With an immersion circulator at your disposal, you can control the temperature of the water bath so you don’t need advanced culinary training to prepare shrimp flawlessly. After discovering how easy it is to make juicy, firm-yet-tender shrimp using the gentle, precise heat of sous vide, you’ll never go back to settling for a lackluster seafood cocktail or sad takeout lo mein again.
Best of all, shrimp cooked in this method takes only about 15 minutes, so you can easily prep the rest of the ingredients in the spin-off recipes, like my not-exactly-traditional gumbo or a garlicky scampi-style linguine, while they’re bobbing away merrily in the bath. Even when prepared ahead of time, you never have to worry about the shrimp turning tough in the final dish—all they need is a minute or two of heat to gently warm through before serving.
Directions
- Preheat the water bath to 60°C (140°F).
- Season the shrimp lightly with salt and place in a 1-gallon freezer-safe ziplock bag or a vacuum-seal bag. Arrange the shrimp in a single layer with as little overlap as possible to ensure even cooking. Seal the bag using either the water displacement method or a vacuum sealer.
- When the water reaches the target temperature, lower the bagged shrimp in the water bath (making sure the bag is fully submerged) and cook for 15 minutes (or up to 25 minutes).
- Remove the bag from the water bath, transfer it to an ice water bath, and chill until completely cold, about 10 minutes. Once cooked and chilled, the shrimp can be refrigerated in the bag for up to 1 week.
- Alternatively, if you plan on using the just-cooked shrimp in a spin-off recipe right away, let them rest in the bag at room temperature for at least 10 minutes or up to 1 hour before proceeding.
Reprinted with permission from Sous Vide Made Simple, copyright © 2018 by Lisa Q. Fetterman. Published by Ten Speed Press, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC. Photographs copyright © 2018 by Monica Lo
