Sockeye Salmon Sous Vide

Being a single guy, it’s never easy to make “gourmet” foods for dinner since I’m not one to put an hour of my time into food making when I’m the only one who is going to eat it.  This makes having diversity at dinner time a little rough.  I’ve decided in the last few months to try out sous vide.  It makes cooking almost idiot-proof, honestly.

I have a thing for fish, but I also have an issue with needing to handhold it’s cooking and preparation.  Add in sous vide, and BAM.  It’s so easy to make a good quality sockeye salmon, and the timings not an issue.  When I buy the salmon (and other fish, as well) I cut it into serving size and store in quart size ziplock to freeze.  When the time comes, I pull the bag out and pour about 1/2 cup of olive oil in as buffer.  I then pick and choose my spices which usually is a mix of thyme, a small touch of soy sauce (at times cayenne powder), a small bit of onion powder, and that’s about it.  I then lower the bag into the water up to the ziplock seam and close it.  This evacuates the air from the bag without needing to use a vacuum sealer. Then I swish the bag around a bit to get the sauces mixed, and make sure the sous vide cooker is set/prepped to 135 degrees.  Toss the bag into the water, and set a timer for 45 minutes.  Boom, done.  Afterwards, I simply empty out the olive oil.  If I wanted a firm skin, I’d seer the fish, but I don’t so that’s it.

I’ve done this many times now, and each time with different spices.  It makes for a great and easy dinner where I can take 2-3 minutes out of my time and prep things, letting the sous vide do the rest of the work.

I’m going to start doing my breakfast with sous vide soft poached eggs and other foods.  Side dishes as well, which should be simple with the temperature of the fish and the length of time.

Here’s to experimentation.