Chef Amit Bajaj offers tips to master the sous-vide cooking technique

Sous-vide plums. Pics/Datta Kumbhar

Cooking in the time of fancy cooking shows means we often encounter terms and techniques that largely seem out of reach for amateur home chefs. If you are the kind that binges on Masterchef Australia or Top Chef, you have heard of the sous-vide technique. The French style of cooking translates into "under vacuum", and was tried out for the first time in 1974 by French chef Georges Pralus. It involves sealing meat, fish, vegetables or fruits in a zip lock bag, submerging it in a water bath for the specific amount of time required. The result is that the ingredient is cooked uniformly.

While in industrial setups, chefs do this in a sous-vide machine, chef Amit Bajaj of Glocal Junction, Worli, tells us that the same can be accomplished in a home kitchen. "Back in the day, around 2004-2005, I used to work at the Taj Mahal Palace, Colaba. We wanted to get the sous-vide machine in the kitchen to perfect certain dishes. The head of department denied the request, as it was an expensive proposition. That is when I came up with the vacuum poached technique. It comes close to sous-vide and works on the same principle sans the elaborate machine," says Bajaj. The vacuum poached chicken was one of his first experiments. "I took the chicken and put it in a plastic bag, added flavours like dry herbs, white wine, potatoes and a few other vegetables, sealed it, submerged in a pot filled with three-quarter water and placed it on very low flame for 35 minutes. At the end, what I got was the most beautiful, evenly cooked meat."

Chef Amit Bajaj sous-vide-ing plums

Burners and grills having no minute temperature control, barring high and low medium cannot ensure uniform cooking in a steady temperature. "The key is to control the temperature. Therefore, it has to be slow cooked. Pork belly, for instance, will take 45 minutes to make using this process, while pork chops, 35. If you're making salmon, 20 minutes is enough, and so is the case with fruits." Once the cooking is done, the meat is taken out of the plastic pouch and served immediately.

"The juice that is inside the pouch makes for great sauce, you can glaze it, reduce it or add some butter. In case of salmon, it's best to sear the skin, while chicken and pork can be served directly." Lamb being a tougher meat doesn't lend itself easily to this technique. Fruits on the other hand make a smooth choice. "From peach to plum to oranges, you can sous-vide them smoothly. Cut the plums in half, deseed them, add some castor sugar, star anise, a little red wine if you like, and sous vide for 20 minutes. You can serve the warm plums with chilled granita or a chantilly cheese. It makes for a great dessert. A fusion of pineapple and coconut sous-vide is also worth a try." Patience is key here as sous-vide takes nearly twice the regular cooking time. "There is trial and error involved of course, in mastering the cooking time. But, once you've tasted evenly cooked meat via a simple process, you realise it's worth every bit of your time," Bajaj says.

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