Monday, January 12, 2009

Chef Chris Ward adds more “sous vide” items to menu at Mercury Grill in Dallas

By Pegasus News wire

DALLAS — Chef Chris Ward has expanded the menu at Mercury Grill to offer sous vide dishes from Dover Sole to beef short ribs which have been braised for 48 hours prior to serving.

Ward began to adjust his recipes to the sous vide process five years ago and will launch cooking classes this year to teach other restaurant and home chefs how to cook foods sous vide. He began learning the sous vide technique over a decade ago from Michelin-starred chefs in France.

Sous vide was developed in France by Scientist Bruno Goussault as a method to enhance the flavor of food with the power of precise temperatures in cooking. Due to its exactness, sous vide cooking offers unprecedented temperature control and renders flavors and textures to food that no other cooking process can.

The food is hermetically sealed in a specially designed pouch and slowly cooked at a slightly lower-than-usual yet exact temperature for minutes or days; the natural fibers of the food soften and dissolve leaving the food tender enough to cut with a fork.

This gentle method of cooking also allows the preservation of the food's flavor, aroma and nutrients. Meat, lamb loin, turkey and veal tenderloin cook evenly and uniform producing meltingly tender dishes.

Vegetables and fruits cooked in an oxygen-free environment remain colored and the flavor and nutrients are not lost in the cooking water or atmosphere. Carrots taste more like carrots and apples more like apples.

According to Ward, "small amounts of herbs and marinades have dramatic effects used with the meats and the sous vide process enhances the flavor of delicate fish. Foods traditionally braised in simmering stock, sauteed, roasted or poached can now be cooked consistently to medium-rare pink with sous vide."

Source: Mercury Grill

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