i'm too fond of

fond to cook sous vide on any regular basis, but it is the perfect cuisine for people in a constant state of existential crisis like me. what better activity than to cook and cook and never get anywhere?

in the sunday paper we had another swooning essay by amanda hesser* on this subject -- which only ran about 2500 words too long -- the main flaw of which was a troubling paucity of information. i have to say that hesser's style reminds me of nothing so much as the teen 'zines of my childhood which cloyingly and gushingly discussed the merits of such long forgotten idols as bobby sherman and jack wild. hey little woman!

for a more thorough examination for people who want to try the technique (which of course you shouldn't because you could kill somebody, but that only enhances the allure for me), i recommend the egullet board and for a brief summary sautee wednesday. a few months ago the b/f (who i have come to endearingly call "igor") and i got a vacuum packer. it's been great. we, like the young chefs who reduced the clothes of new chefs to hockey puck sized packages, vacuum packed everything. the b/f loves it particularly for preserving bagels which require a pilgrimmage to a very special bagel store in brooklyn that by consensus of the teachers in my mother's school has the best bagels.** we have been intending to try sous vide since then, but the summer months are just not conducive to setting aside 30 or 40 hours to baby a lamb shank bath at 110 degrees.

so, since we have the tools, the b/f and i intend to begin a significant fall/winter sous vide project. the problem is stablizing the low temperature. we considered a fish tank heater. (we briefly considered this for yogurt-making, but finally settled on the swaddling electric blanket in the bathtub method), but apparently the way to go is one of these (not too big an investment considering the hours of fun in the kitchen it will provide).

*the single most significant line in the article was how m. bruno goussault arrived the at 64.5 degrees centigrade in which to cook his egg -- it was the temperature that joel roubochon had determined made the perfect egg. as with all things all the science in the world cannot substitute for the touch of god.

**trust me new york city public school teachers know. i doubt there is a profession that consumes more bagels, cream cheese and lox. they NEVER have a meeting without bagels. i think it's in their contract.

o yeah, who's laughing boy? louis-camille maillard. he's smokin'. really.