Sous vide, a culinary technique for improving quality of food products: A review

Sous vide is a low-temperature long-time technique performed under vacuum conditions. This technique is being followed for various food products such as fruits, vegetables, meat, seafood, etc. These foods contain different naturally present components having nutritional, functional and phytochemical properties that act as a good source of bioactive compounds. The bioactive compounds possess various therapeutic properties produced due to their diversified biological effects and that is why are essential for human health. Cooking alters the content and composition of the food components by reducing these through thermal degradation or augmenting their concentration with respect to raw material. Sous vide technique is considered as the best method for prevention and preservation of these compounds after the product has been cooked. The main aim of this review article is to delineate the effect of sous vide processing on the quality and safety of various food products. This writeup mainly reflects various processing methods employed by the researcher for cooking of foods such as meat, seafood, vegetables, etc. Additionally, some of the nutritional and microbial attributes associated with this type of cooking are also highlighted in comparison to other traditional cooking methods. Sous vide cooking is generally employed below 70 °C for meat and seafood products whereas for vegetables the temperature ranges from 85 to 100 °C. During sous vide cooking, the cell structure of meat and seafood products remains quite intact due to minimum protein-protein interaction and gelation. Further, higher water-holding capacity provides tenderness and juiciness to the products. In vegetables this method encourages the bioaccessibility and bioavailability of vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, etc. Therefore, its utilization has been increasing tremendously especially in commercial kitchens.