For any commercial kitchen to succeed, the swift and efficient preparation of orders is a top priority. Whether you’re opening your first restaurant or looking for new ways to improve your kitchen operations, it’s never a bad idea to explore trends and technology that can put your business a cut above the competition.
Sous vide cooking, in particular, is a cooking technique that both home cooks and professional chefs can take advantage of for its potential to streamline complex dishes. But how exactly does the restaurant sous vide method work, and is it the right fit for your kitchen?
In this ultimate sous vide guide for restaurants, we’ll provide an overview of sous vide cooking and explore the purposes and benefits of preparing your dishes this way.
What is sous vide cooking?
The English translation of the French term “sous vide” is “under vacuum.” With this technique, the components of your dish—proteins, vegetables, you name it—are added to a chamber vacuum sealer and cooked in a precisely temperature-controlled bath of water.
Dr. Bruno Goussalt created the sous vide technique back in the early 70’s as a means of improving the tenderness of roast beef. Since then, restaurants all over the globe have utilized the culinary art of sous vide cooking to enhance both the preparation efficiency and flavor of their dishes.
How sous vide cooking works
Vacuum-sealed packages and precise temperature control work in harmony to create the following benefits when preparing food sous vide style:
● The food is sealed, locking in flavors and juices and can enhance food safety by pasteurizing bacteria during the cooking process.
● Enhanced temperature control takes the guesswork out of doneness, allowing you to cook a meal perfectly every time.
● Low-temperature cooking allows the meat's muscle fibers to break down without forcing out the juices.
Both proteins and vegetables can be cooked sous vide, yielding highly desirable flavors and textures without the additional labor and trial-and-error involved in traditional cooking methods. This has increased sous vide’s popularity in the home—but how do restaurants use sous vide to their advantage?
How do restaurants use sous vide?
Sous vide cooking can unlock powerful advantages for commercial kitchens and professional chefs, including:
● Speed – In restaurants food is almost never cooked sous vide for direct service. However, it is cooked sous vide and then chilled for reheating and finishing later, allowing the restaurant to marry a perfect food result with expedient service.
● Batch cooking – Restaurants will almost always batch cook at specific temperatures. For example, chicken and pork, salmon and beef, and nearly all vegetables cook at common temperatures respectively which allows them to cook various foods at once, streamlining mise en place.
Now that you know the benefits of restaurants adopting sous vide, let’s look at expert tips for implementing the cooking method into your commercial kitchen’s operations.
Tips for commercial kitchens adopting sous vide
Interested in restaurant sous vide, but unsure how to implement it? Here are some hassle-free tips to organize your sous vide setup for optimal results:
● Pre-portion – By pre-portioning cuts of protein or veggies into bags ahead of time, you can cut down on food waste and save valuable time during service.
● Cook multiple items at once – If you have multiple dishes that require the same cooking temperature, you can use the same water bath for all of your ingredients to increase your efficiency and free up hands in the kitchen for other tasks.
● Lower your costs, not your quality – Tougher or cheaper cuts of meat can achieve a buttery, premium-tasting texture through sous vide’s slow, controlled cooking method. This allows you to save on food costs without sacrificing quality or taste.
● Leverage technology to cook remotely – Many modern sous vide cooker appliances are compatible with smart devices or companion apps that allow you to turn on and set temperatures remotely. This can help your kitchen open faster or allow you to change your temperature on the go.
● Food pasteurization – The ability to pasteurize food as part of the cooking process with sous vide greatly extends shelf life. This enables you to cook even larger batches of food in advance without any loss in quality, further streamlining par stocks and inventory.
For top-of-the-line sous vide cooking solutions, trust Breville Commercial to bring next-level practicality and technology to your professional kitchen.
Enhance your professional kitchen with Breville Commercial
Simplify your kitchen’s operations through automation to save time and money with Breville’s the HydroPro™ Plus.
The Sous Vide Toolbox™ is an intuitive on-board guided cooking experience that demystifies sous vide by calculating cooking, pasteurization, and chill times for a wide range of foods. Whether you’re new to sous vide or seasoned chef, this tool gets you safe and delicious results.
Gone are the days of pen and paper HACCP logs. The Breville HACCP Manager™ app makes the logging of your sous vide process effortless by auto-magically recording your data with the included digital needle probe.
Upgrade your kitchen by exploring best-in-class sous vide technology and high-end commercial kitchen equipment by Breville today.
Level up your home kitchen with Breville
Enjoy the precision results of sous vide faster with Breville’s Joule® Turbo Sous Vide.
Breville’s proprietary Turbo technology allows you to prepare select dishes in half the time required for conventional sous vide methods. Additionally, the Primetime feature gives you ultimate flexibility to eat when you’re ready.
Connect with the free Breville+ app to set your ideal sous vide cooking temperature remotely with Autopilot, and utilize Google and Alexa voice activation to start cooking hands-free.
Sources:
1. Sous Vide Magaziene. Meet the Master. https://www.sousvidemagazine.com/what-is-sous-vide/meet-the-master/
2. International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science. Sous vide cooking: A review. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878450X11000035
