Sous-Vide vs Nitrogen Cavitation Infusion

Anyone got a good way of explaining the differences between infusing something sous vide and infusing something with a whipping siphon (i.e. Pressure and Nitrogen Cavitation). I've seen these two techniques used interchangeably for a variety of applications in MC.

I really want to try Kyle Connaughton's Ponzu Recipe from the Fat Duck Cookbook but don't know if it would be a good idea to attempt it with a whipping siphon for a much shorter turn around time.

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tshewman

See www.chefsteps.com/activities/pressure-infusion-with-charred-oak

You'll obviously have to scale ingredients accordingly and note which liquids tend to work best. Look forward to hearing your experience.

Brandon_Byrd_40557

I can't really expound on the theoretical basis of my experiences with infusion, but for that recipe I think sous vide infusion would work better than pressure infusion, especially if you have a chamber vacuum. When you pull a vacuum, you'll get some boiling and bubbling that's not dissimilar to that inside a siphon, though it's not quite as intense. But if you then take that bag and place it in a water bath (not super hot... maybe 135F) you will dramatically accelerate the time it takes for infusion to take place. Just using a siphon is a bit of a crap shoot. Even if you let it sit for a while, you don't always get the level of extraction that you might hope for (using either alcohol or non-alcoholic liquid for the infusion). When infusing high proof vodka in a siphon, I've had to run several cycles to get close to the level of extraction that I was hoping for (this was with cacao nibs). Even still, the extraction was pretty weak. But just using a vacuum bag, I was able to do it in a few hours (with a superior result) and didn't have to waste money on all those chargers.

On a side note, I've been curious about combining these two techniques by putting an iSi Gourmet Whip in a water bath. I think the technique would be to chill down your ingredients, put them in the whipper and charge it. Then put it in the bath (at whatever temp seems appropriate for your ingredients) and then chill them down after time has elapsed. Then, after everything is cold again, rapidly depressurize. It seems like this might be the ultimate in rapid extraction, but I'm slightly worried it might lead to cloudiness. But if the bath temp isn't high enough to soften plant material (i.e. under 82C or so, which is way higher than you'd normally use for sous vide infusion) then I don't think the plant material would be weakened enough to get cloudy when you depressurized.

So those are my thoughts. If you're thinking about making that recipe, which normally takes a full month to make, you might try multiple techniques and compare them and get back to us. I'd be interested in hearing how the results differ from technique to technique.

dancurren

With nitrogen cavitation, essentially pressure in the siphon forces the nitrous oxide into solution with whatever liquid medium you are infusing. This pressure is so great, as nitrous oxide would naturally diffuse over a much greater volume than the sealed canister, it forces some of this nitrogen solution into the cells of the whatever medium you are infusing (depending on the permabilty of the cell membrane). Upon a sudden release of pressure, the nitrogen essentially "boils" out of solution, rupturing the cell membrance and allowing a greater propotion of flavour moleculues to be relased into the liquid that you are infusing. Nitrogen cavitation thus has the benefit of allowing for a higher level of flavour moleculues to be released in a short period of time without any heat damage to the ingredients (the boiling is caused by a sudden decompression rather than an application of heat).

With Sous Vide infusion, depending on he strength of the vaccum you can pull (i.e. do you have a chamber vaccum or just a food saver) the infusion is aided by the ingredients being forced into closer contact (although with a sufficent vaccum and depending on the permeability of what you are infusing with, some diffusion may occur) as well as through the application of heat. It is important to remember though that heat damages aromatic compounds. Although, sous vide has the ability to maintain precise and low temperatures which allows for improved flavour over say infusing flavour by boiling an aromatic in a liquid.

kh.anuj

Appreciate the comments lads. I guess why I'm so curious about these two methods is that in a Whipping Siphon you're putting contents under added pressure (enough to make Nitrous oxide soluable in water) and sous-vide you're lowering the pressure, yet the two accomplish similar things. Will start a trial once I can get my hands on some sudachi and yuzu.

ljdcooks

Why not? Whats there to lose really? I love doing rapid infusions with my siphon.

noahfirestone

Did you end up trying either method?