• Smoked Ceviche

    Posted by PolyScience Staff

    At times, imparting smoke into dishes requires us to take a step or two back to revisit the entire concept. With this smoked ceviche, the smoked lime juice carries the flavor through the fish, not just around it. Reimagine any marinated dish and surprise your guests with every smoky bite.

    Serves 8

    Prep time: 20 minutes Cook time: 2-4 hours
    1 lb (450g) fresh, skinless Snapper, Bass or Halibut, cut into 1/2-inch dice
    1 1/2 cups fresh lime juice
    1 medium white onion, large dice
    2 medium-large tomatoes, large dice
    2 to 3 serrano chiles (may substitute 1-2 jalapeños), stemmed, seeded and finely chopped
    1/3 cup chopped cilantro, plus a few leaves for garnish
    1/3 cup chopped pitted Manzanillo olives
    2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil (optional)
    Kosher Salt, to taste

    3 tablespoons fresh squeezed orange juice
    1 large or 2 small ripe avocados, peeled, pitted and diced
    Tostadas, tortilla chips or popcorn, for serving

    Cherry Wood Smoking Gun™ Wood Chips

    While ceviche is cooked through a process of citric acid denaturation, we note:
    The consumption of raw or undercooked eggs, meat, poultry, seafood or shellfish may increase your risk of food borne illness.

    Step 1:
    In a high speed blender or covered container, smoke the lime juice with the PolyScience Smoking Gun™ for 5 minutes. Blend or whisk aggressively to incorporate smoke and lime juice.

    Step 2:
    In a medium glass or stainless steel bowl, combine the fish, smoked lime juice and onion. Cover the fish with enough juice that it floats freely. Cover and refrigerate for 2-4 hours. “Cooked” fish will be opaque and no longer looks raw throughout.

    Step 3:
    Gently drain in a colander.

    Step 4:
    In a large bowl, mix together the tomatoes, serrano chiles, cilantro, olives and optional olive oil. Stir in the fish and season with salt. Add the orange juice. Cover and refrigerate if not serving immediately. Just before serving, gently stir in the diced avocado.

    Step 5:
    Garnish and serve with tostadas, tortilla chips or popcorn. It is traditional in many places to serve ceviche with popcorn.

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  • Milk-Poached Halibut Flavored with Rosemary and Kaffir Lime Leaves

    Posted by PolyScience Staff

    Cooking time: 12-20 minutes
    Serves: 4

    Recipe based on work by Dave Arnold and Nils Norén.

    Ingredients:
    4 portions of halibut (6 oz / 170g – 1½ inch / 40mm thick)
    1/2 C / 120ml milk
    3 sprigs rosemary
    4 Kaffir Lime leaves, thinly sliced
    Kosher salt, to taste

    Step One:

    Set the temperature on your Sous Vide Professional™ to 51.7°C / 125°F with rear pump flow switch closed and front flow switch set to full open.

    Step Two:
    Season the halibut with salt. Place the halibut in a bag; add milk, rosemary and lime leaves and vacuum seal. Make sure that the fish is not overlapping in the bag.

    Step Three:
    Drop bag into the 51.7°C/125°F water bath and make sure that it is completely submerged.  If necessary, place a small weight on the bag to weigh down the fish. After 11 minutes, remove the bag from the water and feel the fish for doneness. If the fish is not done, return the bag back to the water bath. Check every 2 minutes until the fish has reached desired doneness.

    Step Four:
    Remove bag, take halibut out of the bag and serve.

    Step Five:
    Gently remove halibut from vacuum bag. If a sear is desired, gently dry off the portion with paper or kitchen towel. Season as desired and sear in a hot pan with olive oil or butter. The halibut may also be grilled, if desired.

    Side Note:
    A 20% salt solution is effective in inhibiting the secretion of albumen and gives the halibut a pure white color when cooked. The brine will eliminate the need for additional salt in the recipe when brined for 20 minutes.  Brine must be applied when ice cold, hence the crushed ice in the recipe. Rinse the halibut prior to vacuum sealing.

    Brine:
    1 1/2 C / 330g Kosher Salt
    1 Qt /.95L water
    2 lbs /.9kg ice, crushed

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  • Sous Vide Techniques: Entire Meals

    Posted by PolyScience Staff

    Can you cook an entire meal at the same time in a Sous Vide™ Professional?
    Yes. There are different ways of doing this – with different temperatures or not.

    For foods that you’d like to cook at different temperatures, you have 2 options:

    Staged approach – stage it, hold it, finish it, serve it
    Since food doesn’t overcook when holding at a lower temperature, one simply organizes the sequence from high to low temperatures. For example, first cook carrots and potatoes at 185°F/85°F for 45 minutes, then lower the temperature to 138°F/59°C for medium-rare beef tenderloin. Adding ice cubes helps to speed up the cool-down process.

    The cook-chill-reheat approach
    Pre-cook different foods, chill in an ice-bath and store in the refrigerator. Later re-heat all foods at the temperature that you’ve used for the food with the lowest temperature, which would be at 138°F/59°C for example when serving medium-rare meats. Note: an ice bath is the most efficient and safest way to chill down a vacuum sealed pouch of food. Do not put it in the refrigerator to chill down, because it can take days and warms up the rest of your fridge content.

    If you like to cook food at the same temperature, but don’t want to lose the other benefits of sous vide:

    Slow Cooker concept – one-pot meals and stews
    A Sous Vide™ Professional can be used like a slow cooker. Simply vacuum seal your stew into a bag or fill into a container that sits in the water bath and will be cooked by the surrounding temperature-controlled liquid.

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