How much do you know about sous vide cooking?

Sous vide is a cooking method in which food is cooked in a plastic pouch or a glass jar in a water bath for longer than usual cooking times at a precisely regulated temperature.

The temperature is much lower than usually used for cooking, typically around 55 to 60 °C for red meat, 66 to 71 °C for poultry, and higher for vegetables.

Low-temperature cooking was first described by Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford in 1799.

Sous vide was adopted by Georges Pralus, a French chef, in 1974 for the Restaurant Troisgros.

Another pioneer in sous vide is Bruno Goussault, the French chief scientist of Sterling, Virginia-based food manufacturer Cuisine Solutions.

Sealing the food in sturdy plastic bags retains juices and aroma that otherwise would be lost in the process.

The use of temperatures much lower than those used for conventional cooking is an essential feature of sous vide.

Sous vide cooking facilitates development of desired organoleptic flavors and limits off flavors due to oxidation.

Browning (Maillard reactions) happens at temperatures above the boiling point of water, which is a limitation of sous vide cooking.

Sous vide has become common on cooking TV shows such as Iron Chef America and Top Chef, and in restaurants such as Panera Bread.

Lower-cost units are now available in the form of a "stick", which has a clip to attach it to the side of the cooking vessel.

Devices are becoming more user-friendly, with apps affiliated with most of the devices.