Sous vide is a method of cooking food in vacuum-sealed pouches in a water bath at an accurately determined temperature. This enables the food to be cooked evenly, retaining the juices and aromas which are often lost by traditional cooking methods. Meat, in particular, becomes tender and succulent when cooked in a sous vide.

Professional chefs such as Heston Blumenthal have favoured this form of cooking for some time and featured it on their TV shows.Now manufacturers are making water baths available at affordable prices for cooking at home so that all of us can benefit from this new method of cooking.

Norma Miller