cooking in a plastic bag without removing extra air, at 100c?

cooking in a plastic bag without removing extra air, at 100c? - Side view of thoughtful male cook looking down while preparing food at table with bowls under colorful signboard with hieroglyphic inscriptions and numbers near customers at night

What happens if I just use a zip lock bag, and closed it on the food, without sucking out the extra air, and then used a heavy spoon at the bottom of a pot, with boiling water ?

What i am trying to do is just get zip lock bags, without any other special equipment.


@Jefromi , looking for easy & economic way of cooking, with minimal effort to clean the pot afterwards.



Best Answer

During sous vide cooking, it is not uncommon to place food in a zip lock bag and leave the top unsealed and hanging over the edge (so water does not get in) of the vessel you are cooking in. It can easily be weighed down with some flatware, as you suggest. There is no need to suck a vacuum and seal, in most cases. Alternately, you can use the displacement method to remove air and seal the zip lock. However, your temperature is a concern. Many vegetables can be cooked sous vide at or near 90C, but I don't think it is wise to go much beyond that, as zip lock bags can fail...and there really is nothing you want to cook that high anyway. If you want to boil something, just place it in a pot of water and boil it.




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Can you put a plastic bag in boiling water?

Polyethylene plastic, which is typically used to make these bags, will start to soften at about 195 degrees Fahrenheit (90.6 degrees Celsius). If you put them in boiling water (around 212 degrees F or 100 degrees C), they will melt.

Can you cook in a plastic bag?

Yes, we recommend using food-grade polyethylene, BPA free bags for cooking food with this method. Virtually all sous vide bags are made from this type of plastic and most name brand food storage bags are made from polyethylene.

Is it OK to boil Ziploc bags?

Boiling food in a Ziploc bag is not a good idea. The high temperatures could damage the bag leaving you with a big mess to clean up, soggy food, or plastic particles in your food. Although Ziploc bags pass FDA guidelines, these are under intended circumstances like storage or freezing.

Can a plastic bag go in the oven?

Plastics should never go in the oven. Plastics do not have high heat resistant capacity, it melts at a low temperature within 212-338 degrees Fahrenheit (100-170 degrees Celsius). We all know that an oven's temperature is very much hotter than this, so is not advisable to put plastic in an oven.



How to Seal Foods Air-Free Without a Vacuum Sealer




More answers regarding cooking in a plastic bag without removing extra air, at 100c?

Answer 2

You will wind up with a melted plastic bag and ruined food.

When you're boiling a pot of water, keep in mind that only the water is necessarily at 100 C (because above that temperature it changes state and boils off as vapor). The pot itself can get hotter, especially the bottom if you're using a conventional stovetop that applies heat from the bottom of the cooking vessel.

The plastic on a standard zip-lock bag isn't designed to take high heat; it could soften and warp even when exposed to 100 C. If you use something to weight down the bag such that it's in contact with the much hotter bottom of the pot, the bag will melt all over your food, and probably rupture so that you'll have to clean the pot anyway. (That is, if the expansion of the remaining air as it heats doesn't overwhelm the seal and pop the bag open before then.)

Don't do this. There's no benefit of convenience to be gained, just a lot of frustration and ruined meals. If you want to boil something, just boil it in the pot.

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