Sous Vide Ramen Eggs and Overnight Bacon

Santa brought me a sous vide precision cooker for Christmas. My first experiment with it was a pork chop dinner. My second was a perfectly cooked egg with a velvety yolk, commonly used in ramen soups. The trick with this recipe is that you want to be serving it right away. I made six eggs, ate one (pictured) and held five of them in warm water, where they continued to cook slowly and became more hard-boiled. Still, the eggs were very good and I made them again the next morning. Do you need a sous vide cooker to make these? Not really. You just need to heat water to 194 degrees and hold the temperature for eight minutes while the eggs cook.

The overnight bacon was good, but I'm not sure it was much better than cooking bacon in the oven. What I learned from making the pork chops is that you have to sear the outside of the meat to finish it. And if you sear too long, you'll ruin the delicate juicy texture of the interior. Sear the bacon too quickly and it'll be flabby, sear too long and it'll be indistinguishable from pan-fried bacon. It's a fine line! If done properly, you'll end up with perfect crispy-tender bacon.


Sous Vide Ramen Eggs and Overnight Bacon
Serves 4-6

6 eggs at room temperature
1 lb bacon in vacuum-sealed packaging or ziplock bag

For the eggs: Select a saucepan just large enough to hold your eggs in a single layer.  Fill the pan halfway with water and heat to 194 degrees. Using a spoon, gently add eggs one at a time. Cover the pan and heat the water until it reaches 194 degrees again. Start a timer for 8 minutes. Remove the eggs to a cool water bath to stop the cooking. Shell and serve immediately.

For the bacon: Select a pan large enough to hold the bacon underwater, such as a pasta pot. Fill the pan about halfway with water. Set your sous vide cooker to 145 degrees and heat. Once it has reached temperature, add the bacon in its original packaging. (If you don't like the idea of cooking bacon in the packaging, transfer it to a gallon-sized ziplock bag and squeeze all the air out before sealing.) Cover the pot with a layer of saran wrap or aluminum foil. Leave it to cook for at least 8 hours.

In the morning, unplug the sous vide cooker, pull out the bacon and sear it quickly only on one side in a hot frying pan. Serve warm.