Among the main benefits of sous vide for food production is the economy. The main advantages have already been covered in the article Benefits of Sous Vide, here we will focus on the economic returns of this technique.
Sous vide is a technique where food is cooked in vacuum packaging. The vacuum ensures that during all cooking there is no exchange between the internal and external environment, avoiding risks of contamination and thus increasing the shelf life of the food. The cooking and subsequent thermal shock ensures that possible microorganisms that survived the vacuum are eliminated.
Thus, the shelf life of a sous vide cooked product is longer than a raw vacuum packed product which in turn is longer than a non-vacuum stored product. For red meats, the shelf life of a product in the refrigerator for example is 30~40 days. If the food is frozen, this can exceed 12 months.
An extended shelf life ensures savings because waste is avoided, since it is now possible to store the product safely for much longer.
This technique allows the production process to be optimized. One of the bottlenecks of restaurants as well as other food manufacturing companies is the issue of labor, which is often idle. The production schedule often depends on the presence of customers, making it necessary to produce at specific times.
With sous vide it is possible to produce at any time, since, as mentioned, the products’ validity is extended. By allowing production at any time, you avoid idle labor and optimize your process, reducing heavy costs for the business.
At peak hours you no longer need so much labor since the dishes are pre-prepared and only the finishing of them is required.
In traditional cooking, the food is cooked at a much higher temperature than in sous vide. Thus the product loses a lot of weight, impacting business costs.
Sous vide is slow cooking, where the cooking temperature is much lower. Because of this characteristic, the product loses less liquid, nutrients, protein and consequently weight, increasing efficiency and decreasing costs.
Think for example of cooking octopus, where in the traditional method it can lose up to 60% of its weight. In sous vide, for being a controlled and lower temperature, this loss can be 30%. Just for this product the difference in losses is 50%, now estimate for all your production the savings that your business would have.
Would you like to get in contact with Orved Brock to know more about our professional sous vide machines? Reach us via phone: +55 85 98793-6777, e-mail: vendas@orvedbrock.com.br or whatsapp.