THE ONLY HOTEL IN PHILADELPHIA
WITH RUNNING WATER.
The elegant Hyatt Regency at Penn’s Landing
is the only hotel in Philadelphia located on the
historic waterfront. We are conveniently located
near all the cultural, historic, entertainment
and dining attractions of our dynamic city.
For information call 215 928 1234 or visit
pennslanding.hyatt.com.
EVS`S ]ZR TOaVW]\SR ab]`gbSZZW\U
[SSba 5>A bSQV\]Z]Ug ´ O\R
EOaVW\Ub]\ 2 1 Q][Sa OZWdS
1`cWaS bVS ZO\R[O`Ya O\R
ZO\RaQO^Sa ]T ]c` \ObW]\¸a
QO^WbOZ W\ O\ ]^S\ OW` SZSQb`WQ
`]ORabS` 5c WRSR Pg O abObS ] T
bVS O`b 5>A agabS[ ]c` c\W_cS
\O``ObW]\ `SdSOZa VWRRS\ VWab]`g
O\R R`O[O Ob SdS`g bc`\
4]` W\T]`[ObW]\ O\R `SaS`dObW]\a QOZZ
##& $&"&
]` dWaWb
eee 0 W >O`b WaO\B]c` 1][^O\g Q][
CHAT TER
he is confident in his techniques. But he
warns against other chefs who might be
jumping on the bandwagon. “If it doesn’t
make your food taste more delicious, then
don’t do it. What’s the point?”
He keeps it up because his customers
swear by his veal breast.
“When they eat it, they are amazed at
how tender and juicy it is,” he says.
He also likes to play with the pressure
machine that seals the bags. They can alter
the texture of fruits and vegetables. How
do crunchy strawberries suit you?
McGee, the food-science writer, agrees
there should be guidelines, but as long as
the food is cold enough when it is sealed,
is cooked properly and served right away
or immediately chilled, the bad bacteria
don’t have a chance.
“It’s important that there be guidelines, because it’s possible to misuse this
and hurt a lot of people,” he says. “But
that’s always been true for many cooking techniques. It’s an important thing to
make sure people who use sous vide know
what they’re doing, but I’m not sure hy-per-regulation is necessary.”
More precise rules will be important if
the technique moves from the restaurant
kitchen to the home. Restaurants use machines such as circulators (which keep the
water bath at the right temperature) and
combination steam-and-dry-heat ovens
(nicknamed “combi ovens”) to cook at a
low temperature. But these are too expensive for all but the most dedicated home
cooks. To bring home sous vide cooking
closer to reality, Goussault says he is talking with Thomas Keller, the chef-owner of
The French Laundry in the Napa Valley
and Per Se in Manhattan, about a cookbook and a personal sous vide kit. And
Michel Richard of Citronelle writes in his
book, Happy in the Kitchen (Artisan), that
anyone can cook sous vide-style by poaching protein wrapped in plastic wrap.
“It’s so delicious,” says Richard, who
serves beef short rib cooked sous vide for
72 hours at 120 degrees Fahrenheit at his
restaurant. “So tender. So juicy.”
Still, Goussault sees another, simpler
application in the future of sous vide: devel-
oping a system in which the food and a spe-
cial plastic tray are cooked sous vide, frozen
Clockwise from above, Dan Barber slices,
plates and sauces Stone Barns chicken
with quinoa and mushrooms. The pasture-raised chickens are a good fit for sous
vide, Barber says, because the technique
tenderizes the meat.
