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.
My PSA for sous vide cooking: chicken breasts can actually be tasty! 153F is the perfect temp for me. Too much lower and its got that raw chicken texture to it, Too much higher and it gets stringy and dry.
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.
One concern I've had with Sous Vide is the concern of plastic leaching while cooking or marinading. I haven't researched it though - just an outstanding concern.
Came here to say this as well. The original touch screens are garbage in the presence of high humidity, making me slightly hate Anova for such a terrible design decision (of course they will be exposed to high humidity!), but I still suffer through using it, basically keeping the temp locked on 130°F (because changing the temp is too risky to get it stuck with the flaky touchscreen).
I have the Anova and it's a pain due to very flaky bluetooth support. As in, I have umpteen working bluetooth gadgets in the house that all work, but I couldn't get the Anova to work after two replacements.
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.
Can you or someone explain to me why you need or want Bluetooth on a sous vide circulator?
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.
After the first week or so I ended up ignoring the bluetooth, and liked cooking so much more without trying to connect to the thing. I got the newer version with Wifi which connects well every time, but I don't care about the connection at all, and so don't bother.
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.
ah, I explicitly bought the anova because you don't need bluetooth to use it unlike the joule. I treat it like a toaster: plug it in, turn it on, cook. Never once tried the smart features cause I expect it to stink as you've seen.
Definitely not faster, but as the other commenter said, it's far more precise. The result is exactly as you set it every time with no variation. It's also far more forgiving, which tends toward the lesser variation. It definitely takes longer, but there's far less pressure when it comes to planning and timing.
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.
Another name for the gadgets is 'precision cooker'. You have perfect control over the temperature of the meat. So, you'll end up with perfectly tender meat, every time.
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.
- 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.
It's one of my go-to kitchen gadgets, and I cook most of my meals with it.