Sous Vide cooking in the home

I was recently invited to spend the day with the lovely people at Clifton Food range at their in-house kitchen as well as take a tour around their factory in Weston-super-mare. To be honest my knowledge of Sous Vide cooking was pretty limited before attended the event, all I knew was it involved cooking in water but that was about it, although as I cook everyday and it's something I love to do I was really looking forward to learning more about it and how it could be used in the home, as up until now it was something only really found in professional kitchens.

The day kicked off with some coffee and relaxed introductions before professional Chef Dez Turland talked us through in-depth into what exactly a Clifton water bath is and what it could do and I was amazed to hear that pretty much anything can be slow cooked in water as long as it's vacuum packed before putting into the bath. They are also incredibly eco-friendly and cost hardly anything to run, which for me personally is a massive advantage and selling point.

Before the tour of the factory we all got to prepare our Sous Vide dishes which we would be eating for lunch which included a saag aloo starter and then a Halloumi, chilli, ginger and spring onion dish with noodles, it took hardly no time to prepare and throw into the vacuum packs which would be placed into the water baths for around 45mins at 65 degrees. We then had a little bite of some delicious cupcakes and headed out to the vegetable garden with it's own bee hives, not something you at the back of factory everyday.

The tour was really interesting, seeing the how the product was made, the process from design and 3D model to finished, packed, product and it help give a real understand about the company. Its always fantastic to see such high quality goods still being produced in the UK and it would be great to see more of this in the future.

Once we had finished the tour we sat down to enjoy lunch straight out of the water baths. I really was not sure what to expect but I can honestly say the food was cooked to perfection, so succulent and flavoursome and all while being cooked in a low cost, low fat way. Water baths are fantastic in the way that the water is heated up at the same temperature throughout the bath, meaning no cold spots which ensures the food cooks evenly but does not dry out and keeps all it's flavour.

Halloumi with chilli, ginger, spring onions and noodles. 

What also caught my eye is the design and the colours really pop and combine a sense of style and fun together making it one kitchen appliance that is no an eye sore, in fact it would look great in a modern or retro fit kitchen. They are no cheap but it is very useful, especially for families as you could prepare your weekly meals one night of the week, freeze them in the vacuum bags and regenerated in the water baths when needed and it also means no hot stove tops when you have young children around and it's also a real bonus that you can basically stick everything in together at one time. Clifton are currently offering 10% off their water baths until the 21st December so if your looking for something really useful for the foodie in your home then check these out.