to cook with sous vide, basic (and easy) equipment and set-up, and the science behind the temperatures and times to cook food. If you haven't tried sous vide, you need to! You're in for a treat with this interview!

Let's taco' bout it!

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Let's taco 'bout it!

• Sharon is back on the coconut La Croix bandwagon, because she got grossed out at a breakfast food chain restaurant before she went to Costco hungry. Sharon can't quit you!
• Winter had fancy beans. Lee made them, of course: Bush's Baked Beans (Bourbon and Brown Sugar version), sautéed green peppers and onion, fried up bacon, a can of pineapple tidbits, and some Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce.

• We're excited to have our friend Jason Logsdon of AmazingFoodMadeEasy.com and SelfPublishACookbook.com, on the podcast again today. We met Jason at the Everything Food Conference and he ended up being our very first guest on the podcast when we chatted with him about Infusions (listen to it here) and look forward to learning all about sous vide from him.
• Thanks to listener Keyra for requesting this topic with these enthusiastic words in her email: "Holy crap! You guys need to talk about cooking stuff in a sous-vide!!!!!!!!!! I just ate a trip tip for a work Christmas party that tastes like prime rib!!!! People need to know!" Thanks, Keyra.!
• Jason has already published 4 books on sous vide (this, this, this, and this), so he knows his stuff.
• Chef Thomas Keller of the restaurant French Laundry made the technique popular with his book Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide.
• Panera is also using sous vide to cook their chicken and prepared meats. 
• The basics: What is sous vide? Jason has a great article here.
• What is happening at different temperatures? At 125-130 degrees F, you're killing off the bacteria; at 140 degrees F, more juice is coming out of it; and 150-160 degrees F different parts of the meat are being broken down. 

• Chuck roast steaks at 36 hours can give you a ribeye like texture and flavor, for cheaper.
• Heating food through (then you'll be finishing it off on the grill or stovetop): This will be dependent on how thick your meat is. Jason sells a timing ruler to have to measure your meat thickness.
• Tenderize: For braising and roasting, you will want longer cook time.
• Timing in sous vide: You have much longer leeway and doesn't get ruined quickly. Yay!
• Sous vide circulators: Heats the water and holds the temperature indefinitely.
• What kind of containers can you sous vide in? You can use your regular stock pot, plastic container (like this 12 qt polycarbonate restaurant prep container), heck, even your own sink! Most of these containers with a sous vide machine can be placed on the counter, unless you start getting into vegetables. Those temps are closer to 185 degrees F and that is hot to the touch. Don't forget to put a trivet down!
• Put your food and meat into food safety plastic bags before going into sous vide bath. You can use Food Saver bags or if you're a beginner, Ziploc Freezer bags work great also.
• Use the water displacement method to shove all the air out of the food bag.
• Another Captain Obvious tip: use a wooden spoon to push your food into the water for hotter temperatures, so you don't burn yourself!
• Feel free to use different types of spices, rubs, seasonings, and herbs to flavor your meat. However, Jason suggests staying away from a few things, namely raw garlic, ginger, and onion, since they never get "cooked" and you don't get those caramelized, nutty, mellower flavors.

• Jason had a couple of great ideas if you'd like to try sous vide without purchasing a sous vide machine right away.
• Remember: sous vide is just another cooking method. It really shines at meat.
• Just like we talked about in this episode with Martin Earl at ThermoWorks, it's the temperature AND the time to kill of the bad stuff.
• Jason has great resources on easy sous vide recipes, including Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal, Starbucks Style Egg Bites. 
• There are different types of sous vide machines: stick circulators (Chef Step's Joule, Anova, Gourmia), water bath type (Winter and Lee have a Hamilton Beach sous vide, and there are Sous Vide Supreme), combination induction burner with water bath on top (Oliso), and one that can turn on later, but will keep the temps at refrigerated temps until you're ready (Mellow).

Joule Stick Circulator Sous Vide

Hamilton Beach Water Bath Sous Vide

• We're excited for a giveaway with Jason for a couple copies of his new book Healthy Sous Vide--join us on Facebook live this week (or later if you can't join us live).
• If you want to tackle sous vide more, he has a free sous vide course that goes over the basics. Sign up here!
• Follow Jason on his website Amazing Food Made Easy and join his sous vide Facebook group.

Run Time: 54 minutes

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