Especially in the asparagus season, the infernal machine, as the little man calls our fusion boss, hardly stands still. Most of the steps are well-rehearsed and take no longer than the classic preparation in the asparagus pot: peel, cook a stock from the peel and the cuttings and reduce. Vacuum seal together with the asparagus spears and cook sous-vide at 80 degrees for no more than 20 minutes. Thus, the asparagus remains crisp and since no flavor at all can escape extremely fragrant, intense and almost sweet.
For many other preparations I have also found plenty of inspiration, recipes and tips in recent months, some of which I have already summarized in my category Sous-vide.
But of course, new books with more inspiration and more recipes can not be missed. Currently I have Götz Beller: Sous-Vide & Steam Cooking. 100 recipes for full flavor viewed. And when I ask around, there are four topics in particular that are high on the shopping lists of my (cooking) friends: Sous-vide appliances, steam cookers, professional vacuum cleaners and wine refrigerators. The market is growing, so you can say with a clear conscience. In the meantime, even the classic electronics retailers, such as Euronics, are attuned to this clientele.
For all these new and future sous-vide cooks, the recently published book by Götz Beller is intended. He describes in great detail and with precise information on vacuum, water temperature and cooking time how to cook a wide variety of vegetables, fish, meat and desserts.
The content is sensibly rubricated into categories such as Appetizers, In-between, Fish & Seafood, Poultry & Meat, and Desserts. The spectrum ranges from classics such as osso bucco to boiled beef, roulades with sole and salmon, saddle of rabbit or stuffed rice balls with lychees and coconut milk foam.
However, I do not quite understand why different forms of preparation were combined in one book. Thus, the reader must always look to see whether a recipe is now designed for the steamer or for sous-vide preparation. Especially, of course, if at least one of the devices is still on the wish list. Small icons would be handy here for better orientation.
Apart from this small hurdle, Götz Beller has delivered a pleasantly compact and very affordable work that will surely find a wonderful place in many households right next to the new “hell machines”.
Basically, I find the approach of Christian Verlag very pragmatic to publish almost all new cookbooks in the same layout and only vary a bit with the typography on the cover and natural the motifs. This is probably the only way to achieve correspondingly favorable prices.
Götz Beller: Sous-Vide & Steam Cooking.
