CHEFTALK
How
to make vacuum cooking a roller-coaster ride
Many of us love to be thrilled in life; I don’t mean thrilled like
buying something new or getting a present. I mean the thrill of raising your
stress levels to the max.
The thrill
I have never figured out why people spend money on an amusement park to
get that thrill. Riding a roller-coaster that takes you up and down a hill to
scare the, I do not know what out of you, just to beat death in a little cart
dropping that turns your stomach inside out.
The stress
On the other hand when some stress comes into our lives, something we
did not pay for, the world seems to come to a standstill. Life’s stress gets us
down so easily, because we do not expect it, it comes out of the blue and
therefore we cannot handle it. Stress at work because we are under pressure,
financial stress because we have difficulties making ends meet.
How come we can be so brave when we pay for a scary ride and are so
whimsy, whinny when we need to get the job done we get paid for?
Well, smart people have studied the subject at length and found that we
love, “not me, but many of us” predictable stress (coming down a steep hill in
an amusement park) but we cannot handle unpredictable stress. Meaning that
when you are on top of the roller coaster ride you can predict that you stomach
gets turned in-side out, but when the boss shouts we panic and get stressed out.
How to de-stress
We go home stressed, forget about important things in life, our family,
health, having a healthy dinner, a good night’s sleep and start afresh the next
day, life goes on after all.
So, what can we do to intercept that kind of unnecessary stress, one
thing you can do to release that kind of stress is having a good dinner with
loved ones. Talk about different things than issues that cause stress, divert
and set focus on the moment.
Food unites, a dinner with close relatives makes you feel warm and unstressed, if you do not feel like cooking after a stressful day at work make
use of pre- prepared meals you made at a quieter moment.
Once you sit around the table facing a bunch of happy faces you know
that investing in a quality vacuum sealer was a good and wise decision.
All you need to do is grab one of your (and your families) favorite
meals that you pre-cooked, vacuumed and stored in your freezer and heat it up,
maybe with a small addition of some pasta or another staple, but you are done
in a whimsy.
My story may sound a bit philosophical, but we all have issues in life,
feel stressed and somewhat in limbo maybe. I truly believe that a united meal
brings you happiness and releases some of the stress you may encounter.
Here are a few ideas for meals to make in advance and freeze:
Chicken
Cacciatore:
All you need is cubed chicken breast, mushrooms, onion, garlic, canned
(or your own tomatoes), oregano, salt and pepper.
Heat a few tbsp of olive oil in a skillet, season the chicken cubes
with salt, pepper and oregano and fry until golden brown, add the chopped
onions, chopped garlic and the mushrooms (sliced or quartered) and fry for a
few minutes, stirring regularly. Add the tomatoes and bring the mix to boil,
check for taste and you are done.
Allow cooling, place the mix in a vacuum bag, vacuum and freeze.
When you are ready to use this homemade delicious concoction, microwave
the whole bag for 2 minutes to get the defrosting started.
Place the bag in a pot with boiling water, boil your favorite pasta and
top with the Cacciatore, sprinkle some grated cheese.
Pre-preparing this meal takes around 10 minutes, making it ready to
serve 15 minutes.
Crispy Pork Belly:
Ingredients:
10 oz Pork
belly (cut in 1 cm pieces)
1 Tbsp Oyster
sauce
2 Tbsp Light
soya sauce
1 Tsp Crushed
black pepper
½ Tsp Salt
Dash Chinese
rice wine
Oil for deep frying
Method:
Marinate the pork slices with the rest of the ingredients and leave to
marinade for 2 hours or so
Drain excessive marinade from the meat
Heat oil to 180 C and deep fry marinated meat for a minute, drain on
kitchen paper
Deep fry a second time just before serving, about 2 minutes until crisp
Serve with steamed rice and braised Chinese Nappa Cabbage
Simplicity is the key to good home cooked food. The first and second
recipe freeze very well, are a roller-coaster to make and delicious.
Your vacuum sealer helps, if you do not have one, find one here:
By: Marinus Hoogendoorn
