The Art of Portioning Food for Sous-Vide Cooking

Portioning food is a key part of preparation when it comes to sous-vide cooking. The most common approach is to portion raw ingredients into their final shape and size prior to packing and cooking. This approach speeds up cooking because the pieces of fish are made small, reducing the amount of work that must be done during service and making cooking easier.

By portioning before cooking, we can also avoid the difficulty of slicing delicate ingredients like fish when they're hot and fragile. Freshly cooked steelhead trout, for example, is difficult to slice due to its tendency to stretch and tear. This not only makes the fish look less appealing but also slows down the service process. On the other hand, cooking softens the structure of tough plant foods, making it easier to cut apart.

However, there are exceptions to this approach. In some cases, it's best to cook and then portion food. For instance, beetroot is much easier to cut apart after it's been cooked because cooking tenderizes the structure of the ingredient, allowing a knife to easily cut through it. On the other hand, raw meat loses its stretch and becomes firm, making it easier to slice thinly. In cases where crispy skin is important, it's always best to do the final portioning and slicing after cooking the meat and crisping the skin.

When an ingredient will be served cold, we prefer to do our final portioning after both cooking and chilling. This approach ensures that the cooked ingredients retain their shape and size, making it easy to cut identical portions. We take this approach with our ChefSteps salmon dish, where we start with a large salmon loin and slice the final portions only after it has been brined, cooked, and chilled.

Portioning after cooking and chilling can also be applied to foods that are destined to be served hot. This approach is especially useful when the appearance of the food is paramount. For example, a large awkward cut of meat like pork belly can be cooked sous-vide until tender and then chilled once cold. The pork belly will be firm enough to easily cut into perfect-looking portion size blocks, which can then be repackaged and reheated later for service.

To make the most of this approach, we recommend the following: first, cut your raw ingredients down to size to speed up cooking and avoid difficulties when slicing delicate ingredients. Second, foods that are sturdy and meant to be served hot should be carved or sliced after they have been cooked. Third, if a food will be cooked and then served cold or when portions need to appear perfect in appearance, you'll get the best results by portioning after cooking and chilling.

In conclusion, portioning food is an essential step in sous-vide cooking preparation. By understanding the different approaches and exceptions to this approach, we can ensure that our dishes are both delicious and visually appealing. Whether it's portioning before or after cooking, the key is to understand the characteristics of each ingredient and adjust our technique accordingly.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enportioning food is a key part of preparation recall that there are five basic steps for any kind of sous-vide cooking preparation packing choosing a cooking temperature cooking for an appropriate time and then either storing or finishing the food for service in practice the order and number of these steps is flexible such as when and how you portion your food the most common approach is to portion of raw ingredient into its final shape and size prior to packing and cooking this is the approach we've taken here with this sablefish working this way speeds cooking because the pieces of fish are made small and the amount of work that must be done during service is also reduced which makes cooking easier another reason to portion prior to cooking is because slicing hot food can be difficult even the sharpest plate will tend to stretch and tear delicate foods like this freshly cooked steelhead trout not only does this make the fish look less appealing but it really slows you down during service sometimes however it's best to cook and then portion and ingredient beetroot for example is much easier to cut apart after it's been cooked that's because cooking tends to undo and soften the structure of tough plant foods so that a knife will cut rather than cleave its way through but whereas cooking softens tough plant foods raw meat loses its stretch and becomes firm this is why it's easier to thinly slice through a steak after it's been cooked and in cases where crispy skin is important it's always best to do the final portion and slicing after you've cooked the meat and crisp the skin but when an ingredient will be served cold we always prefer to do our final portioning after both the cooking and chili steps why because cooking inevitably shrinks and warps the shape of an ingredient those sablefish portions that looked exactly the same will inevitably look somewhat different from one another after cooking if we instead wait and portion after the cooking and chilling then it's easy to cut identical portions we take this approach with chefsteps salmon 1:04 dish we start with a large salmon loin but slice the final portions only after the fish has been brined cooked and chill portioning after cooking and chilling in degree can also be applied to foods that are destined to be served hot this approach is especially useful when the appearance of the food is paramount a large awkward cut of meat like pork belly can be cooked sous-vide until tender and then chilled once cold the pork belly will be firm enough to easily cut into perfect-looking portion size blocks these smaller blocks of meat can be repackaged it quickly reheated later for service so long as you reheat them at the original cooking temperature or below it the final shape of the meat will remain intact so we recommend that you keep the following in mind when portioning for sous-vide first cut your raw ingredients down to size to speed cooking this also avoids the difficulty of slicing delicate ingredients like fish when they're hot and fragile second foods that are sturdy and meant to be served hot our best carved or sliced after they have been cooked and third if a food will be cooked and then served cold or when portions need to appear perfect in appearance you'll get the best results if you portion after you cook and chill the in readingportioning food is a key part of preparation recall that there are five basic steps for any kind of sous-vide cooking preparation packing choosing a cooking temperature cooking for an appropriate time and then either storing or finishing the food for service in practice the order and number of these steps is flexible such as when and how you portion your food the most common approach is to portion of raw ingredient into its final shape and size prior to packing and cooking this is the approach we've taken here with this sablefish working this way speeds cooking because the pieces of fish are made small and the amount of work that must be done during service is also reduced which makes cooking easier another reason to portion prior to cooking is because slicing hot food can be difficult even the sharpest plate will tend to stretch and tear delicate foods like this freshly cooked steelhead trout not only does this make the fish look less appealing but it really slows you down during service sometimes however it's best to cook and then portion and ingredient beetroot for example is much easier to cut apart after it's been cooked that's because cooking tends to undo and soften the structure of tough plant foods so that a knife will cut rather than cleave its way through but whereas cooking softens tough plant foods raw meat loses its stretch and becomes firm this is why it's easier to thinly slice through a steak after it's been cooked and in cases where crispy skin is important it's always best to do the final portion and slicing after you've cooked the meat and crisp the skin but when an ingredient will be served cold we always prefer to do our final portioning after both the cooking and chili steps why because cooking inevitably shrinks and warps the shape of an ingredient those sablefish portions that looked exactly the same will inevitably look somewhat different from one another after cooking if we instead wait and portion after the cooking and chilling then it's easy to cut identical portions we take this approach with chefsteps salmon 1:04 dish we start with a large salmon loin but slice the final portions only after the fish has been brined cooked and chill portioning after cooking and chilling in degree can also be applied to foods that are destined to be served hot this approach is especially useful when the appearance of the food is paramount a large awkward cut of meat like pork belly can be cooked sous-vide until tender and then chilled once cold the pork belly will be firm enough to easily cut into perfect-looking portion size blocks these smaller blocks of meat can be repackaged it quickly reheated later for service so long as you reheat them at the original cooking temperature or below it the final shape of the meat will remain intact so we recommend that you keep the following in mind when portioning for sous-vide first cut your raw ingredients down to size to speed cooking this also avoids the difficulty of slicing delicate ingredients like fish when they're hot and fragile second foods that are sturdy and meant to be served hot our best carved or sliced after they have been cooked and third if a food will be cooked and then served cold or when portions need to appear perfect in appearance you'll get the best results if you portion after you cook and chill the in reading\n"