- 注释版
- 纯净版
来源:
[1] Increasingly affordable and easy to do, sous-vide immersion cooking has become trendy among food nerds who want precise control over the doneness of their meats.
[2] Sous vide, which means “under vacuum” in French, involves sealing food in an airtight bag and giving it a hot-water bath. A cylindrical gadget gently circulates and heats the water to a precise, consistent temperature, allowing the food to reach the exact temperature the cook desires without the risk of overcooking. Its advocates say the method is the key to attaining a piece of meat that is uniformly tender and juicy inside.
[3] But gosh, it can take forever.
[4] Enthusiasts who sing the praises of sous vide often try to indoctrinate home cooks with the holy grail of recipes: the perfect rib-eye steak. Set the device to heat up the water to around 129 degrees, immerse the bagged steak in the water and, like magic, you have a steak that is perfectly medium-rare all the way through, not just in the center. Give it a sear to brown the crust, and it’s close to something you would get at a steakhouse.
[5] Glossed over in that sales pitch is the part where sous vide takes at least an hour to cook the steak, or up to 10 times longer than it would using conventional methods, like a stove or grill.
[6] Herein lies the problem. Yes, cooking sous vide is more affordable than ever, with water-circulating devices ranging from $100 to $300, but the technique may feel impractical and inaccessible to the average home cook, particularly one with a demanding schedule. The plethora of sous-vide recipes published online are largely aimed at perfectionist cooks who have time on their hands.
[7] But what if sous vide actually made life easier for the home cook, even on weeknights?
[8] J. Kenji López-Alt, the managing culinary director of the website Serious Eats and the author of “The Food Lab,” a cookbook about the science of cooking, said that the sous-vide machine could leave the realm of specialty cooking and enter the world of convenience if people just planned ahead weekly or monthly.
[9] “Most people, when they think about dinner, say, ‘What can I get at the grocery store now and get going tonight?’” he said. “It requires a lot more forethought.”
[10] It also requires bigger thinking — as in bigger than a single steak.
[11] To fit sous vide into his schedule, Grant Crilly, a founder of ChefSteps, a recipe website and technology company in Seattle that is devoted to the cooking method, turns to two economical cuts of meat, the pork shoulder or beef chuck roast, which cost roughly $4 to $10 a pound at a grocery store and are far less expensive than buying a comparable number of steaks.
[12] Mr. Crilly, a chef who was part of the team that produced Nathan Myhrvold’s “Modernist Cuisine” cookbook, cooks the meat sous vide for 24 hours, and then divides it into eight-ounce steaks. Each steak gets sealed in a plastic sandwich bag and moved to the freezer, creating a protein stockpile that can be easily transformed into delectable meals. When Mr. Crilly is ready to cook, he transfers the meat straight from the freezer into heated water and waits about 75 minutes for it to thaw. It’s kind of like gourmet astronaut food.
[13] From there, it’s up to the home cook’s imagination how to use the beef or pork. There’s the obvious, like a juicy boneless pork chop or beef steak: Add seasoning and give it a sear on the stove. Instant ramen can be upgraded into a chashu pork ramen. For taco night, grab the tortillas, slice the meat and fry it with some salt, pepper and onion.
[14] Pork shoulder and beef chuck are very tough cuts that are typically slow-cooked until they collapse into fork-tenderness: think pulled pork or pot roast. But cooking them sous vide does something special. The muscles in the shoulders are among the most actively used, which means the cut contains more collagen and flavor than the more tender options in the butcher case. A long sous-vide bath breaks down the collagens while keeping the texture of the meat intact.
[15] The softened collagens act like a lubricant in your mouth. The result is a beef or pork steak that tastes even juicier and more flavorful than a rib-eye or pork chop — as tender as you can imagine, but not falling apart until it hits your tongue, Mr. Crilly said.
[16] “Cook it slow, unlock all that really beautiful flavor, and you’ve got a really nice piece of meat,” he said.
[17] And starting dinner prep with a versatile piece of meat that’s already cooked through, tender and flavorful is a boon to any home cook.
[18] “You end up with this instant upgrade to any dish,” Mr. Crilly said. He added that one night, when he and his wife returned exhausted from a long day of work, he reheated a frozen pork chop using sous vide, diced the meat into cubes and quickly stir-fried it with vegetables for a satisfying dinner.
[19] The caveat is that 24 hours to cook a large slab of meat is a long time. Also, thawing frozen meat in a sous-vide bath, as Mr. Crilly does, takes at least an hour.
[20] But to him, the trade-off is worth it. One day of prep work yields a few months’ worth of protein that can be quickly paired with items already in his refrigerator or pantry. The actual cooking is unattended and extraordinarily forgiving. It’s all but impossible to overcook meat sous vide, because the water bath stays at the temperature that you want the food to reach. And during that hour it takes a frozen steak to thaw, Mr. Crilly bakes potatoes or throws together a salad.
[21] With some forethought, you can even save yourself a little time before dinner. In the morning, you could heat a pot of water with the sous-vide machine, throw in a frozen beef or pork steak and let it cook all day. By the time you get home, the meat is ready to be seared and devoured.
[22] Or you could do as Mr. López-Alt does. In the morning, he moves some of the raw salmon or halibut pieces he keeps in the freezer to the refrigerator to let them thaw throughout the day. When his wife gets home from work, he turns on his sous-vide device and throws the fish in the pot for 30 minutes to cook it.
[23] “It probably takes you about the same amount of effort to turn on the sous-vide device and put the food in there as it does to place a delivery order with your phone,” he said.
重点单词
nerd /nɜːd/ noun [ C ] informal disapproving
a person, especially a man, who is not attractive and awkward or socially embarrassing
the key to sth
the best or only way to achieve something
Hard work is the key to success.
cylindrical /sɪˈlɪn.drɪ.k ə l/ adj
having the shape of a cylinder (= hollow tube)
gadget /ˈgædʒ.ɪt/ noun [ C ]
a small device or machine with a particular purpose
kitchen gadgets
Have you seen this handy little gadget - it's for separating egg yolks from whites.
advocate /ˈæd.və.kət/ noun [ C ]
someone who publicly supports something
attain /əˈteɪn/ verb [ T ] formal
to reach or succeed in getting something; to achieve
He has attained the highest grade in his music exams.
We need to identify the best ways of attaining our objectives/goals.
India attained independence in 1947, after decades of struggle.
uniform /ˈjuː.nɪ.fɔːm/ adj
the same; not changing or different in any way
gosh /gɒʃ/ exclamation informal slightly old-fashioned
used to express surprise or strength of feeling
Gosh, I didn't expect to see you here!
enthusiast /ɪnˈθjuː.zi.æst/ noun [ C ]
a person who is very interested in and involved with a particular subject or activity
indoctrinate /ɪnˈdɒk.trɪ.neɪt/ verb [ T ] disapproving
to often repeat an idea or belief to someone in order to persuade them to accept it
Some parents were critical of attempts to indoctrinate children in green ideology.
They have been indoctrinated by television to believe that violence is normal.
the Holy Grail /ðəˌhəʊ.liˈgreɪl/ noun [ S ]
something that is extremely difficult to find or get
Sustained nuclear fusion is the holy grail of the power industry.
sear /sɪə r / verb [ T ]
to fry a piece of meat quickly at a high temperature, in order to prevent liquid and flavour escaping from it
gloss over sth phrasal verb
to avoid considering something, such as an embarrassing mistake, to make it seem not important, and to quickly continue talking about something else
She glossed over the company's fall in profits.
The film was well researched, but it glossed over the important issues.
pitch /pɪtʃ/ noun
[ C ] a speech or act which attempts to persuade someone to buy or do something
The man in the shop gave me his (sales) pitch about quality and reliability.
She made a pitch for the job but she didn't get it.
[ + to infinitive ] The city made a pitch to stage the Olympics.
herein /ˌhɪəˈrɪn/ adv formal or legal in this
The people have no faith in their government, and herein lies the root of the problem.
plethora /ˈpleθ. ə r.ə/ noun [ S ] slightly formal
a very large amount of something, especially a larger amount than you need, want or can deal with
There's a plethora of books about the royal family.
The plethora of regulations is both contradictory and confusing.
have time on your hands
to have nothing to do
Now that her children are all at school, Mary has found that she has time on her hands, so she is taking a college course.
what if?
used to ask about something that could happen in the future, especially something bad
What if the train's late?
What if you don't pass your exams?
realm /relm/ noun [ C ]
an area of interest or activity
Her interests are in the realm of practical politics.
forethought /ˈfɔː.θɔːt/ noun [ U ]
the good judgment to consider the near future in your present actions; planning before you do something
I'm glad I had the forethought to make a copy of the letter, as proof of what had been promised.
turn (sth) to sth phrasal verb
If someone turns to a particular subject or they turn their thoughts or attention to it, they begin to speak, think or write about it
I'd like us now to turn our attention to next year's budget.
We're now going to turn to an issue that concerns us all - racism.
stockpile /ˈstɒk.paɪl/ noun [ C ]
a large amount of food, goods or weapons which are kept ready for future use
They have a stockpile of weapons and ammunition that will last several months.
delectable /dɪˈlek.tə.bl ̩/ adj
beautiful; giving great pleasure
a delectable cheesecake
thaw /θɔː/ verb
[ I or T ] to (cause to) change from a solid, frozen state to a liquid or soft one, because of an increase in temperature
Allow the meat to thaw properly before cooking it.
The sun came out and thawed the ice.
It 's beginning to thaw (= The weather is warm enough for snow and ice to melt) .
kind of informal
used when you are trying to explain or describe something, but you cannot be exact
It was kind of strange to see him again.
be up to sb
to be the responsibility of someone
It's up to the manager to make the final decision.
collagen /ˈkɒl.ə.dʒən/ noun [ U ] 胶原蛋白
intact /ɪnˈtækt/ adj not damaged
lubricant /ˈluː.brɪ.kənt/ noun [ C or U ] ( US informal lube ) 润滑剂
boon /buːn/ noun [ C usually singular ]
something that is very helpful and improves the quality of life
Guide dogs are a great boon to the partially sighted.
end up phrasal verb
to finally be in a particular place or situation
They're travelling across Europe by train and are planning to end up in Moscow.
Much of this meat will probably end up as dog food.
[ L ] She'll end up penniless if she carries on spending like that.
[ + -ing verb ] After working her way around the world, she ended up teaching English as a foreign language.
caveat /ˈkæv.i.æt/ noun [ C ] formal
a warning to consider something before acting further, or a statement which limits a more general statement; a proviso
He agreed to the interview, with the caveat that he could approve the final article.
slab /slæb/ noun [ C ]
a thick, flat piece of a solid substance, such as stone, wood, metal, food, etc., which is usually square or rectangular
a concrete/marble slab
He ate a whole slab of chocolate.
trade-off /ˈtreɪd.ɒf/ noun
[ C ] a situation in which you balance two opposing situations or qualities
There is a trade-off between doing the job accurately and doing it quickly.
She said that she'd had to make a trade-off between her job and her family.
[ C usually singular ] a situation in which you accept something bad in order to have something good
For some car buyers, lack of space is an acceptable trade-off for a sporty design.
pantry /ˈpæn.tri/ noun [ C ]
a small room or large cupboard in a house where food is kept
unattended /ˌʌn.əˈten.dɪd/ adj
not being watched or taken care of
Please do not leave your luggage unattended.
According to the report, most accidents occur when young children are left unattended in the home.
all but
almost
The game was all but over by the time we arrived.
I'd all but given up on you.
devour /dɪˈvaʊə r / verb [ T ]
to eat something eagerly and in large amounts so that nothing is left
halibut /ˈhæl.ɪ.bət/ noun [ C ] plural halibut or halibuts 大比目鱼
来源:
[1] Increasingly affordable and easy to do, sous-vide immersion cooking has become trendy among food nerds who want precise control over the doneness of their meats.
[2] Sous vide, which means “under vacuum” in French, involves sealing food in an airtight bag and giving it a hot-water bath. A cylindrical gadget gently circulates and heats the water to a precise, consistent temperature, allowing the food to reach the exact temperature the cook desires without the risk of overcooking. Its advocates say the method is the key to attaining a piece of meat that is uniformly tender and juicy inside.
[3] But gosh, it can take forever.
[4] Enthusiasts who sing the praises of sous vide often try to indoctrinate home cooks with the holy grail of recipes: the perfect rib-eye steak. Set the device to heat up the water to around 129 degrees, immerse the bagged steak in the water and, like magic, you have a steak that is perfectly medium-rare all the way through, not just in the center. Give it a sear to brown the crust, and it’s close to something you would get at a steakhouse.
[5] Glossed over in that sales pitch is the part where sous vide takes at least an hour to cook the steak, or up to 10 times longer than it would using conventional methods, like a stove or grill.
[6] Herein lies the problem. Yes, cooking sous vide is more affordable than ever, with water-circulating devices ranging from $100 to $300, but the technique may feel impractical and inaccessible to the average home cook, particularly one with a demanding schedule. The plethora of sous-vide recipes published online are largely aimed at perfectionist cooks who have time on their hands.
[7] But what if sous vide actually made life easier for the home cook, even on weeknights?
[8] J. Kenji López-Alt, the managing culinary director of the website Serious Eats and the author of “The Food Lab,” a cookbook about the science of cooking, said that the sous-vide machine could leave the realm of specialty cooking and enter the world of convenience if people just planned ahead weekly or monthly.
[9] “Most people, when they think about dinner, say, ‘What can I get at the grocery store now and get going tonight?’” he said. “It requires a lot more forethought.”
[10] It also requires bigger thinking — as in bigger than a single steak.
[11] To fit sous vide into his schedule, Grant Crilly, a founder of ChefSteps, a recipe website and technology company in Seattle that is devoted to the cooking method, turns to two economical cuts of meat, the pork shoulder or beef chuck roast, which cost roughly $4 to $10 a pound at a grocery store and are far less expensive than buying a comparable number of steaks.
[12] Mr. Crilly, a chef who was part of the team that produced Nathan Myhrvold’s “Modernist Cuisine” cookbook, cooks the meat sous vide for 24 hours, and then divides it into eight-ounce steaks. Each steak gets sealed in a plastic sandwich bag and moved to the freezer, creating a protein stockpile that can be easily transformed into delectable meals. When Mr. Crilly is ready to cook, he transfers the meat straight from the freezer into heated water and waits about 75 minutes for it to thaw. It’s kind of like gourmet astronaut food.
[13] From there, it’s up to the home cook’s imagination how to use the beef or pork. There’s the obvious, like a juicy boneless pork chop or beef steak: Add seasoning and give it a sear on the stove. Instant ramen can be upgraded into a chashu pork ramen. For taco night, grab the tortillas, slice the meat and fry it with some salt, pepper and onion.
[14] Pork shoulder and beef chuck are very tough cuts that are typically slow-cooked until they collapse into fork-tenderness: think pulled pork or pot roast. But cooking them sous vide does something special. The muscles in the shoulders are among the most actively used, which means the cut contains more collagen and flavor than the more tender options in the butcher case. A long sous-vide bath breaks down the collagens while keeping the texture of the meat intact.
[15] The softened collagens act like a lubricant in your mouth. The result is a beef or pork steak that tastes even juicier and more flavorful than a rib-eye or pork chop — as tender as you can imagine, but not falling apart until it hits your tongue, Mr. Crilly said.
[16] “Cook it slow, unlock all that really beautiful flavor, and you’ve got a really nice piece of meat,” he said.
[17] And starting dinner prep with a versatile piece of meat that’s already cooked through, tender and flavorful is a boon to any home cook.
[18] “You end up with this instant upgrade to any dish,” Mr. Crilly said. He added that one night, when he and his wife returned exhausted from a long day of work, he reheated a frozen pork chop using sous vide, diced the meat into cubes and quickly stir-fried it with vegetables for a satisfying dinner.
[19] The caveat is that 24 hours to cook a large slab of meat is a long time. Also, thawing frozen meat in a sous-vide bath, as Mr. Crilly does, takes at least an hour.
[20] But to him, the trade-off is worth it. One day of prep work yields a few months’ worth of protein that can be quickly paired with items already in his refrigerator or pantry. The actual cooking is unattended and extraordinarily forgiving. It’s all but impossible to overcook meat sous vide, because the water bath stays at the temperature that you want the food to reach. And during that hour it takes a frozen steak to thaw, Mr. Crilly bakes potatoes or throws together a salad.
[21] With some forethought, you can even save yourself a little time before dinner. In the morning, you could heat a pot of water with the sous-vide machine, throw in a frozen beef or pork steak and let it cook all day. By the time you get home, the meat is ready to be seared and devoured.
[22] Or you could do as Mr. López-Alt does. In the morning, he moves some of the raw salmon or halibut pieces he keeps in the freezer to the refrigerator to let them thaw throughout the day. When his wife gets home from work, he turns on his sous-vide device and throws the fish in the pot for 30 minutes to cook it.
[23] “It probably takes you about the same amount of effort to turn on the sous-vide device and put the food in there as it does to place a delivery order with your phone,” he said.