122°F Salmon

Reading about sous vide on the internet, it seems the easiest thing to cook is salmon. Therefore, that's what I decided to do. I used a cooking temperature of 122°F (50°C), based on a recipe I found. Some people such as Heston Blumenthal, Joan Roca, and Nathan Myhrvold use lower temperatures. I didn't because I was afraid my wife and kids will find the fish to be too rare.

I always like to get my two kids to be involved with the cooking. Often times, when the kids help make the food, they tend to want to eat it. With sous vide, since the temperature is low and there is no fire, the kids can actually be more involved: press the button to seal the bag, put the fish in the bag, press to seal and vacuum the bag, and drop the bag into the tub with warm water.

The salmon took around 12 minutes to cook in the water bath.

For the salmon I simply used some salt and pepper. Since I don't have a chamber vacuum sealer, I didn't want to add any liquid, such as olive oil, which would require the additional step of freezing the oil first.

The result of the salmon cooked sous vide was very good. I used to pan fry, steam, bake, and poach salmon fillet. With sous vide, the result is definitely different. First of all, the color of the cooked fillet looked raw. However, the fish was definitely cooked evenly throughout, which produced a soft and succulent texture. The texture is actually closer to smoked salmon. The flavor was very good and certainly more intense.

My two-year old happily ate the fish. I am not sure if it is because she helped with the cooking or because she actually likes salmon. Nevertheless, I cannot help but wonder if she gets accustomed to eating salmon cooked precisely by sous vide, will the texture and taste produced become her standard.