A new way of cooking, called Sous vide, was recently introduced at Bacchus Restaurant in Mdina, in collaboration with the Malta Council for Science and Technology.

Sous vide is French for ‘under vacuum’. The intention is to cook the item evenly, not overcook the outside while still keeping the inside at the same ‘doneness’ and to keep the food juicier.

The food is sealed in airtight plastic bags in a water bath for a long time – 72 hours is not unusual – at an accurately determined temperature much lower than that used for normal cooking, around 60°C.

Mario Vella Gatt of Bacchus Restaurant said the biggesthurdle was getting his kitchen team to embrace this new way of cooking.

“It took a while until they decided to own it,” he said.

Mr Vella Gatt explained he had to invest in professional equipment from Germany.

The method, first described by Sir Benjamin Thompson (Count Rumford) in 1799, was re-discovered by American and French engineers in the mid-1960s as an industrial food preservation method.

The method was adopted by Georges Pralus in 1974 for the Troisgros restaurant (Pierre and Michel Troisgros) in Roanne, France.

Pralus had discovered that when foie gras was cooked in this manner it kept its original appearance, did not lose excess amounts of fat and had better texture.

Another pioneer of sous vide cooking is Bruno Goussault,who further researched the effects of temperature on various foods and became well-known for training top chefs in the method.