How to Cook Salmon Sous Vide in Your Kitchen Sink

Published on Wednesday, July 20, 2011, by CHOW Video Team / Edit Post

Maxime Bilet, coauthor of the epic 2,400-page book Modernist Cuisine, spent years working with the sort of high-end machinery young cooks dream about. He also figured out how to translate some of the techniques he learned for the home kitchen, like this clever sous-vide salmon trick.

CHOW Tips are the shared wisdom of our community. If you’ve figured out some piece of food, drink, or cooking wisdom that you’d like to share on video (and you can be in San Francisco), email Meredith Arthur and tell us what you’ve got in mind.

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POST A COMMENT |23 Comments

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  • I'm a little late on this response, but gfr1111, the reason that he says to dunk the bag in the cold water first is because the pressure from the water will force all of the air out without having to resort to other methods (a vacuum sealer, straw, etc.,) and he recommends cold water because that won't prematurely start the cooking process that takes place when you put it in the hot water bath.

  • Agree that this looks very intersting and tasty. However when I have friends over would prefer not to have supper floating around in the sink. Would it work if after the fifteen minutes I put it in the fridge for several hours and then did the pan sear? Or am I screwing up the whole idea?

  • Cowboyardee, yes there is a reference to cold water. When the chef is getting the air out of the plastic bag, he instructs us to dunk the bag in cold water while doing so. I don't get why that is important, either, Trufflehound. I do understand why Cowboyardee might have missed the cold water reference. Several other people who made comments missed references to other techniques, as well. The...+READ

    Cowboyardee, yes there is a reference to cold water. When the chef is getting the air out of the plastic bag, he instructs us to dunk the bag in cold water while doing so. I don't get why that is important, either, Trufflehound. I do understand why Cowboyardee might have missed the cold water reference. Several other people who made comments missed references to other techniques, as well. The chef's French(?) accent is fairly heavy and he talks too fast. Incidentally, 50 degrees Celsius is 122 degrees Fahrenheit for those of us who live in America. Also, is 15 minutes enough to kill off freshwater parasites? (This is one of the questions I always have about sous vide cooking? It looks like fun. I'll try it!-COLLAPSE

  • I use this cooking method for corn. I heat a big pot to boiling, throw in the corn one ear at a time, cover the pot and let it sit for 30 minutes. You get the sweetest corn ever.

  • love this. great for low-heat summer-time cooking. love chow tips!

  • Hey fastoy,

    Maxime said that the salmon will take 15 minutes to cook in the 50 degree C water.

    Thanks, Meredith of CHOW

  • Incredible that the one key factor (HOW LONG) is unintelligible in this video.

  • cowboyardee - watch the video again re: cold water

  • Great way to cook. I do this with chicken pieces I buy that come vacuum sealed.

    Bring a pot of water to the boil. Immerse chicken packets in pot and remove from heat. Let stand covered for an hour. Comes out moist and delicious.

    You can use as is or throw in a pan or on the grill to brown slightly.

  • BigBurk: That is a wonderful idea! Nothing better than a cryovac package to begin with. Can't wait to try.

  • did anyone catch the time on this? did the chef say 15 or 50 minutes? thanks.

  • Thanks Deborah!

  • Hi joakim. The spices he uses are hazelnuts, sesame, white chamomile, ginger, and poppy seed.

    Deborah from CHOW

  • Can someone please write down the spices he fries the salmon in? My English failed me on that one..

  • Really loving this concept. Thanks! Only question I have has to do with what others have brought up already...any risk/known dangers with leaching from the plastic to the fish?

  • You are not marinating, but cooking. Proteins, especially, have very particular temperatures where they are tastiest and easiest to eat. Salmon is easy because it is not as dense as meat.

  • i just don't get the sous-vide thing: why would anyone want to essentially marinate food in warm plastic?

  • Can't wait to do this!

  • Can smell it, watering my mouth..this will be prepared on Sunday, thanks

  • I did this with a individual quick frozen salmon fillet. It was already in an air tight bag. It worked well! To get the sink water to a high enough temperature I added a kettle full of boiling water.

  • The cold water is there to help you remove the air from the bag (instead of using a vacuum sealer). Using cold water allows you to stay in control of the cooking (time and temperature).

    - Dan from CHOW

  • Just wanted to give a thumbs up before the haters start hating.

    Trufflehound - what do you mean? There's no call for cold water in this video. I could see placing the bag briefly in cold water after the hot water sous vide bath (just to bring the temp down enough to make sure that the final saute doesn't overcook the salmon), but again that's not included in the video.

  • What does placing it in cold water do?