Steaming vs. Sous Vide?

I was asking myself what the difference between low temperature steaming meat / fish and sous vide is? This is the list I came up with:

You can add aromatics, herbs, spices and everything else into the pouches.
Temperature control in an immersion circulator is more precise than in a steamer.
Transmission of temperature should be a little slower in a steamer than in an immersion circulator.
As steam does not dry out the meat juiciness and flavor should be almost equal.

With those arguments I would save myself from hassle to put everything in pouches, if the first two are not necessary. Any thoughts? Any experience or experiments?

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Comments

Tim_Sutherland_52834

Advantages of SV over steaming include:

Bag product in individual portion sizes;
With SV you can easily cook, chill/freeze, then retherm for service at a later stage (hours to months later);
Food product can be pasteurised to core, without over cooking for immunocompromised guests;
Control over texture - if you want your meat cooked firm time/temp A, braise like time/temp B, pulled time/temp C, etc;

Bagging product is not a hassle. Once you have done it a few times you will find it quick, easy, and cleaner to purchase a large slab of meat, break it down to individual portion size, bag, cook and chill. You now have meals for the next month.

Frederick_11350

Thank you, Tim. You are absolutely right. But as a home cook I rarely have that much produce to deal with.

Johan_Edstrom_5586

The more time I've spent on Chefsteps - the more SV is just one technique

of many, many times for the homecook, it is a fantastic tool because it allows

for worry free cooking, you can focus on other things. Garnishes, cleaning, and

maybe having a glass with guests. Learn from the recipes here and look at all the

various finishing techniques, like the comment on an English Roast, chill, deep fry,

SV, oven finish and baste like crazy. You'll develop new and often much more practical

ways of cooking. Buying large pieces of meat like Tim says, much cheaper and much

easier to control.

Tim_Sutherland_52834

For home use I will buy a whole brisket (~15lb/7kg), portion, smoke, SV, freeze. Then for the next 6 months a BBQ meal is a few hours away. It is cheaper to purchase a whole chicken than the breast. The whole chicken allows me to practice my butchery skills, SV the breasts, turn the legs into sausage, carcass for stock, and wings for a snack. If I see the chickens on sale, after an afternoon in kitchen I have dinner, a few litres of stock, and the fridge/freezer filled with enough chicken meals for a month or two.

One of the great things about SV is you can cook food now to consume later with no loss of quality. It only takes 10 minutes longer to cook 10 steaks SV as it does one. Once a home cook can can think like a restaurant cook and separate the prep/cooking from the finishing/serving, your cooking will become easier, efficient and more enjoyable. Cooking sous vide is a big step in this direction.