This Might Be The Worst Food To Sous Vide
There's no cooking method quite as effortless as the sous vide. As Serious Eats explained, it's the best way to achieve tender, juicy, evenly cooked meat with minimal work. Sous vide translates to "under vacuum" in French, referring to the vacuum-sealed bags used to trap in the natural juices of the meat while it's cooking in a temperature-controlled water bath. An immersion circulator heats and circulates the water, which means there's no guesswork involved in sous vide. Circulators are fairly precise, eliminating the need for thermometers or using your fingers to test the meat's temperature.
According to sousvidetools.com, some proteins are better suited for the method than others. If you're cooking with meat that's naturally tender, such as filet mignon or liver, sous vide won't tenderize it any further. It'll work, but cooking it in a pan will produce similar results a lot quicker. When it comes to filleted fish, however, the outlet suggests you're better off avoiding the sous vide entirely. Not only will the final product be over-tenderized, but there's also a good chance it'll completely disintegrate.
It's a waste of time to sous vide fish fillets
Since fish fillets, like tilapia, are unevenly shaped, they can therefore be a challenge to cook evenly. Putting them in a sous vide machine will definitely do the trick. But as sousvidetools.com cautions, filleted fish falls apart too easily when cooking sous vide. While the technique will leave your fish cooked perfectly, when you try and remove it from its vacuum-sealed bag, it'll be near impossible to do so without it flaking.
Food and Wine insists there's a much easier method to achieve evenly cooked fish. Put away your immersion circulator and fancy sous vide tools because the only thing you'll need is a good ol' frying pan and fish spatula. Simply use your spatula to create a barrier between the thin side of the fillet and the pan. This ensures the delicate fish has time to cook all the way through and develop a crisp coating without it breaking apart.
If you really want to sous vide seafood, sousvidetools.com recommends shellfish or scallops instead. Otherwise, save the sous vide for beef short ribs and pulled pork, and just stick with the stove for your fish fillets.