Recent Modernist Blog Posts

I always find it interesting to discover how the names of both companies and products have been developed. As a sous vider I have been using the Bernzomatic TS8000 for a few years now. During that time, I have occasionally wondered where that name came from. While doing some research for a recent review of that torch, I stumbled across some interesting information on the name that I thought I would share.

First, I will present how I speculated the name was developed, and then present the actual history.

As sous vide cooking has rapidly gained popularity it has been interesting to see the new products that are continually coming to market. We try our best here at Amazing Food Made Easy to keep our readers up-to-date with reviews on these new products.

This review is on a relatively low-tech sous vide accessory - SO-VIDA Sous Vide Weights. We thank Will, over at SO-VIDA LLC, for sending us a package of three of these weights for us to experiment with.

This past Christmas, my wife Barb gave me a pack of 10 CMS Magnetics N45 1.5" x 1/16" Disc Neodymium Magnets. Since then I have been using them extensively when I cook sous vide. Now that I have gained some experience with them, I thought it would be beneficial for me to do a detailed review, sharing some of the things I've discovered. Hopefully, this review will be of use to you as well.

In this review I will provide information on a variety of related topics including: Neodymium magnets, the handling and storage of disc magnets, and how they can provide benefits when cooking sous vide.

If you are a regular reader and appreciate what I do here and on the website, please support AmazingFoodMadeEasy.com by making a monthly support pledge. It only takes a minute and your collective backing will mean a lot to the future of AmazingFoodMadeEasy.com. I have a lot to say about it, but go check it out first, subscribe, and then come back. I’ll wait.

All signed up? Great! A couple of recent things have set this into motion, but I’ve been thinking about it for awhile. So here’s why I feel this is necessary now, in three interconnected main points.

SO-VIDA has introduced a couple of new products similar to the Sous Vide Container Sleeve we reviewed earlier. These SO-VIDA Sous Vide Insulation Bands and Mat are designed to cover standard cooking pots that are being used as a sous vide water bath container.

The manufacturer was kind enough to provide me with both the 4" and 5.5" versions of this product for free for this review. Here is my detailed look at the products.

Mellow is the first sous vide machine which can also cool the water bath as well as heat it. This definitely sets it apart from all other sous vide machines on the market.

I was able to spend quite a bit of time with a Mellow that was provided to me by the company for free. This allowed me to run some objective tests on the unit and also to cook numerous items as well. I hope this article will help you better understand the Mellow, its strengths, its weaknesses, and if it might be an appropriate investment for you.

We were given a full Chatwin Crucial Knife Set to use and test out. I used the various knives for most of my cooking for about a month.

The short answer is that The Chatwin Crucial Knife Set is a uniquely designed, very cool looking set of knives. The knives are on the lighter side, comfortable to use, cut very easily, and seem to hold their edges. There were a few minor issues I had, so with the higher price it kept them from being a "Top Pick" but they are definitely a "Recommended" knife of ours.

Below are my detailed thoughts on them.

One of the more confusing aspects of sous vide is whether or not to use an ice bath. There are times that using one is very important, times that it can be useful for flavor development, and times it isn't needed at all.

Because of this, people can take ice bath usage out of context and use it when they don't need to. Here is a detailed look at when you should use an ice bath, and when it doesn't matter.

When You Need a Post-Sous Vide Ice Bath

The only time you really need to use an ice bath is when you are going to store food for later and it has come right out of the sous vide machine. For example, you cook 5 bags of chicken breasts, eat one for dinner and put the others into your freezer, in the sous vide bags, to eat later.

There is a lot of discussion about whether or not you should add butter, oil, or other fats to your sous vide bag. Here's a look at some of the issues so you'll know how to maximize your flavor. The butter argument depends on what type of protein you are cooking, so I'll address meat and fish separately.

Should You Add Butter to Sous Vide Beef or Chicken?

When it comes to simple but flavorful food nothing beats a perfectly cooked steak with melted butter on it. Because of this, many people put butter into their sous vide bags to "flavor" the meat. However, there are a few things at play here, especially for red meat like beef or lamb, but also to a lesser extent chicken and pork.

There has been a lot of talk lately about whether or not it is safe to use raw garlic in sous vide. I figured I would address the concerns and go into a little more detail about the issue.

There are two key points when using raw garlic: flavor and safety.

Does Raw Garlic in Sous Vide Taste Good?

The first discussion point with using raw garlic, and the quickest one to discuss, is whether or not raw garlic in sous vide actually tastes good. Most of us are used to adding raw garlic when we cook meat so it is a natural transition to start including it with sous vide.

However, there is a major difference between cooking meat sous vide and roasting or pan frying it, and that is the low temperatures used in sous vide. Because sous vide meat is cooked using low heat, any garlic in the bag won't actually "cook" during the sous vide process. This obviously affects the final dish because raw and cooked garlic have very different flavors. This is also true of any aromatics like onions, shallots, or carrots.

For a long time I never bothered to cook grains using sous vide, they were just so easy to make on the stove...or so I thought!

A year or two ago I began eating oatmeal for breakfast most mornings, and the cleanup of the pot started to become a hassle. I finally turned to sous vide to try and solve it and I loved the results. Not only was there no clean up, I also didn't have to watch a pot to make sure it didn't boil over or dry out. And I could definitely use that help when I'm sleepy in the mornings and not thinking straight!

From oatmeal, I branched out into other grains and now I cook the majority of them using sous vide. I just love the convenience and not having to worry about whether the pot is boiling, or too dry or any other factors.

It is also simple to mix and match grains in one container, as long as they cook for the same amount of time. This makes it easy to add some variety to my meals without much extra effort.

If you are interested in learning more about how to sous vide grains, then you can read more about it!

Thanks for the great question Mick! There's a lot that goes into this and I'll try to clear it up below. Most of it comes down to what you are trying to accomplish texture-wise.

We recently were given a SO-VIDA Sous Vide Container Sleeve to test out and review. As an engineer, I tend to first look at new products from an objective viewpoint. Therefore, I thought it would be worth running some sort of a benchmark to determine the effectiveness of the Sleeve from an insulation perspective.

This article examines the tests I ran, as well as the results we obtained.

We do our best to keep our readers informed about new modernist cooking-related products. This often includes equipment such as sous vide machines and containers. In this review we are looking at a type of sous vide accessory we haven't seen before, an insulated sleeve for your water bath. It is the, "Sous Vide Container Sleeve" by SO-VIDA and the company provided us with the product so we could do some testing and a review.

The SO-VIDA Container Sleeve (Sleeve) is designed specifically to be used with the Rubbermaid 12-Quart container. The Sleeve covers all faces of the container except for the top and is constructed from 5mm neoprene (wetsuit material). This provides two primary functions: the first is to help keep the heat of the water in the container and thus reduce the amount of energy required during the sous vide cook. The second is to protect the work surface your sous vide container is sitting on, due to the prolonged heat transmitted from the base of the container.

Getting your sous vide circulator is just the beginning! You still need to learn how to use it, pick out some favorite recipes to try, and browse all the cool accessories you can add on to it!

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.