I am totally in love with sous vide. My mom got me a precision cooker on a whim for my birthday last year and OMG THANK YOU MOM! This method is so perfect for cooking finicky things, like seafood and steak. (Have you read about my sous vide tri-tip yet? Hop to it!)
If you frequently cook meat that just shouldn’t be overcooked (i.e. anything but chicken), you’ve gotta get yourself one of these things. Have you ever accidentally overcooked shrimp into tiny pink oblivion? This girl has. So I decided to try preparing it sous vide and it was PERFECT. Sous vide shrimp will be the only shrimp we eat in this house from now on.
Another great thing about this cooking method: you vacuum pack the meat with all the flavors you want to impart (butter, salt, pepper, lime, and cilantro in this case) and it holds so much big, bold flavor. Perfect for sous vide shrimp!
Here’s what the precision cooker looks like in use:
I just use a stockpot for my water bath, but you could purchase a cambro like the pros use. I use resealable foodsaver bags, otherwise this would get to be an expensive (and wasteful!) way o’ cookin’.
Add whatever you want to cook to the bag, any liquid, vacuum out all the air, and throw it in the bath!
Serious Eats has quickly become my sous vide bible for learning times and temps for various foods. If you’re considering getting a precision cooker, give their website a once over to learn everything there is to know about this cooking method. I used their guide for sous vide shrimp to determine how long and at what temperature to cook my sous vide shrimp (I chose 15 minutes at 140 degrees F).
Seriously, don’t they look delicious?! The texture was amazing. Bouncy, juicy, and spot on. The best part? They can hang out in the water bath until you’re ready for ’em, up to an hour, and they’re still going to be as good as ever. Seriously, I love this thing.
I made some cilantro lime rice and an avocado cream sauce to pair with these shrimps for a complete meal. Happy bellies in the Cole house.
- Shrimp:
- 1 pound shrimp, peeled and deveined
- Salt and pepper
- 2 tbsp lime juice (juice of 2 limes)
- 3 tbsp butter, cut into rough chunks
- Avocado Cream Sauce:
- ½ avocado, roughly diced
- ¼ cup sour cream
- 1 tbsp lime juice
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- Preheat water bath using precision cooker to 140 degrees F.
- Season shrimp with salt and pepper. Add them to foodsaver bag. Add lime juice and toss until shrimp are coated. Add butter and distribute evenly through the bag. Remove air from the bag.
- Once the water bath is preheated, add the bag of shrimp. Cook for a minimum of 15 minutes, up to an hour.
- While the shrimp is cooking, add all ingredients for the avocado cream sauce to a food processor. Process until smooth. Taste and add more lime juice or salt if you desire.
- Serve shrimp with rice and/or your favorite veggies and top with avocado cream sauce.
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