I am attempting to prepare this Chinese dish which typically requires me to braise my sea cucumber before frying it with shiitake mushrooms and broccoli. The only issue is that the braising it for too long will make the sea cucumber too soft. Anyone got any tips on how to sous vide it?
Even Google isn’t being particularly helpful today. I’ve only found one mention of Sous Vide Sea Cucumber on a blog, and it’s only a photo.
I really hope someone else might be able to come in with some help.
Yeah I intend to do it later this week and could really use the advice!
Amon, maybe it would help those in the forum if you detail how you normally would cook your sea cucumber. That might give a clue as to how best to approach sous vide temps and times.
I tried doing some searches on the net but it looks like if anyone has ever tried to sous vide sea cucumber previously they didn’t bother to post anything. I’ve only eaten sea cucumber after a quick sear in a pan. We used to grab bags of them sometimes scuba diving in Puget Sound where I live. I did not realize until trying to search out a recipe for you that they were so expensive - so it looks like experimenting might not cheap.
Hi Mirozen! We typically boil the sea cucumber for about an hour so that it is softer. The results are often not consistent (sometimes softer/sometimes harder). What you want to achieve is a soft yet firm non-chewy texture.
I found a suggested temp/time for cooking Geoduck, Octopus, and Squid - around 175 degrees F for 3 to 4 hours - on the “chefsteps” web site. Flesh wise these might be near enough to sea cucumber to give this a try. Wish I had more concrete info for you.
The reference I got the above info from is this odd little “map of sous vide”…I’m not sure how well it might work for you but maybe it’ll give you a start.
wow that’s really great! I really appreciate it! I will try it out soon and let you know how it turns out!
Preparing for CNY? 
The problem with sea cucumber is that it’s often sold dried, at least in Singapore where I’m from. If yours is dried, you may need to braise it after all so that it can absorb water through direct contact and hydrate. If you have fresh sea cucumber, I would arbitrarily start in the range of 65-80°C for 10-12 hours. Hope it works out for you!
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Yup! I am from Singapore as well! Thanks so much for your advice!
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Good point and thanks @kl005 I’ve only had them fresh since they are plentiful in the waters where I live and I’ve just picked them up myself when diving.
Hi Amon, I just read your post while searching for temp and time to cook my sea cucumber. Would appreciate if you could kindly share what T and time you used for yours. Thank you very much.