Best Cookbooks for Sous Vide/LTLT Cooking

[Chris Amirault]

I thought we could put together a list of cookbooks that are useful resources for sous vide/long time, low temperature cooking.

A few are dedicated to SV/LTLT cooking. There's Sous Vide Cuisine by Joan Roca & Salvador Brugues (Amazon link here; eG Forums topic here). There's Under Pressure by Thomas Keller (Amazon link here; eG Forums topic here). There's Society member Douglas Baldwin's Sous Vide for the Home Cook. Soon, we'll have Society member Nathan Myhrvold's epic Modernist Cuisine (eG Forums topic here; Amazon link here).

Then there are cookbooks that aren't dedicated to SV/LTLT cooking but use the technique, such as Society member Grant Achatz's Alinea cookbook and Michel Richard's Happy in the Kitchen.

Are there others out there that you turn to when you fire up your Auber, rice cooker, or SV Supreme?

[PedroG]

Sous Vide: Cooking in a Vacuum by Viktor Stampfer (synoptic in English and German).

On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen by Harold McGee has many informatons relevant for SV, although not specially a SV book.

[nolnacs]

The Ideas in Food cookbook that is coming out in December might have some info on sous-vide. I'm basing that on having read the blog rather than having any confirmation of the contents. Anyone know for certain?

[PedroG]

Thanks for the hint! Must have! Ordering it, I found another must-have: Cooking for Geeks: Real Science, Great Hacks, and Good Food by Jeff Potter, which features 25 pages on sous vide out of 400 pages; you may preview the book here.

[nickrey]

I suppose it's a bit like having a cookbook dedicated to one type of cooking (eg frying). There are not many books devoted to a single style of cooking but many that use it as part of the repertoire of techniques that are used.

As sous vide cooking has become more mainstream, we're seeing more recipes using sous vide as a normal cooking process.

Jordi Crux's book Logical Cuisine is one such book. Most proteins in the book are cooked sous vide. Is it a book on sous vide cooking? Not really. Does it have many sous vide recipes? Yes, it does. Equally, books by restaurant chefs that are not dumbed down (think The Fat Duck cookbook) also use sous vide processes.

[percival]

I don't think books for certain types of cooking are that rare. Soups, bbq, crock pot, baking, sushi, ceviche, etc. Food and Wine mag just came out with a feature article on sous vide with recipes. Features the Sous Vide Supreme.

I've got Cooking For Geeks. Not really a cook book, for sous vide or any other type of cooking. Just pop science.

[dougal]

Really, I think almost any cookbook can contribute something that can be twisted to sv -- particularly if it references cooking to a specified internal temperature, rather than by time or by qualitative or visual description. There are actually internal temperatures mentioned in Mastering the Art of French Cooking - kudos for being SO far ahead of the rest at that time!

I'm going to make a prediction: - this is the next battle to be fought with cookbook editors after the weight measures struggle is won.

"You are trying to cook, and you tell me that you don't even have a thermometer? Well, really!"

[Robenco15]

Hello All,

I am looking for a sous vide cookbook that would provide me with information from a safety standpoint, fantastic and proper techniques, and excellent recipes. I plan on purchasing the Anova Sous Vide Immersion Circulator soon and wanted to make sure I get a good education in proper and safe sous vide cooking.

I do not own a pressure cooker and will not be owning one for the forseeable future (maybe xmas), but do own a good amount of kitchen equipment that has helped me reproduce French Laundry recipes more or less word for word.

Anyway, the three books I've looked at are Sous Vide for the Home Cook, Under Pressure: Cooking Sous Vide, and Modernist Cuisine at Home.

I'm pretty sure that those are the three you would all recommend for me.

Some background:

I have cooked plentry from The French Laundry, Ad Hoc at Home, and Bouchon. I LOVE Thomas Keller, for his pursuit of excellence, techniques, and just about everything.

However, I've read not so amazing things about his Under Pressure book in aspects of cooking times, contradictions in what is considered safe, and the inability to make most of the dishes, which I generally scoff at but that has been mentioned so many times I'm beginning.

For Sous Vide for the Home Cook I haven't been able to find a ton about it. From what I am able to tell it will tell me how to cook the main protein component of a dish but not so much a full dish. But that may be ideal as I can do whatever I want after correctly and safely cooking the main element of a dish.

Modernist Cuisine at Home I have been able to look through a lot and find that there is just too much equipment that I don't have and will not have for awhile. It is also massive and I literally don't think I have room for it.

Do I even need a book? Is there a book I'm missing? I guess I could cook any dish from a cookbook I own, but cook the main component sous vide. Then I just need to find a resource for the correct temperature and times, etc.

I'm sure there are websites out there?

When it comes down to it I am always trying to do everything with the best technique and absolute refinement in creating the best possible product.

Thank you for your help and I appreciate the guidance!

[heidih]

Our topic which is so large it is in 9 parts is an excellent reference: start here http://forums.egullet.org/topic/145383-sous-vide-recipes-techniques-equipment-part-9/?hl=%2Bsous+%2Bvide

[Robenco15]

Our topic which is so large it is in 9 parts is an excellent reference: start here http://forums.egullet.org/topic/145383-sous-vide-recipes-techniques-equipment-part-9/?hl=%2Bsous+%2Bvide

Thank you! I might have been searching for too specific of keywords that I couldn't find that.

[Martin Fisher]

If I were you, I wouldn't jump on any of those books.

I'd read Douglas Baldwin's A Practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking and his article in the International Journal of Gastronomy and Food Science.

http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Top

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878450X11000035

Then I would spend a few days reading the sous vide threads here on eGullet.

There are thousands of posts, but much of the information is priceless.

[nickrey]

Somehow the reorganisation of the topic on the forums means that the extremely valuable sous vide index is practically impossible to find unless you know what you are searching for.

Check out this link. The hyperlink index given there will lead you through most of your questions about sous vide cooking in more depth than any of the cookbooks available.

[Robenco15]

Wow. That is amazing. Everything I ever need is right there.

Thank you so much!

So much for a book, which is good news. I might eventually get Keller's book anyway as it is the last one I need to complete my collection. Not that I collect books, but since I already have his other four, why not right?

[Twyst]

As others have stated I find the internet a much more valuable resource for sous vide cooking than any book currently out except for the 5 volume modernist cuisine set, but even most of that information can be found freely on the web. I have all the keller books and cook from all of them except under pressure, it sits on my shelf unused because it honestly isnt very good and is already a bit dated.

[Brown Hornet]

When I started cooking sous vide egullet's legendary sous vide thread was absolutely invaluable and was the reason I joined egullet in the first place! Douglas Baldwin's website and materials were also incredibly helpful. You should be able find just about everything you need for sous vide cooking from just those two sources.

That said, if you get the chance, borrow someone's copy of Modernist Cuisined to read the chapter on sous vide cooking. It's increadibly thorough but the information is presented in a concise and well-organized format. Opinions vary of course, but I now consider the sous vide cooking time charts in MC as the definitive reference source for that information.

[Robenco15]

When I started cooking sous vide egullet's legendary sous vide thread was absolutely invaluable and was the reason I joined egullet in the first place! Douglas Baldwin's website and materials were also incredibly helpful. You should be able find just about everything you need for sous vide cooking from just those two sources.

That said, if you get the chance, borrow someone's copy of Modernist Cuisined to read the chapter on sous vide cooking. It's increadibly thorough but the information is presented in a concise and well-organized format. Opinions vary of course, but I now consider the sous vide cooking time charts in MC as the definitive reference source for that information.

Could you direct me to a volume number and page number? Or volume? Where exactly are the charts? Thank you!

[KennethT]

All of book 1 is about food safety... All the charts and tables are there... That being said, I'll reiterate that the forums here and Douglas Baldwin's site have just about all the info you'd ever need. I'm another one who joined Egullet because of the original sous vide thread.

[gfweb]

Agreed. All you need is right here.

[mgaretz]

I would advocate that even though you can get much of Dr. Baldwin's book for free from here and his excellent website, you (we) should support his efforts by at least buying his book. Just my 2 cents...

[rotuts]

I also got the book. and use the web site. I pencil in my temps and results in the section outlining temps and times.

handy added ref.

[Baselerd]

Under pressure is great, but the recipes are definitely not for beginners. You can definitely glean some good information from the book, but i would recommend the Modernist Cuisine (or the at home version) for a more general reference. The Modernist Cuisine has a bunch of reference tables with recommended cook times and temperatures for various cuts of meat of varying thickness. They also have a ton of other great information on Sous Vide cooking (safety, science, etc.) and other modern techniques. The MC at Home is a good reference as well, although they do not have as diverse reference tables. That book has all the common cuts of meat (beef, chicken, etc, popular fish such as salmon and tuna) but not some of the less common stuff (foie gras, most offal, most shellfish, many varieties of fish, etc.)

With that said, I would strongly recommend perusing through the Chefsteps sous vide cooking course. It's free, and written by one of the co-authors of the Modernist Cuisine.

[Dale Prentice]

We have just finished writing 'At home with sous vide' the latest hard cover dedicated to sous vide cooking and the first to come out of Australia. At home with sous vide available from the 1st of December 2013. Contributed recipes from some of the worlds great sous vide chefs and bloggers.

[EnriqueB]

We have just finished writing 'At home with sous vide' the latest hard cover dedicated to sous vide cooking and the first to come out of Australia. At home with sous vide available from the 1st of December 2013. Contributed recipes from some of the worlds great sous vide chefs and bloggers.

Looks good. Will it be available in Europe bookstores? Amazon?

[Dale Prentice]

We have just finished writing 'At home with sous vide' the latest hard cover dedicated to sous vide cooking and the first to come out of Australia. At home with sous vide available from the 1st of December 2013. Contributed recipes from some of the worlds great sous vide chefs and bloggers.

Looks good. Will it be available in Europe bookstores? Amazon?

Not yet, if you know a cookbook store or sous vide importer in Europe that deals in specialty cookbooks I would love to talk to them.

I will post when it is here in hard copy about three time and we will take it from there.

[Honkman]

We have just finished writing 'At home with sous vide' the latest hard cover dedicated to sous vide cooking and the first to come out of Australia. At home with sous vide available from the 1st of December 2013. Contributed recipes from some of the worlds great sous vide chefs and bloggers.

Looks good. Will it be available in Europe bookstores? Amazon?

Not yet, if you know a cookbook store or sous vide importer in Europe that deals in specialty cookbooks I would love to talk to them.

I will post when it is here in hard copy about three time and we will take it from there.

What will be the price for the book in Australia ?