Anova Sous Vide. Cooking perfect Chicken or pork chops every single time is an absolute joy. I don't eat as many steaks but also cooks them just the same.
It's one of my go-to kitchen gadgets, and I cook most of my meals with it.
It's one of my go-to kitchen gadgets, and I cook most of my meals with it.
Pork tenderloin gets the award for thing most-improved by sous vide. Cook it medium rare at 135F (I sprinkle with a little salt first). Then pat it dry, put a bit more coarse salt on the outside and sear it hard and quick.
Cooking with it though is great.
If I didn't pay so much extra for the bluetooth it wouldn't bother me, since it works fine without it. But I prefer the Instant Pot sous vide, my daily driver, which doesn't attempt bluetooth.
As for cooking, I absolutely love it. Even for things I can cook fine in a pan, I much prefer the low-stress of making a steak in the bath and then taking it out and finishing it in the pan whenever I'm ready.
On lazy/busy days, we'll fire up the sous vide a little after lunch time, and throw in something frozen, knowing that all we have to do for dinner is figure out a side.
You already have to be physically next to it put your food into the water bath. It makes no sense to pull out your phone and launch an app to turn it on and set the temp when you're already physically standing right next to it, and I've never heard of any sous vide recipes that require you to change the water temp partway through cooking, so there's no need to change the temperature remotely.
The only thing I could possibly see wanting a Bluetooth app for is monitoring the water temperature in case it's gone wonky, but in the 5+ years I've had my Anova, it's always been flawless.
I don't use my sous vide often, but when I do the results are fantastic. I'm a bit of a BBQ purist, and will even confess that everything comes out better when I use the precision cooker then brown the meat on the grill.
A thawed steak is done after about an hour, or frozen after about 80 minutes. But if I leave it in for another hour or two, there's no difference in quality - it's still perfect, with a minute to finish on a hot cast iron.
So if I'm cooking for a crowd or busy working on sides (or just plain busy or lazy) I can still get an absolutely perfect steak (or whatever) every time at exactly the time I need it.
I've also found it to be excellent for long-cooking like a Brisket or Pork Shoulder, where I'll cook it in the water bath for about 24-32 hours, and then smoke it low and slow on the grill for 3-4 hours.
- Grab my chicken cuts, and season them.
- Throw in a 2 days worth of meals of chicken into the sous vide and set the temp.
- let it cook for 45 min. (No need to monitor, it's a water bath -- nothing to flip or think about.)
- Even if it goes slightly over ( I once had it go for 90 min as I got trapped in a meeting) your meat stays at the perfect doneness. - I take out a meal's worth of chicken and Sear it in a pan for 5 or so minutes.
THE SECRET: Take the rest of the chicken and immediately ice it and get it in the fridge. Now, for the rest of those pieces, I take them out at meal time, and sear to heat and I get perfect chicken that you'd not even realize are leftovers.
Works same for pork and steak too, just cook that slightly less.