Do You Need To Use An Ice Bath After Sous Vide? | The Tool Shed

Do You Need To Use An Ice Bath After Sous Vide?

When it comes to the art of sous vide cooking, it can seem like there’s a lot to master before you can really get started.

With all the different components that come into the actual cooking and all the different theories bandied around to achieve the ‘perfect’ steak or chicken, sometimes it can feel a bit overwhelming.

However, there’s one technique that can cause more confusion than most: whether an ice bath is necessary for sous vide cooking.

To clear up some of the uncertainty, we’re going to take a look at some of the times you need an ice bath, as well as some of the times you don’t.

When you need to use an ice bath

The requirement to use an ice bath centres around food safety and is predominantly used when you cook food that will be saved for later.

To prevent the food growing bacteria

This is due to the prevalence of bacteria at lower temperatures. In the ‘danger zone’, which is between 4.4℃ (40℉) and 54.4℃ (130℉), the dangerous bacteria that we need to remove from food continues to grow and doesn’t begin to die until outside of this zone.

As a result, leaving food to cool naturally after cooking will place it back within the danger zone and expose you to any dangerous bacteria that grows on the food in the meantime.

On the other hand, by using an ice bath to rapidly reduce the temperature below 3℃, this largely removes the danger of the food being exposed to any bacteria.

Although this may have less of an effect in the short-term, for example if you plan on eating the dish within a day, using an ice bath will dramatically increase the shelf life of the food in the long-term and is important to use when freezing cooked food.

To prevent other food from growing bacteria

An ice bath is also useful in terms of preventing other food in the fridge or freezer from becoming compromised, not just the food that has just been cooked.

When warm food is placed in the fridge or freezer, it heats up the area around it which can put the surrounding food into the danger zone by warming it up. As a result, this surrounding food can begin to grow dangerous bacteria, even if it was previously stored correctly.

By reducing the temperature of food with an ice bath before storing it, it can also safeguard the other food in the fridge. Whilst this will be less of an issue for individual items, storing food in bulk or in an older appliance could cause dangerous issues.

When an ice bath is optional

However, aside from the safety aspects, ice baths can also be helpful in order to improve your food’s appearance and taste. Although this is optional, here are some of the ways how.

Improve taste when freezing

This point is only relevant when it comes to freezing food for use in the future but it can make a big difference to your end result.

It’s widely accepted that the faster food freezes, the better taste it will retain. As a result, if you put your food into the freezer whilst still warm, it will take longer to freeze and thus reduce the quality of the taste.

To get a better sear

Using an ice bath can also improve the taste and appearance of your meat after cooking it sous vide.

Once your meat is done, it’s important to sear it to get that lovely browned colour and flavourful crust. However, if you sear the meat at the temperature it comes out of the water bath, you will usually end up overdoing it, as the meat is already at the final temperature you desire.

On the other hand, by using an ice bath, you can achieve a longer sear to give you the right finish, without cooking it any further. Through chilling the meat, it lowers the outside temperature giving you an extra minute or two of searing before it becomes overcooked.

Lock in flavours

Finally, ice baths can help you to lock in all of the flavours when using sous vide techniques with food that has strong aromas and oils.

This is particularly helpful when making infusions. After the ingredients have finished in the water bath, placing them in an ice bath to chill before opening the container prevents the flavours from being lost through burning off during sous vide cooking.

So, we hope this has given you a general idea of when to definitely use an ice bath and when it comes down to your personal preference. For more information on how ice baths can help, check out this post by Amazing Food Made Easy.

If you’re ready to get started with your own recipes, check out our Tool Shed here at Sous Vide Tools.

Post by Chris Holland

Our Chef Director Chris Holland worked as Head Chef at the prestigious Alderley Edge hotel before joining us. He has a passion for using the best produce and never compromises on quality. Author of our best selling book Sous Vide The Art of Precision Cooking, Chris is a expert on the sous vide technique.During the later part of my school days at Wardle High School Rochdale I always wanted to be a chef . I knew from the very start that my path to work was never going to be academic it was always going to be something practical and hands on.

As a young boy growing up I was inspired to cook with my Grandma who was and still is an inspiration to me . I have memories of helping make the cakes that she always had made for visitors and family alike . She made the most amazing cakes and I loved nothing more than eating the sweet raw cake batter straight from the bowl . We used to fight over who got to lick the bowl/spoon after the cakes were made. My grandma’s philosophy for cooking even on a shoe string budget was always to use fresh and seasonal ingredients either home grown or bought from the market.

School was somewhat of a drag for me as I was itching to learn to become a chef.

I started at Hopwood Hall college as a chef and instantly fell in love with it .To me it was the only real time I excelled in something and this inspired me to really get my head down and put in the hard work. College was the first time I really excelled in something and gave me the opportunity to laugh at the teachers who said I would never make something of my life!!!!

During the three years at college I also took on a part time position in a local hotel working the bar and restaurant first and then the kitchen. These were great days and gave me the opportunity to see how the industry ticks. I learnt a lot from those days both good and bad !! But I have to say I was itching to work only in the kitchen but it was a good insight into the catering world .

After completing college I moved away from Rochdale for a full time roll at one of Cheshire’s most talked about Hotel restaurants The Stanneylands Hotel. This was the school of hard knocks for me as I quickly realised that although excelling at college meant nothing in “The Real World”.

I loved every minute of the 18 hour days 6 days a week on minimum wage . Although difficult I feel that without this grounding I wouldn’t have achieved what I have today. After 18 months of hard graft I left Stanneylands and went with the Head chef to open a fine dining restaurant at Mere Golf and Country Club. The opportunity to work alongside Matthew Barrett was too good to turn down. I learnt so much from the ex-Ritz chef and working in a much slower paced role helped me develop a much better understanding of how to organise and run a kitchen. We were a very small team and teamwork was and still is the only way to go for me.

After 2 years at Mere I got the opportunity to go into The Alderley Edge Hotel as Junior Souschef. The Early days at the Edge were all about learning new styles of cuising which is invaluable in any role as a chef. I got the opportunity to grow and learn all aspects of every section which was inspiring . I was offered the opportunity at the age of 29 (2004) to take the role of head chef. For me this was when I really started to develop my own style of food.

After 9 years at the top winning Cheshire restaurant of the year , Chef of the Year and appearing on GBM amongst many highlights including cooking for many celebrities and famous people I decided to move on into development with Sousvidetools.

The main inspiration for this was to train and educate people . I always had a great passion for education but could never really see myself at a college . The job is super rewarding and I am proud to say we have become the leading light in sous-vide education in the UK . This is something I am very proud of . Food is my biggest passion and this is what keeps me interested the most . I love to travel and try out other countries cuisines. I am constantly inspired by ingredients and the pursuit of getting the best out of them without destroying their natural flavour .It is super important to me to continue to try and be at the forefront of the food scene this is what inspire me and the team to keep driving forward .

Technology is now widely used in the industry and I am super proud to say we have been a big part of spreading that message.

I am very lucky to be in the position I am and the drive to constantly improve our training and links to the next generation of young budding hospitality chefs.

TI feel that my experience over the last 25 years really enables me to get close and educate the “next generation” of chefs .

The industry which I love is really struggling to bring through new recruits and if I can help that process I will be immensely proud.

The food seen in the Uk has improved dramatically over the last ten years and I feel this will continue with the correct education. What happens next only fate will tell us...

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