Why would anyone want to cook their food under vacuum instead of, say, at a much higher heat and for longer than it takes to boil something over open flames?
The idea of using vacuums—or even just bags—to preserve foods dates back thousands of years.
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The ancient Egyptians used them to preserve grapes by storing them inside linen sacks filled with sand (which helped keep out moisture).
And as far as we know, they also preserved meat by submerging it in hot oil until ready. There are numerous other examples throughout history of people preserving things this way.
Modern vacuum sealers have been around since about 1910, but only really gained popularity when James Beecher Scoville developed his vacuum canning method in 1909.
He was trying to preserve radishes, but ended up creating the first commercially available canned goods: Scoville’s chowchow.
It took him two years of tinkering before he figured out how to make the sealed jars last longer than a month or so.
This breakthrough led to his invention of the vacuum canner, which made mass production possible for commercial use.
By 1920, there were more than 7 million vacuum cans on the shelves.
Vacuum sealing has some advantages because you don’t need any sort of heat source. A vacuum removes all the oxygen from the package, leaving nothing for bacteria to grow.
You don’t even need boiling water, though you could certainly do that if you wanted to.
But one thing remains constant: You’re going to be cooking your food at a lower temperature than you’d get from simply heating it to serving temperature, and thus end up saving time. That means less energy consumption and less risk of overcooking.
In addition to being able to preserve food without cooking, another big draw of vacuum sealing is convenience.
Vacuum sealing allows you to transport food quickly and easily without having to worry about it losing quality while doing so.
As long as you remember to bring an extra bag along for the ride, you can take anything from your fridge, freezer or pantry, put it in a bag, and stick it in the bath. No defrosting needed!
And finally, the biggest reason I think vacuums are cool is because they help me live my life better.
For example: If you’ve ever had to travel with perishable items like dairy products, meats or fish, you probably already know what happens when those things sit in a car trunk or airplane overhead compartment.
They’ll go bad pretty fast. To prevent that from happening, you should remove everything from the refrigerator and freezer, place it in zippered plastic bags, and vacuum seal the bags.
Then, just pop them in the cooler and forget about them until you need them.
When you do, the bags will still be intact, and once again you won’t have to deal with the hassle of opening and closing dozens of zip locks every day.
But not all sous vide recipes call for vacuum sealing. Some actually recommend vacuum packing.
This technique involves putting the food into a bag, placing the bag in a pot of liquid (typically water), immersing the whole thing in the bathtub, and letting the water do its magic.
The result is a perfectly cooked piece of meat that doesn’t taste overly processed.
Sous vide immersion circulators allow home cooks to mimic professional chefs’ techniques, but many folks find the results to be inconsistent.
With vacuum packing, however, you can control the amount of pressure applied to each piece of meat, giving you a lot more consistency.
So why aren’t all sous vides vacuum packed? Because not everyone wants to spend $500+ on a device that lets them cook their food faster.
And yes, it does cost money. Most sous vide machines range between $150-$400, and require special ingredients to work.
You can buy sous vide devices online, but shipping may add significant costs. Plus, there’s always the chance you might end up with a defective machine.
Not to mention, you’ll likely need to invest in additional equipment, such as a thermometer, timer, scale, etc., to ensure that your food gets to where it needs to be.
Sous vide cooking can seem intimidating at first glance, but once you start playing around with different methods and temperatures, making meals becomes easy. Just try it, and see for yourself.
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