With Sous-Vide cooking, meat, fish, vegetables and fruit are cooked in a particularly gentle manner in a vacuum-sealed bag at low temperature. The method was developed in France by Georges Pralus and Bruno Goussault back in the early 1970s, but it has been the subject of increasing attention in professional kitchens in recent years.

The emphasis during development was placed on optimising the flavour and texture of the food. Very gentle cooking in the vacuum meant that no valuable flavouring agents, flavours or juices could leak out. The individual flavours develop to a particularly great extent. Food produced in this way has an extraordinarily intense flavour.

This method also offers many tempting economic benefits. The special “Sous-Vide” method opens up a wealth of new options in the professional kitchen – and catering, the à la carte business and diet cuisine can benefit considerably. This method of food preparation is extremely gentle and healthy, which explains why the World Health Organisation has also become interested in it.

Another important advantage of this method is that it makes kitchen workflows more flexible since the food can be produced well in advance of the time of serving. Sous-Vide food can also be kept for two to three weeks, creating greater flexibility. It allows the food to be produced when there is time to do so, thus making optimum use of personnel resources.

Thanks to modern kitchen technology, today’s Sous-Vide production is much simpler than the old, inconvenient water bath method. The food is prepared (seasoned, marinated or seared), vacuum-packed in a plastic bag, then cooked and immediately chilled. Before the food is served, it is reheated still in the plastic bag, removed from the bag and then finished according to the requirements of the final dish.

So customers can get to know the special features of Sous-Vide cooking, RATIONAL is now offering a free manual for special applications. This can be downloaded from www.club-rational.com. The manual covers the topics of overnight cooking and mixed loads in addition to Sous-Vide cooking.