Todays article is going to focus on a neat little trick for sealing bags, called the water displacement method (also known as the water immersion technique), in our case for sous vide. This is something that comes in handy any time you might need to seal a bag, and specifically for sous vide cooking. Now, I recommend purchasing a set of sous vide bags and a vacuum sealer, but it is definitely not necessary for sous vide cooking. You can find our top vacuum sealers here and our top bags here.
Water Displacement Method
When sous viding, we have to make sure to seal our bag of food as best as possible. Vacuum sealers make this job very easy, but lets say we are working with a ziploc gallon freezer bag. Below are the steps to get this done without any fancy equipment. I am going to use images from a recent sous vide lobster tail I cooked. You can find that recipe here: Sous Vide Garlic Butter Lobster Tail
The best part is, this method can be used any time you want to seal the air out of a bag, such as freezing food items and preserving their life in the freezer. Additionally, doing so will help prevent freezer burn. The idea is simple, and the steps are below.
- Grab the item you are cooking and place it in your plastic bag.
- Fill up your Sous Vide container with water.
- Seal the bag 90% of the way, but leave a little portion open.
- Submerge everything except that little air pocket, so all the air is forced out by the water pressure.
- Seal the last remaining part of the bag, and you are good to go!
I hope you enjoyed this article and it helped demystify using the water displacement method when sous vide cooking. Be sure to check out our favorite Sous Vide Cookbooks Here – 10 Best Sous Vide Cookbooks (Reviews Updated 2021)
