Hi all.
We’re new users. I really like the texture of cooked food. My question. We cooked salmon last night. Really liked the flavor and texture. The only complaint was the food wasn’t hot enough. That seems to be our only complaint. What do people do to raise the temp after cooking?
Thanks for any input.
Zax, what temperature is hot enough?
This illustrates why restaurants use salamanders, so they can give food a blast of super-heat just before leaving the kitchen.
I detest them, but used them because guests expect to be warned not to touch their plate.
Meeting expectations = satisfaction.
Consider that many cultures, particularly those around the Mediterranean, eat all their food at temperatures somewhere in between warm and cool.
So you are faced with a compromise, either enjoy your food with a superior flavour and texture, or hot enough food that’s less enjoyable.
What’s more important to you?
You do always serve your hot food on hot plates, don’t you?
@zaxdad With sous vide, your cooking your foods at the desired temperature all the way through - it won’t get hotter than what you’ve set it to. This topic has come up before, I recommend searching for a few in here. But some of the popular tips for these is to serve on hot plates and to eat right away to minimize heat loss.
Thank you. I’ll have to try hot plates. So much to learn.
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We all have to start from somewhere and we’re all still learning!
And I think part of what nice hot plates really provide is the “illusion” of the food being hotter than it actually is. A nice hot plate will hopefully not penetrate the food with greater heat to any significant degree, while still keeping things hot and I think enforcing that idea in the diners perception.
The idea is to keep things hot, but don’t cause the food to heat up above the temperature you cooked it to in the sous vide. If you were to heat it “hotter” when you serve it the food would effectively be cooked to the new higher temperature…overcooked that is. (Thus the compromise pointed out by chatnoir.)
Just my take on it. Good luck!
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I hope I’m not hijacking zaxdad’s thread, but the conversation seems to be steering this direction.
So how do you all heat your plates, and what temp do you aim for?
Thanks;
Artie
I use a warming drawer tucked beneath my wall oven and as a plate warmer i set it about 150F.
For anyone contemplating a kitchen renovation i strongly recommend getting one because they are so versatile, cost so little, and can do much more than simply warming plates.
We’ve a small counter-top convection oven that we set at about 150F. In a pinch, if the convection oven is in use, I’ll sprinkle a bit of water on the plates and put them in the microwave for a minute.