Sous-Vide Is In Style Once Again

Foodservice Solutions® Grocerant Guru™ asks can the quality control attributes of Sous-Vide be leveraged by restaurants and C-stores to elevate food quality and consistency?  Are US restaurants ready to utilize Sous-Vide to save on labor or are they already?  

Today, sous-vide allows brands the ability to develop customized flavor profile fresh food that can branded and personalized. In the US Culinary Brands and WR Grace entered fresh prepared Sous-vide products at one time during the late 80’s & early 90’s and both sold their operations due to lack of demand.  With the cost of labor on the rise, health care and increasing obstacle it just may be time for resurgence for Sous-vide.  Grocerant niche Ready-2-Eat and Heat-N-Eat fresh prepared food that can be customized and bundled with meal components continues growing across all retail food sectors. 

In case you were wondering sous-vide (IPA pronunciation: [su: vi:d]), French for "under vacuum", is a method of cooking that is intended to maintain the integrity of ingredients while capturing the full flavor of the food.  Sous-vide cooking uses airtight plastic bags placed in hot water well below boiling point (Usually around 60°C = 140°F) in restaurant settings.

The sous-vide method was developed by Georges Pralus in the mid-1970s for the Restaurant Troisgros (of Pierre and Michel Troigros) in Roanne, France. He discovered that food cooked in this way kept its original appearance, did not lose its nutrients and maintained its natural texture. The method is used here in the US in a number of top-end restaurants under Thomas Keller, Paul Bocuse, Joel Robuchon and Charlie Trotter and other chefs. Non-professional cooks are also beginning to use vacuum cooking.

Since 1991 Foodservice Solutions of Tacoma, WA has been the global leader in the Grocerant niche. Contact Steven Johnson and Foodservice Solutions via www.FoodserviceSolutions.us or visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/grocerant.