MY LOVE AFFAIR WITH THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH

In the United States certain specific standards apply for restaurants and are controlled by the DOH (Department of Health). For example poultry has to be cooked to an internal temperature of 165 degree Fahrenheit for at least four minutes, eggs have to be cooked all the way through unless noted on the menu and so on.

(cryo-marinated vegetable for a salad)  

 

Sous-vide Basics

Some of us chefs push boundaries with cooking techniques to make food taste, look and smell delicious. One particular technique which stands out for me is sous-vide (vacuum) and/or ROP (reduced oxygen packaging) cooking and food storing method. This has gained a little bit of popularity recently with TV shows like Top Chef and Thomas Keller’s Book “Under Pressure.” The basic steps of sous vide cooking entails sealing foods such as steaks, poultry etc. in specialized, rather thick pouches made out of plastic where air is removed with a kitchen equipment called cryo-vac machine (oxygen is sucked out of those bags in that way food is sealed in the plastic pouch). ‘Sous vide” literally translates to “without air”. The particular food item is then cooked in a temperature monitoring device with a water bath attached -this equipment is called an immersion circulator. Unfortunately a specific law about sous-vide cooking has not been developed yet in the US meaning whoever wants to cook in a commercial context such as a restaurant needs to file a HACCP plan (hazard analysis and critical control point). This plan is a document written by a professional such as a chef or scientist explaining the steps of receiving, cooking and storage of foods to be cooked in the style of sous-vide.

(left: cryo-vac machine, this is the machine what sucks the air out of plastic pouches)

(right: imersion circulator, a precised cooking equipment)

 
sous-vide corner in my prep kitchen

- on the shelve are various logs for cooking, chilling, storing sous-vide prepared foods
- on the counter is meat cooking on low temperature
- on the right you see lables which are required at all steps of the sous-vide process

- on the wall (right) you can see an electronic thermometer to dermine the exact temperature of foods 

(sous-vide cooked salmon carpaccio with carrots - melts like butter in your mouth)    

Then and Now

I have been sous-vide cooking for the past 20 years or so. For me it started when Chef Joël Roubouchon from France developed a system to cook foods for a high end train line. Understandably cooking space and techniques are limited on a shaky train ride – can you imagine making potato puree at 100 miles and hour?

Already known for his gourmet food in his restaurant Jamin, Chef Roubouchon developed a way to recreate his signature items with the help of pouched foods heated in water baths and viola sous-vide cooking! From that time on, this cooking style was adopted by more and more chefs throughout the world. Actually throughout my cooking career in Europe every place I have worked in applied some form of sous-vide technique in their kitchen. Before I settled down in NYC I had the “pleasure” of apprenticing in Paris at Chef Roubouchon’s eponymous restaurant on rue Poincare learning the techniques first-hand (a great experience it was but calling it a “pleasure” might be reinventing history .. it was a tough job!). Needless to say for a young cook that was AMAZING!

(chicken ballotine packed & sealed ready to be cooked) 

  

Here and There

In Europe cooks were left alone from the food authorities. But here in NYC in the country of e-coli outbreaks galore, food borne illnesses and food recalls (most likely due to wrongdoings in gigantic food processing plants) it’s quite the opposite ironically. And I experienced this contradiction first-hand.

Two years ago cooking happily in the style I have learned in Europe we had a routine visit from an inspector from the DOH and during the inspection my sous-vide equipment was sealed with an adhesive banner  “USE PROHIBITED” meaning I was not allowed to suck air out of those cooking pouches and seal them for my sous-vide cooking process until I’d applied for a HACCP plan – NO MAS.  All uses of my cryo-vac machine were prohibited, even for sealing wine bags to enable guests to bring their half drank bottles home with them (legal in NY if taken home in a non-reseabale bag with a dinner receipt). I even got in trouble from an angry regular who wanted to take her wine home and I didn’t have the non-resealable bags – she told me off, more than once.

 

Pencil Pusher

I have a tendency to be a little bit of a pencil pusher if something really catches my attention so it took me about three month writing a specified HACCP plan, some consultation with my old chef buddies Dan Barber and Wylie Dufresne and a meeting with officials from the DOH at their office.

Finally, I proudly tapped the send button on my keyboard (a rather large file similar to a small book) describing MY steps and my process of sous-vide cooking.

Eagerly waiting to be in the “club” of a handful of restaurants in New York to have the permit to cook delicious food in the sous-vide style I was waiting, waiting and waiting for an answer – still nothing after 16 months. I contacted the health department office to find out what the state of my application was. The other side on the phone was explaining in a very friendly tone that the original person working on that subject had moved on and that my plan could not be located – MAN.

 

I submitted it again and a week later to my surprise a friendly lady contacted me to make minor changes on my HACCP plan and scheduled an appointment for an inspection of my sous-vide facility – A few days later I was approved.

(sous-vide cooked white asparagus and octopus with peppery arugula and chive blossoms)  

”Never give up… never surrender” (as heard on Galaxy Quest)

One good side effect of being tenacious is I became a little bit of an expert on the subject of sous-vide because of my research and readings over the last 16 months.

 

Message in a Pouch – Why a HACCP plan?

Dangerous bacteria such as botulism can thrive and grow in an oxygen free environment as in sous-vide cooked foods – hence the HACCP plan.

If food does not get handled properly a contamination of botulism can occur which leads to violent illness and death could even result.

 

Glossary

HACCP - Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point

ROP - Reduced Oxygen Packaging\

sous vide – vacuum