Sous Vide - Widely Used Cooking Method - Almost Addictive

Sous Vide - Under Vacuum - from the French translation is actually a method of cooking, which is becoming commonly popular in many top notch restaurants. Indeed it is a favourite of the gourmet chefs such as Heston Blumenthal and Paul Bocouse. Dishes are cooked within vacuum sealed bags in  waterbaths - a piece of cooking machinery filled with water and kept at the desired temperature. This may take up to 72 hours for certain cuts of meat but may take only minutes for more delicate and simple dishes such as fish or chicken portions.

Indeed this method has even been used for feeding 400 evacuees of the Katrina hurricane. In a little over sixty minutes chefs had served up a five star menu of nine extravagant courses and maintained this for several days! - thanks to the use of a water bath system of cooking.

By using lower temperatures in the water bath chefs can maintain the veracity of the dishes, often enhancing the tastes and textures of the ingredients, themselves. Sous Vide machines are also used in food production areas and can be used for creating mains and desserts in the same bath. many chefs report that once they know how to use these cooking machines they use them everyday and the usage becomes quite addictive.


These simple but effective water baths do take some practice and experimenting with. There are training courses available for wannabe chefs and professionals to learn how to make the most of this method of cooking. They offer many advantages such as reduction of wastage, speeding up of operations in the kitchen and fast production from store during quieter periods not to mention creating highly polished finished dishes.


Water baths must be used within a professional kitchen environment so that correct health & safety and HACCP procedures are adhered to in order to remove the risk of food poisoning.

I wanna be a celebrity chef

Fanny Craddock started it all with her cookery shows piloted on TV in 1955. When 3,000 people turned up to see her cookery demonstration in Edinburgh police were called in for crowd control. Such was the pull of the 'celebrity chef'.

Our love affair with celebrity chefs has grown to mammoth proportions from Delia in the 70's to modern characters such as Gordon Ramsey and Nigella. So what is the attraction to these cooks who parade their culinary skills and finished dishes on our TV screens? I think it has to be that no matter how much a novice you are you always feel that you could create a gastronomic delight just by watching how they do it. So just maybe a little bit of magic will rub off on you and your family will be singing your praises each meal.

I think we're also comforted by the fact that every single time the dishes turn out ok. I mean there can't be that much to cooking after all - can there?

Indeed we are so affected by the celebrity chefs on our screens that stores notice a distinct rise in sales of certain products highlighted in the recipes or cookery shows. 

The celebrity chefs all do one thing they take the oooh out of cooking; - am I doing it right? Should it look like that? What can I serve it with? 

So to expand on the celebrity chefs exemplar lets take the oooh out of cooking with cooking machines and catering equipment explained. All the catering equipment you need for cooking at home or within your catering business can be found on this website.

Happy Cooking – Jane J