Thank you, Erika Engle.
Engle’s Facebook post yesterday morning announced her departure from the Honolulu Star-Advertiser after taking a buy-out, ending a 38-year career in journalism.
The post also described her next professional adventure with The Harris Agency. And she ended the entry with this photo of “my 1st attempt at sous vide steak!”
Can I confess having absolutely no idea what this “sous vide” thing was? A different cut of meat? What the heck!
I’m just an old fashioned cook, armed with my old, rescued cast iron cookware and my mother’s basic instructions (She said, “If you can read, you can cook!”).
So of course I just went online to find out about sous vide. Very interesting!
I’m wondering whether there are others out there who use this technique? It seems somewhat akin to using a slow cooker. Is that an apt comparison?
What’s your experience? Is it something for special occasions? Certain types of foods? What does it do best?
And what equipment do you use? Looking at Amazon, there are certainly a lot of choices. Any advice on what to look for, or attributes to avoid?
And, Erika–I’m guessing you had to briefly grill that steak to get it browned like that?
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Despite years of being a sous chef at Jerry’s Gabel’s in Portland and the Greenwood Inn in Beaverton, and having been cajoled into the role of chief cook and bottlewasher at home once the family began to grow, I too have never heard the term before!
But your mother’s comment that “if you can read it, you can cook it!” is virtually word for word what my mother and the executive chef at both places I worked in the industry said. So maybe it’s true!
I’ll tell you one thing I do know to be true! The pictures you take of periodic repasts are very appealing. Next time, if the leftovers are too much to bear — FedEx them to us. I’ll eat them!
With the currant rate of attrition at the SA, pretty soon there will be no one left except those “paid” fake news ads for various snake oil preparations. Years ago when I complained to my old friend and boss at the time, Dave Schutter about the local paper, His response was, ” Yes, it’s pretty sketchy but if you live here then you really need to read it.” Then there were both the Advertiser and the Star -Bulletin. I suspect there is still some truth in that admonition of years ago but “sketchy” doesn’t even begin to describe the experience.
My wife recently cooked roast beef in our rice cooker. It involved using a bag and so I suspect is similar to sous vide except that the temperature was higher. Anyway, it was really good and seemed fairly easy.
David and I are going to Applebee’s for sizzling steak, mushrooms, onions, and roast potatoes. Sound good?
Congrats to Erika! You made a difficult and wise decision.
Kudos kudos kudos. Make us proud.
I’ve been cooking “sous vide” for several years now. It is more accurately called precision cooking. It is virtually impossible to over cook protein with one of these devices. The best precision circulators are made by Anova and Joule. I prefer the Joule for its compact size.
Here is a good place to acquaint yourself with this amazing cooking method (and as it turns out you will actually be using your cast iron fry pan as much as ever!).
http://www.seriouseats.com/2016/01/first-thing-to-cook-with-sous-vide-immersion-circulator-essential-recipes.html
Thank you!