What is Sous Vide Style Cooking?
Sous vide is a French term pronounced soo-veed which translates to “under vacuum”. Sous vide style cooking refers to the method of cooking food low and slow in a preheated water bath. Food is vacuum-sealed in an airtight bag and then submerged into the water bath to cook for an extended period of time at a relatively lower temperature.
Over time, the food becomes far more flavorful and tender than it would be using alternative cooking methods. The food will give off its natural flavors and juices, and those will remain in the bag along with the dish itself. The dish is then better able to absorb those natural juices and flavors. The juices also help to break down tougher ligaments and tendons found in cuts of meat, thus producing far more tender and consistently cooked meat as well.
The sous vide method has quickly taken off in many food-related industries such as hospitality, retail, catering, event venues, restaurants, and travel. They work to deliver consistently cooked and flavorful dishes each and every time, making them a great addition to just about any menu offering. There are many companies today that specialize in the preparation and delivery of sous vide dishes for industry use.
How Do Sous Vide Prepared Meals Save Kitchens Time and Money?
Sous vide prepared meals offer several unique benefits that alternative cooking methods do not. This is especially true when it comes to their ability to save kitchens both time and money. But how exactly do they do that?
Sous Vide Dishes Save Kitchens Time
Sous vide prepared meals help to save kitchens an ample amount of time in the long run. They require little to no preparation work, as the dishes come precooked and prepackaged directly to your restaurant. That means that you can save time preparing the dish in terms of seasoning and marinating it, preparing the ingredients that go into the dish, and combining the ingredients.
They can be stored in a freezer until their intended use, and then all that’s required is reheating them and serving them to guests. Because of this, a lot of time is also saved typically spent cooking the dish, as the vast majority of the cooking has already been done for you.
Lastly, a large amount of time is saved because little to no cleanup is also required. Time typically spent cleaning up the area in which you prepared your food, doing the dishes that were used while preparing the dish, and cleaning the equipment that was used to cook the dish is eliminated entirely when using sous vide prepared meals in your kitchen.
Sous Vide Dishes Save Kitchens Money
A large amount of money is also saved when serving sous vide prepared meals in your kitchen. A large contributor to money lost in kitchens is related to the food that they waste. Food waste can be in terms of food that has expired or isn’t good to serve anymore, or it can be in terms of food that was sent back to the kitchen because it was incorrectly prepared. Thousands of dollars worth of food is wasted each year in kitchens across the world due to these two factors.
However, when serving sous vide prepared dishes, the meals are already precooked and ready to serve. In other words, there isn’t any margin for error when it comes to the food’s preparation or how it’s cooked. There also is very minimal food waste because again, the dish has already been prepared. Thus, kitchens aren’t required to keep the ingredients needed to prepare and cook the dish on hand.
Less staffing is also typically required by kitchens that serve sous vide prepared dishes because there is less work to be done in the kitchen. When you have fewer staff members, you’re able to save money in terms of what their compensation would have been, as well.
It’s no secret why sous vide prepared meals have quickly taken off in many so many different industries where food is offered. They help to save kitchens both time and money and make a great addition to any menu!
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