Sous-Vide Cooking | Black Pepper & Butter Salmon with Honey

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Here’s an easy and healthy recipe idea to make in 30 minutes or less using a Sous Vide. I’m sharing tips on how to use a Sous Vide, plus a butter salmon with honey recipe, and how a food saver can help you in the kitchen!

Sous-Vide Cooking | Black Pepper & Butter Salmon with Honey

Tell me, does it seem like every day there is a new food preparation method to master? Sear. Blanche. Sauté. Braise. And so on… But, with all direct heat methods of cooking, there is always the possibility of overcooking your food, and overcooking is rarely a good thing. I mean, who wants an overcooked steak or in just a few minutes those expensive Bay scallops are ruined. But what if you knew of a cooking method in which overcooking is an impossibility? I see your eyebrows arch ever so inquisitively?

Using a Food Saver

Let me introduce you to sous-vide cooking. With sous-vide, the risk of cooking overcooking your food is very literally removed. No, there aren’t any magic wands involved, nor is there any voodoo. Beleive it or not Sous-vide cooking is a real thing and it’s awesome.

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So, this begs the question, what is sous-vide cooking anyway? Okay, a brief history. Sous-vide has been around since the 1970s and was invited by these two French guys. Together they developed a method of cooking in which food is put into a vacuumed-sealed bag and suspended in a precisely controlled circulating water bath. In French, the term sous-vide literally translates as, “under vacuum,” which totally makes sense. Because with sous-vide cooking the food is placed into a plastic bag and the air is removed from the bag via a vacuum sealer. The bag is then placed into the water after the water gradually cooks the food. Typically, there is a heating device which introduces and controls the heat, so the temperature of the water never exceeds the predetermined cooking temperature. Sous-vide cooking does have longer cooking times, but that is a minor trade-off you will be willing to make for perfectly cooked food, right?

How to use a Sous Vide – Cooking Tips

Recently, I made my very first sous-vide meal, and it turned out beautifully. There is a series of coincidences here, so bear with me. My lovely wife got me a sous-vide cooker for Christmas, and honestly, I didn’t know what to do with it. She told me way back in December, “Honey, this is a big deal, so learn how to cook sous-vide.” But I didn’t jump on the bandwagon right away because I was a little bit reluctant and a whole lot of intimidated! I mean, I’m no chef! Okay, I remember seeing sous-vide cooking on Iron Chef back in the day, so I wasn’t 100% clueless, I just didn’t know if I needed to attend culinary school first before making such an attempt.  

Here is where I offer the best advice when it comes to selecting the best tools for Sous-Vide cooking and food storage. For all things vacuum sealing you won’t find a better device for sous-vide than the FoodSaver® V4440 2-in-1 Automatic Vacuum Sealing System (purchased on Amazon) because it does exactly what you need it to do; removes harmful oxygen which degrades foods. Plus, FoodSaver® is rated as the top vacuum sealing system in the United States.  And when paired with the FoodSaver® Rolls and Bags there are even more benefits.

• The FoodSaver® rolls and bags are BPA free,
• and specially designed to withstand boiling temperatures,
• the bags and rolls are completely airtight, which delivers consistent and uniform cooking results
• the high-quality multi-layered construction prevents floating bags during sous vide cooking,
• the bags are versatile enough to go straight from the freezer to a hot water bath, with no separate defrost required,
• Available in a variety of sizes, which is a great option for preparing meats, seafood, vegetables, and portion control,
• The FoodSaver® rolls and bags are safe for microwave, freezer, and refrigerator.

And did you know Sous-Vide is healthy too?! Why? Well, because minimal salt and oils are needed for cooking because everything is cooked directly in the bag. And, vacuum-sealing retains the vitamins and nutrients traditionally lost in other cooking methods.

How to make Salmon with a Sous-Vide

Let’s make Black Pepper + Butter Salmon with Honey using the Sous-Vide method. If I had only known how super easy it is to go sous-vide, I would have done this eons ago. And one of the coolest aspects of sous-vide cooking is there are no pots and pans to scrape clean and wash. And when you get in the habit of adjusting to the longer cooking times, there is no reason to deny yourself the joy and deliciousness of going sous-vide. For this marinade I kept it easy, using only four ingredients, honey, freshly cracked black peppercorns, lemon juice, and sea salt.

Every ingredient in this simple marinade compliment the flaky salmon and, it is delicious.

Allow the marinade to do its thang to the salmon for no longer than 30-minutes.

I paired the delicate salmon with root vegetables cooked with goat butter and a pinch of sea salt

I must admit I have never had vegetables so perfectly cooked; sous-vide is now my preferred method of cooking so many of my favorite meats and veggies. Normally, when I prepare root vegetables their required cooking times typically means a loss of nutrients, not so with sous-vide cooking. Yes, the cooking times are substantially looking but conversely so are the nutritional benefits.

The final results were indeed favorable, and I must say, my first foray cooking sous-vide was a success, and I am so doing it again!

Sous-Vide Cooking Black Pepper + Butter Salmon with Honey

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs filet Salmon
• 1 1/2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 2 tablespoon honey
• 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black peppercorn
• 2 tablespoon flat-leaf parsley, minced

Directions:

1. Rinse and pat dry salmon.
2. Brush both sides of the salmon with olive oil,
3. Using a tablespoon of honey on each side, coat the salmon.
4. Sprinkle sea salt and freshly cracked black peppercorns on both the skin and flesh side of the salmon.
5. Place the salmon into the FoodSaver® 11″ Vacuum Seal Bag.
6. Seal the bag using the FoodSaver® V4440 2-in-1 Automatic Vacuum Sealing System.
7. Place the sealed salmon into the pot of water and attach your sous-vide cooker.
8. Adjust the temperature to 115°F / 46.1°C
9. Cook for 45 minutes.
10. Plate and garnish with minced flat-leaf parsley.
11. Serve.

How to make Root Vegetables with Goat Butter

Ingredients:

• 1 large beet
• 1 medium carrot
• 1 medium parsnip
• 1 tablespoon goat butter
• pinch sea salt

Directions:

1. Clean and peel the root vegetables.
2. Using a hand-held mandoline thinly slice vegetables.
3. Place vegetables into a sous-vide bag.
4. Add the goat butter and a pinch of sea salt.
5. Seal the bag using the FoodSaver® V4440 2-in-1 Automatic Vacuum Sealing System.
6. Place the sealed bag in a pot filled with tepid water.
7. Attach a sous-vide cooker to the pot and select the appropriate temperature, 183 F / 84 C for 1 hour.
8. Remove from the bag and plate.
9. Serve.

What will you cook with your sous-vide cooker? There are so many possibilities and endless combinations. And with this offer currently available for a FoodSaver® 3PK 11″ Vacuum Seal Rolls and FoodSaver® 3PK 11″ Vacuum Seal Rolls, you can save 20% off (ends 6/9) on Amazon! 

We would love to read all about your first sous-vide experience and your favorite sous-vide recipe. Leave us a comment down below in the comment section.