sous vide again

[Owly055]

     This is the third post I've made regarding Sous Vide, which initially I considered not particularly suited to voyaging.   My tune is changing however, though off the shelf devices suitable for use on a boat do not seem to exist, at least without inverting to AC.   
     More and more I'm discovering the immense value of being able to cook at lower than usual temperatures, and of course in an insulated vessel such as I use, the energy input is not high.  Boiling and simmering consume a LOT of energy due to evaporation.  Sous vide operates well below boiling, which means keeping heat loss under control is far easier, as heat transmission is a function of temperature differential.  As sous vide is time rather then temperature intensive, it's an optimal way to utilize solar electric energy.  You cook while you have energy, maintaining temps from 130 to 180 degrees depending on what you are cooking.   That means that on a sunny day or an intermittently sunny day you accomplish the equivalent of energy storage........without a battery.  Temperature loss is kept under control by insulation.
     The real beauty of this cooking method is the quality of the result.  It's vastly superior to other methods in many cases.    The classic case is the sweet potato...... which many of us find very unappealing, heaping it with things like brown sugar and marshmallows, and who knows what all else........ because they AREN'T sweet.   But they in fact are sweet if cooked properly.   Like malted grain, they contain amalyase enzyme, which converts the starch they contain to maltose....... I know because I've done it.  At about 150F, precooked for an hour or so, the conversion takes place, and you have an entirely different critter.   The conversion completed, you want to bake them, but the results are surprising.  So surprising in fact that as a home brewer, I have a brew going currently that contains sweet potatoes.   This applies to other starchy veggies. 
     I bring the lowly sweet potato up because they are extremely common and cheap around the world.  My next experiment will be with plantains, that dry starchy relative of the banana.   Also common in the third world.  Many local food are alien to us, but in voyaging, learning how to cook them and make them palatable to the American palette is important......... Unless you have money to burn.     This could be a useful tool.

                                        H.W.