The customer service team is always listening, taking notes, and quantifying complaints to ensure our products are continually improved. Due to selling directly to you, the customer, via Amazon, we can use product reviews to help us improve our existing products or help further development of new products.
Learn to Sous Vide at Home
Ready to take your cooking to the next level? Want perfectly cooked steaks made with scientific precision for the ultimate in deliciousness? It sounds like you’re ready for sous vide, the fine dining cooking technique that has made its way to the home kitchen. Find out how you can sous vide at home and create delicious food with amazing results!
This short primer will explain the basics of sous vide, and what kind of equipment you’ll need to try out this cooking technique for yourself!
Table of Contents
What is “Sous Vide”?
Although it’s popularly known as cooking with a water bath, the actual name has to do with the key component of this cooking style. “Sous vide” means “under vacuum” in French. Basically, it is a way to cook food slowly and methodically to achieve results that aren’t possible under normal conditions. A sous-vide-made food will never exceed the temperature of its water bath, providing evenly cooked results. First introduced in French fine dining restaurants in the 70s, sous vide has become readily available to the public through affordably priced home appliances.
How does sous vide work?
Here’s how it works: a raw ingredient is put into a plastic bag from which air is removed. The vacuum-sealed ingredient is then immersed in a water bath and left to cook over an extended period. Instead of boiling, the water is kept at a precise medium-low temperature, allowing the airless ingredient to transform slowly over time.
In this way, sous vide cooks by gently inducing change. Instead of immediate results as with boiling or frying, sous vide results in cooked food with noticeably supple textures. By cooking with patience, sous vide practitioners can achieve some amazing results on some of your most familiar recipes!
What’s the point of sous vide?
By taking the time to reach its goal, food made with the sous vide process is thoroughly cooked, achieving consistent results each time. By cooking in its own juices, sous vide food is moist and flavorful.
A great way to think of sous vide is to consider it an additional way to cook your food to ensure you achieve your preferred level of doneness. A very common technique is to lightly grill a steak after giving it the sous vide treatment. This way, grilling provides a nicely charred exterior to match its perfectly cooked interior. Without the need to cook it all the way through, this reduces the possibility of overcooking, thereby giving you reliable results each time you cook!
How can I perform sous vide at home?
As with any cooking technique, you’ll need special equipment to properly perform sous vide at home. The good news is that you probably have many of these in your kitchen already.
- Large container or pot
- Vacuum bags
- Vacuum pump (if necessary)
- Clips
- A cooking thermometer to measure water temperature such as the ThermoPro TP511
- A precision cooker that keeps water at a consistent temperature
Sous vide at home #1: Water oven
This type of sous vide device is the most traditional and also the most expensive. A water oven is an all-in-one device that is ready to go at any time. Just add water and your vacuum-sealed ingredient, and you’ll have your sous vide (after the obligatory cooking time).
As a device that resembles a buffet serving tray, water ovens can take up valuable room in your kitchen cupboards. Not only that, they can build up water scaling after prolonged use. Even though these high-end devices are very precise, they aren’t suited to the needs of most households.
Sous vide at home #2: Immersion circulator
Immersion circulators represent the newest advancement in sous vide technology. Instead of a cumbersome water oven, an immersion circulator is a device that is attached to the side of your pot. It keeps the water in the pot at a constant temperature and moves the water around, ensuring there are no “pockets” of hot or cold water.
Above all, the best thing about an immersion circulator is its price. This device has made sous vide affordable for many households with an average price that is usually around $100, if not less.
