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preheating and comes to the set temperature, it is time to drop the bags into the water. Gently drop them in, so that water does not splash around. It is possible to place more than one sealed bag of food into the water bath and, depending on the size of the tank/container, it is possible to have multiple bags of meat all cooking at once in the same sous vide water bath. Some restaurants have very large water baths with many steaks, racks of lamb, or other meats cooking away.
    There are a few tips and other things to consider:
     
Make sure that the bags are fully submerged in the water. Try to leave at least 1" or more of water between the top of the bag and the surface of the water bath. If some of the bag is sticking out of the water bath during the cooking session it can be extremely dangerous from a food safety standpoint.
Make sure that water is surrounding all the food in the bag. This means that the food should not be pressed up against the side of the tank or pot and that multiple bags should not be touching or pressed up against each other. For example, if two steaks are packaged separately, in two different bags, and both are in the water bath, make sure that the steaks are not resting side by side against each other.
Consider using special sous vide racks. These racks are great for holding bagged food steady and secure under the water. It is especially advantageous when cooking multiple bags of food at once because the rack will hold the bags in place and ensure that there is a channel of water in between the bags of food.
This may be obvious, but make sure that if cooking multiple bags at once that they are all supposed to be cooking at the same temperature.
    Sear
    After the meat or other food has cooked the allotted length in the sous vide water bath, it is ready to come out of the bag to be served. While sous vide does an amazing job cooking meat so that it is tender, when it comes out of the bag it can look limp, have a grayish color, and have a soft wet exterior. This is definitely not the desired texture or even visual appearance for most cooked meats.

Do not walk away while searing meat. Since searing is to be done at very high temperatures, the searing happens quite quickly, and depending on the cut of meat, is finished anywhere from 30 seconds up to a maximum of 2 minutes. Leaving the meat in the hot skillet too long can ruin all that hard work done in the sous vide.
    To solve this issue, an excellent way to “finish” the meat and get it ready for plating and serving is to quickly sear the outside. Searing the meat will create a Maillard reaction that will give it the classic browned appearance of grilled or seared meat. On top of the visual impact, searing the meat will improve the texture and taste immensely.
    The first step in searing the meat, once it has been taken out of the bag, is to pat it dry with a paper towel. Having a dry surface on the meat is an extremely important aspect to effectively creating a nice seared outer surface. If the meat is wet, it will almost steam instead of searing, so give it a quick pat with a paper towel before it is seared.
    Here are a few different ways to sear meat:
     
The most common way to finish off the meat is to sear it in a hot skillet. Simply heat up a skillet, over high heat, with 1–2 tablespoons of oil so that it is very hot. The oil needs to be a kind that has a high smoke point: peanut, sunflower, corn, vegetable, and safflower oils all work fine. Once the oil is hot and shimmering (it may even start smoking a little bit), gently lay the steak or other meat in the pan. Place the meat in slowly as this will both prevent the oil from splattering and keep the meat from sticking to the pan. After about 1–2 minutes, flip the meat over and sear the other side.
Another common way that sous vide enthusiasts finish off the meat is to sear it using a kitchen torch. The flame from a kitchen torch gets very hot and it is an effective way to get a nice charred