Customer Reviews

Sous Vide : Cooking in a Vacuum

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Viktor Stampfer is a very experienced German chef who currently works in Dubai. He has been working with the Sous Vide process for many years and his book is a collection of some of his best recipes. These recipes will be of interest to professional chefs and high end gourmets. This book will be of less interest to those who do not have access to vacuum sealers and hot water recirculating baths.

Sous Vide is the hot trend with professional chefs. Stamfer's book like Thomas Keller's recent book on Sous Vide cook best demonstrate the great divide between the world of chefs and the food processing industry. Chefs mistakenly believe Sous Vide cooking is a new cooking technique that originated in France in the early 1980's. The reality is the meat industry has been cooking in hot water baths for many decades. The only thing that is really new is the small hot water recirculating machines that have in the last few years become available to chefs.

The danger with the Sous Vide process is the potential for the growth of pathogens. There is a serious issue specifically with Botulism toxins which are thermophilic and thrive in an anaerobic environment. Both Stampfer and Keller are aware of these dangers but they do not do an adequate job of explaining the essential combination of time and temperature that reduce the threat from these pathogens. They are great chefs but are out of their depths when if comes to explaining the food science of Sous Vide cooking. Any chef interested in Sous Vide cooking would be well advised to check out the mathematician Douglas Baldwin's web site on Sous Vide cooking. It is the single best place to learn about the time and temperatures that are so essential to keeping Sous Vide cooking safe.