My birthday present to myself this year : an interview with Thomas Keller and Michael Ruhlman on the new book, Under Pressure for Saveur. Now, if only someone would get me a thermal circulator...Click the interview link above for a full review.
SAVEUR: As a chef, you test food by tasting, touching, and smelling. How do you gauge that when you're using sous vide? Is it intuitive?
Thomas Keller: It's an equation. We have it down to a science that allows us to cook a saddle of lamb at 60.5 degrees [C] and know that it will come out perfectly. It's all about time and temperature.
SAVEUR: Don't you miss the smelling and the tasting?
TK: Of course, you become emotionally attached to certain repetitions in the kitchen. But there is an art to preparing food to undergo sous vide, too.
Michael Ruhlman: It's important to remember that we aren't throwing away the craft of cooking; we're building on it.
SAVEUR: How much of your cooking is done sous vide these days?
TK: Fifteen percent to 20 percent.
SAVEUR: Who else is doing sous vide that you respect right now?
TK: Eric Ziebold and, of course, Grant [Achatz]—actually, everyone. There really isn't a chef now that isn't at least experimenting with sous vide in the kitchen.
SAVEUR: Have you figured out how to cook quiche sous vide yet?
TK: Well, no. Patisserie just doesn't work.
MR: I know a chef doing cake sous vide, but it's a very dense cake.
SAVEUR: What are your top three favorite sous vide preparations?
TK: Short ribs. You can achieve a very different product cooking short ribs sous vide. Vegetables, especially artichokes. And compression in general—we really like to experiment with compression.
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