The Complete Guide to Sous-Vide Cooking

Love to cook but think it could get better? Allow us to introduce the sous-vide cooking technique – an effortless way to ensure succulent and flavour-packed results every single time. A vacuum-packed process slow-cooks protein and veggies to perfection with next-to-no effort, making the sous vide technique ideal for dinner parties, Sunday meal prep, and every glorious cooking session in between.

Here’s the complete guide to Sous-Vide Cooking.

How does the sous vide cooking technique work?

Essentially, sous vide cooking involves vacuum sealing an ingredient (often a protein like meat or fish) in a bag and slow-cooking it in a water bath at a steady temperature. The key word here is slowly, with most ingredients taking between one and three hours to cook properly.

The end result will be beautifully moist and tender, cooked evenly and to perfection all the way through. In fact, it’s physically impossible to overcook an ingredient using the sous vide technique, as you set the temperature in advance and the ingredient’s internal temperature never goes above that. Goodbye chewy sirloin, hello Friday night perfection. A hot tip? Sous-vide cooking condenses aromas and intensifies flavours, so be sure to start with premium ingredients.

So how do you sous vide?

If you’ve got the vacuum seal ready and are raring to go, then it’s possible to sous vide a vacuum-packed meal simply by dropping it in a large pot of low-simmering water. While this method can help you create some delicious recipes, it can take some monitoring and guesswork for beginners. So it’s not surprising this method hasn’t entirely caught on.

The NEFF oven sous vide function

A brilliant alternative to an old school sous vide for home chefs looking to get vacuum packing? Purchasing an oven with a sous vide function already inbuilt. Both the NEFF built-in oven with steam function and the NEFF built-in compact oven with steam function come with inbuilt sous vide functions, allowing you to prepare vacuum-sealed dishes with FullSteam for a new horizon of flavour. Vacuum-packed ingredients are oven-cooked gently at a constant temperature of between 50 and 95°C, with the steam acting as the water bath. Sealed off from the air, the food retains its natural vitamins and minerals while its flavours are concentrated, delivering a restaurant-quality end result your friends and family will adore.

While you can never overcook your meat using the sous-vide function, below is a rough indication of what each temperature represents:

50°C = rare

55°C = medium rare

60°C = medium

65°C = medium well

70°C = well done.

It is also important to note different degrees of doneness is subjective, with one person classifying 58 as the perfect medium, while another may find 62 as the perfect medium. Both are correct, but the internal colour of the meat may change significantly between these temperatures.

A step-by-step guide to sous vide cooking

Step 1

Season your ingredient thoroughly with salt and pepper (you can add in some dried spices or pastes if the mood strikes you). Pop in a sturdy vacuum bag with some vegetables or aromatics like rosemary, and seal securely – we recommend a double seal in case one seal breaks.

Step 2

Set the temperature and time on your sous vide machine or oven with sous vide mode. For example, a beautiful dry-aged entrecôte will take between one and three hours at 55°C to achieve the perfect medium-rare. Fish more than any other protein will differ in texture, with white fleshed fish needing to be cooked at around 70°C for 40 to 70 minutes, while oily fish such as salmon are better at a lower temperature. The high temperature setting of 95°C would only be used to cook things such as boned shoulder of pork, to break down the fats and muscle tissue.

Pop the bag in the oven then kick back with a glass of bubbles while you wait for your precious package to cook.

Step 3

Retrieve the vacuum-sealed bag from the oven, place it on a chopping board and open carefully. The ingredient will be tender and fully cooked – fish and chicken are delicious served exactly as is. But if you’re dealing with red meat, you’ll probably want to sear the protein quickly on high heat (only a minute or two a side) to caramelise and crisp up the outside. Just remember to dry the meat thoroughly with paper towel first to ensure a deliciously charry, moreish crust.

Step 4

Serve your sous vide creation to a table of bewitched guests then take a bow – this meal’s one for the ages.

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About NEFF

NEFF is a German-engineered kitchen appliance brand, with a product range that includes ovens, cooktops, rangehoods, coffee machines and dishwashers designed to make life in the kitchen a daily pleasure. For people who love to cook, NEFF gives you the tools to create meaningful connections, express your creativity and make memories. Because real life happens in the kitchen.

Learn more about NEFF here.