"Boilable" gets used loosely. Some sellers put it on any pouch that survives a water bath. In the trade it means something narrower: a pouch specified to be sealed, dropped into water at 100°C and held there, typically for cook-chill and cook-in-bag production. This guide is about that product, where it sits against a standard sous vide pouch, and how to get it.
Standard pouch vs boilable pouch
Both are polyamide/polyethylene films. The difference is in the polyethylene seal layer and how the film is specified.
|
Standard 65 micron (online range) |
Boilable grade (made to order) |
| Working temperature |
Chilled, frozen, sous vide to around 85°C |
Chilled, frozen, cooking to 100°C |
| Seal layer |
Standard PE |
Higher-temperature PE blend, seal holds at the boil |
| Typical use |
Butchery, fish, cheese, prepared food, sous vide |
Cook-chill, cook-in-bag rice and pulses, stews, sauces |
| Availability |
37 sizes, from stock |
Quoted, made in Haslingden |
The seal is the point. Any PA/PE film will physically survive hot water; polyamide doesn't soften until well past 200°C. What gives way is the weld along the top of the bag. At 60°C a standard seal has plenty of margin. At a rolling boil, with the product expanding and juice pushing against the seam, the margin closes. Boilable film is specified so the seal keeps its strength at 100°C for the duration of a cook.
Who actually needs it
Fewer businesses than the word suggests.
-
Cook-chill and central production kitchens cooking sauces, stews and curries in the bag, then blast chilling for a 10 to 30 day chilled life. This is the classic use.
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Rice, pulses and grains cooked and pasteurised in the pouch for food service.
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Ready meal producers using boil-in-bag as the reheat method on pack.
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Butchers selling "boil in the bag" products, gammon joints and hams in particular, where the customer cooks the sealed pack.
If your bath never goes above 85°C, which covers almost every restaurant sous vide programme, you don't need boilable film and you'll get a cheaper, faster-sealing pouch by staying with the standard range. The sous vide guide has the temperature table.
Boilable is not retort
Retort pouches are a different product again. They go through a pressurised steriliser at 121°C or higher, use foil or high-barrier laminates, and give an ambient shelf life of a year or more. A boilable pouch cooked at 100°C is pasteurised, not sterilised, and the product still needs the chill chain. If someone asks you for "retort" and means "boil in the bag", it's worth checking which they actually need before quoting either.
What thickness
Boilable film is usually run at 70 to 90 micron because the pack is handled hot and wet, and hot polyethylene is softer than cold. That's a case where a gauge between our stocked 65 and 130 makes sense, and it's one reason we make it to order rather than trying to cover it with the standard range. The gauge guide covers where the stocked gauges stop.
How to order it
Email orders@flexipol.co.uk or call 01482 640606 with four things: the sizes, the cooking temperature and time, whether the pack is chilled or frozen afterwards, and the monthly volume. We'll come back with a gauge recommendation and a price. Made-to-order runs are non-returnable, so we'll send samples to cook first if you want them.
Cooking below 85°C? Stay with the stock range. The 200×300mm 65 micron is the pouch most kitchens run their sous vide programme on, at 2.7p a bag.
