Cryovacking

A new cooking(?) technique. It sounds intriguing. Is it new? Worthwhile? I do like the idea of concentrated watermelon.

or similar vacuum packer do this?

I haven't posted the whole article, but you can get it by

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Under Pressure

By AMANDA HESSER Published: August 14, 2005

A few weeks ago at Per Se, Thomas Keller's four-star restaurant in New York City, a waiter set a salad of diced watermelon and hearts of peach palm in front of me. ''This is watermelon that has been Cryovacked,'' he explained. ''It's something new we're doing. I think you will like it.''

This was a watershed moment on two accounts. First, because Keller had indeed managed to make something as mundane as watermelon taste different -- it had the crisp density of a McIntosh apple. But also because American dining has reached the level of sophistication at which a waiter will buttume that a diner knows what ''Cryovacked'' is, and that this knowledge will enhance the experience of tasting diced watermelon.

That won't be buttumed here. ''Cryovacking'' is an industry term for putting food in a plastic bag and vacuum-packing it. Sometimes the food is then cooked in the bag. Other times, the pressure of the packing process is used to infuse flavors into ingredients. The watermelon, for instance, was vacuum-packed with 20 pounds of pressure per square centimeter, to compact the fruit's cells and concentrate its flavor. It had the texture of meat. Just the thing for backyard picnics.

Cryovacking, which is more often called sous vide (French for ''under vacuum''), is poised to change the way restaurant chefs cook -- and like the Wolf stove and the immersion blender, it will probably trickle down to the home kitchen someday. Cryovacking has also given great momentum to the scientific cooking revolution of the last five years. Chefs have begun using techniques developed for industrial food production and advances in science to manipulate the chemical make-up of proteins, starches and fats to create new textures and flavors -- everything from fried mayonnaise to hot gelatins.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

Dave S