Monday, October 6, 2014

Maple Whisky Cooked Apples - Sous Vide

Okay, I'm gadget drunk with my sous vide machine. I don't post every recipe I make, so you can't see how often it's plugged in.

Trust me, I use it a lot. Or maybe I should say "them," since I just got a new unit to test. Review here.

This time around, I needed to use up some apples. I bought some for pie and of course I had more than I needed. So I decided so slice some up and cook them sous vide style. I didn't look up any recipes, I just winged it.

Since these were leftovers from making pie, these were pie-making apples - the kind that stay together when cooked, instead of turning into applesauce. I think next time I'll buy some sauce apples and see how that works.

The really interesting thing with these apples was how prevalent the maple whisky flavor was. I suppose that's because it didn't heat to a high enough temperature to burn off, and there was nowhere for it to evaporate to.

Well, it was prevalent to me. My husband only tasted apples. So, you decide whose taste buds you trust.

While I don't think I'd serve these to kiddies in any quantity, there's only a tablespoon of whisky here, so it's not like anyone's going to get tipsy from a couple of apples.

These would be nice on ice cream, mixed with yogurt or rice pudding, or all by themselves. Maybe on a slice of poundcake with a little whipped cream.

So many possibilities...

There was a bit of clear liquid with the apples, and that would be nice mixed into a cocktail ... perhaps with a few apples as garnish.

Maple Whisky Sous Vide Apples

3 cooking apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
1 tablespoon sugar
Pinch of salt
1 tablespoon maple whisky (I used Crown Maple)

Put all the ingredients into a vacuum-seal bag, and seal. Place in pot with sous vide attached.

Set for 190 degrees for 4 hours. Or a shorter time, if you like.

I could see that these were fully cooked earlier, but I let them go a little longer, just to see what would happen as they continued cooking.

If you want to gauge the doneness, you can feel the pliability of the apples through the bag, so take them out when you think they're done.

At worst, you can re-seal the bag and continue cooking, if you're not happy with the result.

Serve warm, or chill and serve cold.
Yum