Recently Chef Richard Blais treated the crowd at NYC’s Food Fete to one of his latest sous vide delicacies: Melted Pork Jowl with Homemade SousVide Ricotta. Just reading the words makes me hungry! What’s not to love about pork fat and cheese? So we pressed him to share his secret with us all, and here it is!
Bruschetta of Melted Pork Jowl with Homemade Sous Vide Ricotta Cheese
For the Pork Jowl
2 pounds guanciale (unsmoked Italian bacon)*
- Preheat the SousVide Supreme to 145F/63C.
- Vacuum/seal pork in a food-grade cooking pouch
- Cook for 24 hours or until exquisitely tender
- Remove pork from pouch, let cool slightly, slice, and serve. Makes great sandwiches piled on crusty bread or, as paired with the ricotta below, mouthwatering bruschetta.
Sous Vide Ricotta Cheese
3 cups milk
1 cup buttermilk
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
Several grinds of fresh black pepper
- Preheat the SousVide Supreme to 180F/80C.
- Combine milk and buttermilk in a food-grade cooking pouch, remove as much air as possible, and seal only. (Do not attempt to vacuum, unless you have a chamber vacuum system.)
- Place the pouch into the water bath and cook, checking now and again, until the milks coagulate (clump.)
- Remove the pouch, strain the contents through a sieve to separate the curds; squeeze out solids.
- Season the curd with olive oil, salt and pepper
To assemble the bruschetta
1 slender loaf Italian bread (or a baguette), cut in 1/2-inch thick slices
1/4 cup olive oil
cooked pork jowl, sliced into small thin pieces
ricotta cheese
3 to 5 plum tomatoes, seeded and diced
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
- Preheat oven to 400F/200C
- Brush each slice of bread with olive oil, arrange on baking sheet, and toast in the hot oven on one side about 2 minutes, then flip to the other side to toast another 2 minutes; remove from oven.
- Spread each slice of toasted bread with some of the ricotta cheese.
- Top each with a few slices of pork jowl, some diced tomatoes, and a drizzle of vinegar.
* Guaniciale is unsmoked Italian bacon prepared with pig’s jowls or cheeks. It is available from specialty meat purveyors on line, at meat markets, and by special order from your grocery store meat counter.
As the weather warms up, and the sun shines longer, our taste buds start craving foods inspired by the outdoors. This Sous Vide Chicken Recipe from Serious Eats is a perfect recipe to ring in the change in seasons with your SousVide Supreme! Serious Eats Recipe
Here are two very interesting Washingtonian articles about the development of Sous Vide and its place in restaurant kitchens throughout the world. There is a follow up article and review about the SousVide Supreme finally bringing professional cooking techniques available in the home. Washingtonian “Welcome to the Future of Food”
Washingtonian SousVide Supreme Review
There are a fantastic series of charts posted by Dave Arnold of The French Culinary Institute in New York, which are available for download, in addition to an in depth look at low temperature Sous Vide cooking for all those not familiar with the technique. This is a valuable resource, especially to those food lovers that want a visual reference point for learning. The link below will take you to a wealth of information ranging from what steaks look like after cooked sous vide at various temperatures, to USDA food safety charts. CookingIssues.wordpress.com
Easter is this weekend and all eyes will be on the egg – which is one of the coolest foods you can cook sous vide. The egg is full of complex proteins which firm up at different temperatures, so because of the precise temperature control you get with sous vide, you can create textures you just can’t replicate with any other technique. You can even set the yolk before the whites – some calls this a “reverse boiled egg” – for an amazing thick custard-like middle, with velvety whites on the outside.
Scrambled, soft boiled, dipping in toast – with sous vide you get a complete range, and one degree difference can change the entire texture. Hours of experimental fun!
So, in honor of the egg this holiday weekend, we’ve rounded up some of the best-of-the best sous vide egg photos from our friends online using the SousVide Supreme. Don’t miss our own little unofficial scientific experiment at the end for a cooking play-be-play.
Perfect soft boiled atop seasoned potatoes. Shout out to Serious Eats.
Quail eggs too! Topped with truffle oil and black lava sea salt, no less. Fancy stuff, Sleepless Foodie!
Well Preserved said this is the “the best egg he’s ever had.” Looks delish.
Wilson Rothman notes this egg achieved perfect custard consistency. Check out his post at You Make It You Eat It.
Salty Seattle always impresses with her dishes. Here, sous vide egg paired with Meyer lemon hollandaise.
Classic egg on toast by Popular Science.
Gorgeous photo from The Foodie Forkful.
Another good one by Salty Seattle. Goose egg done right.
…and from our own Dr. Mary Dan Eades, creamy French-custard style eggs!
Now, for our own informal experiment – see results below at two degree increments, all cooked for 45 minutes in the SousVide Supreme. We found the perfect egg to be right at the 143 mark. People who follow sous vide cooking closely will note the SousVide Supreme does not circulate water, as most other water baths do. We often hear the “perfect sous vide egg” is 146, but due to the difference in water circulation, 143 seems to be the sweet spot for the SousVide Supreme. And yes, three degrees does make a huge difference…that is the beauty of sous vide!
Our own Chef Richard Blais cites 143 for the perfect SousVide Supreme egg. So tell us, what temp is perfect for you?
International and Asian markets such as Uwajimaya, in Seattle’s International District, are filled with culinary experiences you would have never thought to explore. Take for example China’s Silkie Chicken, prized for their silky plumage and found in many Chinese dishes, it is an almost non-existent site on western menus. On the Salty Seattle blog post, I’ve come across one of the most interesting recipes to take home and try in your SousVide Supreme. Take advantage of international delicacies found in these international markets, as walking through their aisles, you are bound to uncover a culinary treasure that gets the experimental chef in you to come alive. Sous Vide Silkie Chicken Recipe
Chef Dario Schicke, owner of Dario’s Brasserie in Omaha, NE, demonstrates and gives his opinion about sous vide cooking while using the SousVide Supreme to www.GastronomicFightClub.com. Check out this video of Dario preparing a sous vide beef tenderloin. Looks amazing! Dario’s Video Link
