Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide
by Thomas Keller
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Book Reviews of Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide
Book Review: Obviously not for the "average" home cook. Rachael Ray fans need not apply
Summary: 5 Stars
After reading many of the reviews of this book, I must get one thing off my chest: Thomas Kelller's cooking isn't meant to be accessible. If you know anything about the man, his food and his restaurants, then this won't be a surprise. Also, sous-vide as a technique was never developed to be utilized in an average home kitchen. The recipes in this book are clear, concise and don't leave anything out. It assumes you are using extremely high quality ingredients and have the means to maintain a water bath at a precise temperature. Sous vide can be done at home with fantastic results if you put enough care into preparation, timing and temperature maintenance. A foodsaver can be used. However professional vacuum machines are able to extract much more air from the bags (and are able to "compress" food which a foodsaver cannot) and obviously a lab quality roner would give the most exacting results in terms of cooking times and temps. The photography in this book is stellar, as is all of Keller's book and to me the Bras-like plate presentations are much more creative and visually interesting than his previous books, French Laundry included. This would be more of a resource for professional chefs with the skill and equipment to able to replicate the doness of proteins and vegetables. The personal insights of the various sous-chefs of the Keller empire and Sabastien Rouxel, the executive pastry chef are also worth noting as they aren't long and derivative, yet give the reader a broad understanding of what it takes to work at such a high level as well as obvious insights into sous-vide techniques and their utilization in the kitchen for things other than low-temp cooking. To me this is the most approachable book on the subject of sous vide. Other books like Joan Roca's "Sous Vide" is not only very expensive, but is long on scientific explanation and very short on content (relative to the high price) and isn't very practical. Jordi Cruz's "Logical Cuisine" also delves into low temperature cooking using sous vide to infuse stocks with other flavors, but the book as a whole only partly covers the full possibilities of sous vide cooking and the section on the subject is quite short. This book does a terrific job of distilling the essence of sous-vide cooking to the basics and organizes it in a clear and easily read source, in my opinion it is the best book to read up on the subject of sous-vide cookingBook Review: Really a book for a niche audience
Summary: 3 Stars
This is a good book for a niche audience. The author has experimented with sous-vide cooking for a decade so he has some practical experience to share. After 10-20 pages of introduction the book jumps into restaurant-quality recipes. In the introduction, the author talks about the equipment, but don't expect a detailed equipment guide. That is fine. However, I don't really appreciate that all the author's knowledge is really codified in the recipes alone. What I miss in this book is the step between having the equipment and cooking restaurant-quality dishes. I would have liked to see some basic recipes that highlight the effect of various time and temperature combination, etc. This learning is essential for understanding the technique. You'll find this deeper understanding and knowledge in Modernist Cuisine: The Art and Science of Cooking. Another good option is Beginning Sous Vide: Low Temperature Recipes and Techniques for Getting Started at Home, which has more basic, fundamental recipes.
The author states that this book is aimed at professionals. I don't really agree. Cooking sous-vide is not that hard. The book is aimed at anyone that is willing to spend USD 5,000 on a vacuum sealer and an immersion circulator. The costly item is the vacuum sealer that can seal a bag which contains a certain amount of liquids. A cheap vacuum sealer could be sufficient for sous-vide cooking, but not most of the recipes in this book. Sous-vide cooked meat (and maybe also vegetables) will get a larger following because the taste is really nice. So this means that the price will come down. When this happens we will have a number of other sous-vide cookbooks out there so I don't think you should be in a hurry to buy this particular book. So this book is a solid 3 - could be great for a niche audience or the those of us with a cookbook library at home :)
Book Review: No Apologies, this is not for home cooks.
Summary: 5 Stars
I see some disgruntled reviews here which I think are misleading, mainly by people who feel misled.
To begin with, this book is not intended to be "dumbed down" for the everyday home cook. It is for professionals, and very ambitious home cooks. The recipes are directly from 2 of the top restaurants in the country/world, and as such, they are not simple. That being said, they are detailed and descriptive, and explain everything you will need to do in order to prepare these dishes.
As for tech requirements. Yes, a water circulator would be nice, as would a chamber vac machine. But, not all of us are so lucky. As we do in professional kitchens, make do with what you have. Wal-mart carries a basic home vac machine, which will work for most of the recipes, but if you do not have one try a Ziploc. Fill it, submerge in water and seal. (Heston Blumenthal uses a bag and a vacuum cleaner as well I believe). Water circulator. They do a great job at keep a constant temp in a water bath, but so does a large pot. A digital thermo can be had for 20 bucks (probably right here on amazon), and you are one your way to Michelin stars.
As for molecular gastronomy chemicals...yes some are a little odd, but think how strange gelatin would be where we not familiar with it. Think, a hydrocolloid derived from animal hooves be denaturing it. Many of these new thickeners and binders are readily available, just as gelatin sheets and salt are, and for those that are harder to find, there is a list of suppliers in the book for all of the items which may be less common.
Best of luck to those ready to give it a try. But, be warned, this is not a Mark Bittman book. Have fun. Oh, and yeah, the book is great, with detailed recipes, precise details, and great photos.
Book Review: Morons
Summary: 5 Stars
First, this is a rant. Second, this book is amazing and beautiful; a first of its kind and should be revered as such. Thomas Keller has been my go-to authority on cuisine for as long as I've know of him. I just received my copy of this book and I am absolutely thrilled. I will make this review very short, but I must respond to a few of the negative comments. Someone complained that this book was part of a trendy fad and that they were disappointed that Keller would endorse said fad. Well, moron, sous vide is not a fad as it has been popular in Europe for over thirty years. Also, someone complained that this book includes ingredients not easily obtained. You too are a moron and don't deserve to own this book. If you are serious about cooking and exploring the your personal unknowns then you can easily find these products on sites such as willpowder or simply google which ever hydrocolloid you need, you will surely find it. Also, some have raised the safety implications of cooking sous vide. If you have actually looked into the book and READ a little you may see the 3-4 pages of sous vide safety with each type of bacteria handled separately. I cannot wait to cook from this book. If you are a home cook and you don't have a vacuum sealer or an immersion circulator (I have neither) then you could simply buy the siploc vacuum bags and use a calibrated thermometer to achieve great results. There is a great description of a "ghetto sous vide" technique in the book Momofuku. Check it out.Book Review: Not for Rachael Ray
Summary: 4 Stars
I will add my voice to support both the pro and con choruses I read here-it is the best book on the subject yet published, and also quite intimidating in many aspects. It's not clear whether the Keller community had a marketing focus at all-this book is too cumbersome and artsy for the professional bookshelf, and too complex with its metric measures, specialty ingredients and non-standardized recipe quantities for many ambitious home cooks. Having said all that, I love it.
Yes, these are totally professional recipes suited to the highest exactitude, but they can be adapted to the home kitchen with excellent results in many cases. One criticism I have is that the recipes mostly do not address a lot of ordinary ingredients, like halibut,salmon, or pork chops, but do include recipes for tripe, eel and veal liver. You will need to find the closest relative to your item and experiment for the best time and temperature. The John Dory specifications work well for halibut, for example, but it will require more experimenting on my part to find the optimal time/temp.
So, I recommend this book with the stated reservations. I can also tell you that the only other book on the subject is $200, not nearly as useful, and I would be happy to sell you mine.