Food November 2006 ATLANTIC MAGAZINE

Where Sous Vide is (Sometimes Hidden) on the Menu

By Corby Kummer

Blue Hill, 75 Washington Place, New York City, 212-539-1776, and Blue Hill at Stone Barns, 630 Bedford Road, Pocantico Hills, New York, 914-366-9600, www.bluehillnyc.com. Pretty much every piece of meat and poultry you will be served at these two restaurants, which are named for chef Dan Barber’s family farm in the Berkshires, will have been raised on pasture and cooked by sous vide, the way Barber thinks best shows off pastured meat.

The French Laundry, 6640 Washington Street, Yountville, California, 707-944-2380, and Per Se, 10 Columbus Circle, New York City, 212-823-9335, www.frenchlaundry.com. Chef Thomas Keller views sous vide as an adjunct to more standard cooking methods, useful for certain vegetables and long-cooked cuts of meat like brisket. He is enough of an enthusiast that he plans to write a cookbook on the use of sous vide at home.

The Tasting Room, 264 Elizabeth Street, New York City, 212-358-7831. Although chef Colin Alevras had such a low budget that he had to buy his first sous vide equipment at deep Web discounts, he thinks it’s essential for getting the best flavor from the produce he buys directly from farmers and at farmers’ markets.