Procedure for sous vide potato salad prep
For the upcoming christmas eve I need to prepare a large quantity of Czech/German style potato salad. That involves preparing a lot of diced cooked root vegetables (carrot, celery root, parsnips) and potatoes. My question is how can I use sous vide to achieve a potentially superior result and time savings. Is using sous vide practical at all in this case?
Best Answer
Carrot and potato can work well using sous vide. In fact, sous vide carrots are delicious. Cook at 90C. The issue will be timing, because it depends on the size of your veg. You are just going to have to check them until you achieve the result you like. Too long, and they will get mushy. For me, a whole carrot usually takes 45 min to an hour. So, a diced carrot could take substantially less time. The same holds true for potatoes...thin slices can take less than 30 minutes, for example.
I have not done them myself, but I assume parsnip and celery root would behave similarly. Use the same temperature, but time will have to be assessed as you go.
Additionally, all of these vegetables will float given that they contain a lot of air. Vacuum sealing will help, but may not keep them under water, as air is expelled during cooking. You will need to weigh down the bags or keep them submerged by placing something on top of them.
In the end, cooking them traditionally might just be the better way to go.
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When making potato salad do you boil the water first?
I like \xbd-inch pieces (or slightly larger, but not smaller). Place the potatoes in a sauce pan and cover by about an inch with COLD water. Always start with cold water. If you boil the water first, the potatoes won't cook as evenly (the exterior will cook too fast).Should you soak your potatoes before making potato salad?
Because potatoes are starchy, they tend to suck in salt pretty quickly. The salt is soaked up by the potatoes throughout the boiling process, so making sure you're adding plenty of salt to the water for the flavor to follow-through is crucial.Can you cook potatoes for salad the day before?
You can make the Potato salad 1 or 2 days in advance and store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. I often make my potato salad the night before serving for best results. Store the bacon separately or cook it up right before you serve to keep it crispy.Can you vacuum seal potato salad?
If you want to make sure that your potato salad will not lose its flavor and that you can keep it longer in the freezer, you can use a vacuum sealer. The sealer works by taking out all the air from the container and creating a perfect seal so no air gets in.\
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