a little soak blog

Sophie Nahmad 2/4/21 Sophie Nahmad 2/4/21

duck. duck. duck. earl grey?

A little about my confit duck recipe that is not a confit duck recipe.

Sophie Nahmad 1/8/21 Sophie Nahmad 1/8/21

Roast Beef but Sous Vide

I was resistant to making this recipe at first as I was not convinced you could achieve the same ‘roast’ feel in the sous vide. I thought it was just one of those things that is better the traditional way. However, I am happy to report that this recipe ticks a LOT of Roast Beef boxes.

Sophie Nahmad 5/25/20 Sophie Nahmad 5/25/20

The Magic Marinade

I began my sous vide journey with a lot of research, and like many other home chefs started with some simple steak recipes. These recipes promised a ‘restaurant standard’ fantasy that seemed to be so entrenched in the sous vide brand.

Sophie Nahmad 3/1/20 Sophie Nahmad 3/1/20

Perfect pork chops

Inspiration came from an unusual source: An episode of Gilmore Girls. Lorelia was describing Sookie’s pork chop, “Brined in a Bourbon & Salt water solution”. Brining! How had I not thought of that before? Well, it was genius.

Sophie Nahmad 2/28/20 Sophie Nahmad 2/28/20

Eggs

Here’s the thing. I LOVE eggs. These little guys have been close to my heart for some time - I even started a food stall called The Little Yolk which exclusively sold duck egg brunches. So, when I got a sous vide it was all I wanted to try.

Sous Vide. This method often prescribes a rather sterile aesthetic - plastic containers, digital thermometers and large cuts of hematic meat.

With this collection of recipes I hope to move away from the unpalatable interpretation of the method and present my own:

First, it is a method that takes care of every ingredient. A head of broccoli is not just a healthy afterthought, but actually a showstopper and an egg is as deserving of our attention as a steak.

Second, is a strong focus on flavour. The aim is to achieve restaurant quality food at home. The sous vide method only takes us part of the way here - it can almost guarantee perfect results every time BUT we have to put in the work if we want it to actually taste good. So many blogs/sous vide recipes focus all their attention on the perfect time, temperature & colour of the meat (and very little on flavours). In this collection of recipes I will be doing the opposite. I will advise on the temp/time that I believe to be optimal but most of the focus will be on flavours, marinades & brines.