Food Warmer for the Home

The other day, my lovely wife commented before one of our sous vide meals "Sometimes the food is not as warm as I'm used to."  That was her nice way of saying "The food is cold by the time you do all your plating technique stuff!"  Typically, I make two plates and use mine to photograph while hers is sitting on the counter getting cold.  OK, note to self, "Need to fix cold food problem."

So I thought, well, I could nuke it....  No, that defeats the whole purpose of sous vide and the tender texture transformation thing!  Then I thought... I could crank the oven up to 200F and put her plate in there.  While that could do the trick, I would have to wait for the oven to heat up and it seems like adding even more timing elements to the cooking process.  So then I took to the web to research food warmers and low and behold, there are a number of them out there that do just that... keep your food warm, just like the restaurants use.  The trick was finding one that could be easily used at home since most of them were either very large or meant to be permanently installed in a restaurant.  I didn't want a permanent warmer taking up counter space all the time.

I finally found exactly what I was looking for in the Nemco portable infrared food warmer.  The model number is Nemco 6152-24.  Click here to see it at Webstaurant.com.  This food warmer is 24" long and portable so it makes a perfect station on the counter top, but can be removed and stored when not in use.  I paid $169.00 for it.  When it arrived, I plugged it in and a little bit of white smoke came out!  But it dissipated quickly and the area under the heating element became nice and warm.

I tried it out the other night, putting my wife's dish under the warmer as I plated my dish and photographed it.  She said "Lovely!" so I guess it works!  So if you have gotten some comments like "I love the presentation but the food was a little cold", check out the infrared food warmers at WEBstuarant.com!

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Cooking Sous Vide for the "Medium to Well" Crowd

Last night I had some friend over from the midwest.  The only reason I say midwest is that I'm originally from the midwest as well (Cincinnati), so I know the stereotype!  We midwest men like our steak "medium to well" thank you very much!  It took years of California living to transform me to the "Medium Rare" man that I am today (HAHA).

Enough digression, so I was going to make steaks for everyone, but we like them medium rare and he likes his medium well.  Luckily I have two water baths so I could have cooked mine at 132-135F and his at 150F and be done.  However, we were actually having surf and turf which means I was also cooking lobster which I do at 145F.  So I was faced with the similar problem of having more food to cook sous vide than I had water baths.  Of course the simply answer would be to cook the steak first and then the lobster sequentially in one of the water baths after the steak was done.  While simple, this would have extended the overall cooking time by 1 hour.  This dilemma is equivalent to having one water bath and the two steaks to cook (at different temperatures).

So I decided on another approach that I wanted to share with everyone.  I cooked the medium rare steaks in one water bath at 135F for 1 1/2 hours.  I heated up the other water bath to 145F and dropped the medium well steak in for 1 1/2 hours.  After 45 minutes, I dropped the lobster into the same water bath for 45 minutes.

The above approach yielded a perfect medium rare steak out of the first water bath and a perfectly cooked (I don't like the mi cuit version of lobster) lobster out of the second water bath.  I felt that the medium well steak out of the second water bath was probably a little underdone.  I turned the oven broiler on and set the oven rack to its second highest level (not the typical broiler level, but one down from there).  I put the steak in and set the timer for 3 minutes.  After 3 minutes I turned the steak and set the timer for 3 more minutes.  After that I took the steak out and let it rest.  I cut into it and it was a perfect medium well yet still very tender and juicy!

The moral of this story is that there are many ways to achieve the desired level of doneness for your dinner guests using sous vide without resorting to sequential cooking which can elongate the cooking process beyond what is acceptable.  Using a combination of sous vide and standard cooking methods (broiler, oven, searing), you can achieve wonderful results!  Cheers!

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Living with Sous Vide - The 6 Month Mark

So it's been a wonderful 6 months with my sous vide equipment and I can definitely say it's been incredible! While I don't sous vide every day, I would say I do sous vide on average 2 to 3 times a week. In fact, one of the big advantages is bulk cooking once and re-heating later. I have been known to go to Costco and get bulk chicken breasts and cook them all at once. Then quick chilling them and using them throughout the month. Another great benefit of sous vide is the flexibility of time. I have been focusing on wonderful sauces, which provides variety for the chicken breasts. I love mushrooms, so I've been doing a lot of mushroom sauces. At my Ranch 99 store (Asian store), they have wonderful Shimeji mushrooms which are LOVELY!

After 6 months, I have made a number of dishes and I can say that chicken remains the most transformative texture with sous vide. Duck breast is a close second. Turkey and beef are also much more consistent, moist and tender. As for fish, since I used to do fish in parchment paper in the oven (a kind of steam poaching method), I've found the sous vide version to be just as moist and tender. The main advantage is consistency with fish. If I overcooked the parchment paper version, it came out "mushy" and unattractive.

As for which sous vide water bath do I prefer? I like them both, but I find myself using the Sous Vide Supreme water bath more regularly, mainly because it's quiet! Since they are both in my kitchen, quiet is good. It takes a little longer to heat up, but I've incorporated that into my routine. Thanksgiving is coming up and I can't wait to serve thanksgiving turkey sous vide style!
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Espuma Sauces Pair Well with Sous Vide!

In my continuing quest to improve my culinary skills, I have come across an interesting method for creating a unique texture for sauces... Espuma.  Espuma is Spanish for "foam".  Using a pressurized gas canister, you can infuse a sauce with a gas (in this case Nitrous Oxide - N2O) and turn it from a solid liquid into an airy foam.  I fund this texture goes well with sous vide since part of sous vide is all about unique and alternative textures to food.

Investigating the pressurized canisters, reveals that they have been used for years in the dessert side of the business.  You and I both know it well.... whipped cream topping!  Yes that is a form of espuma, cream espuma.  Thus, the canisters are pretty much known as "cream whippers", even though they whip much more than cream these days.

Which one is right for you?  Well, let's start with size.  There are small ones starting at 1/2 pint all the way up to 1 L or 2 pint sizes.  I think the 1 pint size whippers are perfect for home chef use.  Of course, the actual volume of the canister is larger (almost double) the stated size since there must be enough volume for the charged gas.  Next, you need to make sure the whipper you select can do BOTH cold and hot liquids.  Some of the whipped cream only models can only handle cold liquids.  Finally the ruggedness of the whipper should be considered.  The highest end models are all stainless steel and can be put in the dishwasher.  Of course, they are also the most expensive.  The lower end models have some plastic pieces and may or may not be dishwasher safe.  A lot depends on how often you plan on making espuma sauces.  The high end models are made for more commercial usage. 

Finally, in addition to the whipper, you will need disposable N2O charge cartridges.  Do NOT get the CO2 cartridges.  The cartridges are all pretty standard so get whichever one you like.

As for which one did I end up with, well, I wanted a pint sized canister to start with that could do both hot and cold liquids.  I didn't think I was going to use it as much as commercial use so I opted for a more low end model with some plastic pieces.  The body was spun aluminum instead of stainless steel too.  Again, aluminum will stand up to home use, no problem.  It came with a little cleaning brush so I could clean it easily.  The higher end iSi models cost upwards of $80-130, but I got my WhipRite model for only $30!  I've used it several times so far with great success.  You need to make sure you strain your liquid carefully since any food particles will clog the nozzle.


Here is a Soy Ginger Espuma Sauce with Scallops


Here is a Chicken and Mushroom Roulade with a Mushroom Espuma Sauce

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Sous Vide Chef in Training Gets First Award!

While I still consider myself a neophyte in the art of Sous Vide, I'm a passionate neophyte!  I started submitting my pictures and recipes to other websites including entering in SousVide Supreme's newsletter recipe contest.  Not thinking anything of it, I was pleasantly surprised to get an email from them indicating I won!  My recipe went out in the current September Newsletter!  The winning recipe was my Halibut with Edamame, Endives and Shimeji Mushrooms.  Hopefully this is the first of many!

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The Art of Presentation: Photographing Sous Vide

OK, I jumped into sous vide cooking with both feet, assembling my arsenal of pricy equipment and scouring the web for all the sous vide information I could.  Which is partly why I assembled this website, to add to the modicum amount of information that's on the web!

Now for confession time...  I admit I thought I could create this website with my daughter's handy $150 digital pocket "turquoise" Costco camera!  I figured "The food can do the talking"!  Well, I was "WRONG!".  So again, off to the web and a lot of studying and low and behold I discover the world of "Food plating, styling,presentation and.... photography!"  Yes, there is a whole world devoted to this complimentary topic.  In fact, I would call it a symbiotic relationship since that way to communicate a great recipe is through the web now a days and that requires a great food photo.

The saying goes "You have the shot when you want to 'Eat the screen'!".  I've found there are basically three components to a great food shot:

• Camera:  This one seems obvious! But I originally thought "All digital cameras are roughly the same for taking food pics" ..... wrong again.  First of all, most professional food photographers have digital SLR (DSLR) cameras.  They cost upwards of $2000, but have all the manual bells and whistles to take incredible shots, including better lens, tethering (ability to see and store images directly to a computer), RAW output and all the manual settings for aperture, ISO, etc...  Since I spent my $2000 on sous vide, I needed to lower my photographic budget, which meant looking at "digital pocket cameras (DPC)".  Luckily, this market has matured enough that a new class of " high end digital pocket cameras" has emerged which attempts to bridge the gap between the "point and shoot" pocket camera and the DSLR.  These high end DPC have much better lenses, good macro modes, more manual settings and even tethering and RAW output capabilities, all features necessary to take a great food photograph.  These cameras can also handle various lighting conditions much better.  The Canon PowerShot S95, Panasonic Lumix series and the Pentax XZ-1 all fit the bill.  I chose the Canon Powershot S95 for its reasonable price, smaller size, and good lens and macro mode.
•  Lighting: OK, I thought "just use the camera flash and it will all come out fine"!  Again... WRONG!  The first thing you learn for food photography is NO CAMERA FLASH.  When working at close range (macro) with food, it's very important that the food is well lit from all sides to show the food's texture and convey the very essence of the food itself.  Shadows don't do that.  In fact, shadows detract from that.  In addition, "yellowish" incandescent lighting also detracts from the visual.  So I purchased an inexpensive lighting umbrella and white piece of cardboard so that I can evenly light the food.
• Food Plating Styling and Presentation: Can you image doing a model runway show without makeup, hair styling, and proper designer clothes?  Well, the same goes for food photography.  Doesn't matter how good your camera and lighting is if the subject is just slammed onto the plate.  There's a whole art (and science) to food plating and I won't go through it all, but some basics are:
• Keep it simple and clean
• Don't over crowd the plate, leave lots of room.  Use large white plates so that the food is the focus, not the plate.
• Try sauces under and around the food.  Get squeeze bottles and large spoon to deploy the sauces.
• Get height as an added dimension to your presentation
• Use colors for highlighting.  Use fresh herbs to accent.
• Use ring molds to dress up messy items.

I'm writing this blog entry BEFORE all my photography equipment comes so you get the benefit of seeing how NOT to do food photography (yes my site is currently a poor food photography example!).  But I'm excited to get my feet wet when my "stuff comes in" and hopefully you'll come back to my site and see my progress!  In the meantime, if you want to see some incredible food photography sites with some great recipes too, I found a couple that I'm certainly trying to emulate:

• Kelley Sterling is a professional chef and food photographer with a beautiful website
• Tastespotting is a collection of beautiful food shots and recipes
• EatShowTell

LATEST UPDATE:  I got my camera and lighting equipment!!!!!!
So I've been taking shots and playing with the settings and lighting and I think I've made pretty significant improvement on the photos.  Still not Ansel Adams (or the equivalent in the food photography world), but a significant leap forward.  Check out the difference below.

The photos on the left are the old P&S and the photos on the right at with the new Canon S95







I also got a book on food photography called "Food Photography: From Snapshots to Great Shots" by Nicole Young.  It really looks great.  I'll keep you posted!

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The Launching of Silicon Valley Sous Vide Blog!

This is the launching blog post for Silicon Valley Sous Vide, a blog dedicated to the Art and Presentation of Sous Vide!  Sous Vide is French for "Under Vacuum" and is an incredible cooking method used by many high end restaurants that is newly available to home chefs of which I am one!  I've started this blog to share my experience with all aspects of the art and presentation of Sous Vide!  I hope you enjoy it!

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