The Colonel In the Kitchen: A Surprising History Of Sous Vide
Cooking food in a vacuum-sealed bag in a hot water bath is the height of haute cuisine. But an ex-Army colonel testing tastier hospital food seems to have had a lot to do with developing sous vide.
Long before sous vide became a culinary sensation celebrated by top chefs around the world a retired Army colonel started cooking meat and vegetables in sealed plastic pouches immersed in a water bath to liven up the flavor of hospital food. But you'd be hard pressed to find his name associated with it.
Ambrose McGuckian wasn't looking for accolades from food critics and gourmands. He wanted to impress hospital patients at the Greenville Hospital System in South Carolina who'd been complaining about the "institutional dullness" of their food.
McGuckian was my step-grandfather and everyone called him "Mac." In 1968, he was the project manager of a regional study to overhaul hospital food service. He'd been instructed to improve the quality
