Sous Vide cooker for home

Sous Vide Supreme - a home use "water oven" with an exceedingly cheesy name - is set to be released in mid-November. Here's the website:

http://www.sousvidesupreme.com/

At an introductory price of $399, it certainly isn't cheap, but a PolyScience immersion circulator will set you back at least $1,000 and that doesn't include the container.

There was a demonstration of it in NYC last week, with Heston Blumenthal of The Fat Duck presiding. Here's an account:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/10/unde ... nthal.html

I for one am tempted to get one, especially since I have already got Keller's "Under Pressure" and just received Blumethal's "Fat Duck" cookbook this weekend.

Very interesting. Its total capacity is 11 liters, which should be enough for several pounds of food to be cooked, I'd hope.
The prices will come down, just like bread makers, if this catches on.

But you can also pick up immersion circulators for much less on eBay.

I'm still thinking of rigging something up with Lego Mindstorms to adjust the burner knob on my stove, using their temp sensor.

Very interesting. A few months ago, I looked into rigging a home setup. I read several people's attempts (mostly e-gullet), shopped ebay for equipment, but lost focus when it became too much of a hassle.

mchodera and joelf: are you equipped to sous vide at home today? if so, what type of setup do you have?
Any tips for the home?

Thanks,
W

I've done sous vide-like cooking without much equipment. I take a protein (salmon fillet, for example), and put it in a zip-lock bag (not one with a slider; one that seals completely), squeezing out all the air. I put the oven at 145° or so, put in a stainless steel bowl of water into the oven, and when it comes to temp, put the zip-lock bag into the water, then weigh it down with a small plate, so it's completely submerged. It's tough to over-cook, and the texture comes out velvety.

Not sure it's a good as having a real sous vide setup, but it doesn't require a lot of equipment, and the results are fine for this unsophisticated palate.

I haven't done any, but between watching Top and Iron Chef, and having the Alinea and French Laundry cookbooks, let's just call me sous vide-curious.

I've done sous vide at home with a big pot o' water, a digital thermometer and a Reynold's Handi-Vac - which the Sous Vide Supreme guys are selling for $8 with an order. I've made many recipes from Keller's "Under Pressure", starting with the fruits and vegetables and working up to proteins.

Many of the dishes in the book require a chamber vacuum unit that extracts gases from foods and works with liquids. If you think immersion circulators are expensive, you're in for sticker shock on one of these devices.

I have successfully done 8 hour duck confit with a Food Saver and a deep electric skillet filled with water.

I was scared off after reading the PhD level instructions for avoiding botulism. Wimp.

8-hour confit - velvety salmon - love it!

As much as I love gadgets, I think I'll try the vacuum sealer approach first.

I picked up a nice counter-top immersion circulator on eBay a few years ago. Prices were pretty high for ones with digital controls, but I watched listings for a few weeks until I spotted on that was getting ignored and won the auction at a totally reasonable (read: well below the price of that Sous Vide Supreme unit) price.

One question about the product - it doesn't look like it's actually circulating the water. The specifications are a bit light ("Water Baths: 1" counts as a specification?!), but I see nothing about it having a pump. Is this just a really expensive (and accurate to within 1 degree) crock pot?

-Dan

dansch wrote:I picked up a nice counter-top immersion circulator on eBay a few years ago. Prices were pretty high for ones with digital controls, but I watched listings for a few weeks until I spotted on that was getting ignored and won the auction at a totally reasonable (read: well below the price of that Sous Vide Supreme unit) price.

One question about the product - it doesn't look like it's actually circulating the water. The specifications are a bit light ("Water Baths: 1" counts as a specification?!), but I see nothing about it having a pump. Is this just a really expensive (and accurate to within 1 degree) crock pot?

-Dan

It sounds like you're right - if the Serious Eats article is accurate, it doesn't have a pump. It sounds like it has either multiple heating elements spaced in a grid under the bottom of the water container, or one heating element that can be heated in zones. Either way, they claim to create a convection current by turning specific heating elements (or zones of the heating element) on & off at specific times.

It sounds unlikely to me that this "convection current" could result in the same consistent-throughout water temperature as a real immersion circulator...I'd love to check this thing out up close and see if it's the real deal. Maybe we should collectively leverage our clout as a "nationwide cooking and dining survey" to score a test unit?

On a side note, what kind of circulator do you have? Do you get a fair amount of use out of it? I've always been tempted, but fear that it would eventually end up next to the espresso machine, the Foreman grill, the bar blender, and the Cuisinart Grind-N-Brew, gathering dust in our storage unit

I spent a day working in Charlie Trotter's kitchen about 10 years ago. One of the most interesting things that I saw was that they cooked a lot of stuff in ziplock bags, sitting in warm water. I always meant to try this but never did.

One question about the product - it doesn't look like it's actually circulating the water. The specifications are a bit light ("Water Baths: 1" counts as a specification?!), but I see nothing about it having a pump. Is this just a really expensive (and accurate to within 1 degree) crock pot?

Immersion circulators heat at a single point so they need to circulate water to maintain temp (water at far side of container would be cooler than water at the heating element so you'd lose the precision that sous vide requires). This device creates a uniform temp so circulation is not necessary to maintain a uniform temp.

Khaopaat wrote:It sounds like you're right - if the Serious Eats article is accurate, it doesn't have a pump. It sounds like it has either multiple heating elements spaced in a grid under the bottom of the water container, or one heating element that can be heated in zones. Either way, they claim to create a convection current by turning specific heating elements (or zones of the heating element) on & off at specific times.

That might help reduce hot spots, but a strong current will get in between items and around the edges of bags that might obstruct a mild current caused by heat natural convection. Also, (and this is where I'm calling on physics intuition and should probably channel McGee) an actual pump-driven current will act like a convection oven which does more than just equalize temperatures within the physical space.

Don't get me wrong - I think it's great that people are marketing sous vide for home use, I just want to make sure that George Foreman grills aren't being sold to the public with the expectation that you're get Weber results.

Khaopaat wrote:On a side note, what kind of circulator do you have? Do you get a fair amount of use out of it?

I have a Neslab EX-111. It looks basically like this:

The capacity is a little on the small side, but I've done things as large as a standing pork roast (4-5 rib). It's way fancier than I need*, but it was cheap and offered digital control. FWIW, it slides right under my kitchen cabinets so it's a great counter-top appliance.

I use it a few times a month - more than my food processor but probably less than my KitchenAid (though that doubles as my meat grinder). In fact, I've got a small picnic slathered with harissa and vacuum sealed in the fridge right now. My tentative plan is to cook it sous vide at ~135-140 for a good long while, then roast it at super-high heat over a mix of chick peas, golden raisins and apricots, a bit of stock and some spices.

-Dan

* It has things like a cooling system where you can hook up a tap water feed to a heat exchanger to drop the temperature with the same level of control as you can raise it and a serial port to hook it to a computer to take readings and control.

spinynorman99 wrote:Immersion circulators heat at a single point so they need to circulate water to maintain temp (water at far side of container would be cooler than water at the heating element so you'd lose the precision that sous vide requires). This device creates a uniform temp so circulation is not necessary to maintain a uniform temp.

The issue of convection (addressed in my recent post upthread) aside, I often place multiple bags of things straight from the fridge directly in to the water - I have a hard time imagining that the "uniform temperature" this thing creates without circulation is going to get in between two bags. I'm also curious how quickly this thing recovers from having cold items plunged in to it.

Perhaps it's a great appliance - I don't know and I'll be curious to get reviews from LTHers who buy one - but I think the circulation issue, speed to temp recovery, etc all need to be addressed. For 3X what I spent on a lab-grade one, I'd want to know that it'll perform well.

-Dan

I wasn't discussing it from a "convection" perspective (doesn't really apply to sous vide), but an immersion circulator can't heat to a uniform temperature without circulation. Sous vide requires a constant temp; the circulation plays no role in the cooking, only in maintaining temp from the far end (away from the heating element) to the near end. The $399 device is pretty much a precision controlled rice cooker. As far as maintaining a constant temp between 2 pouches, they probably haven't thought it through that far. It is pretty much, as you point out, the George Foreman Sous Vide Machine.

I came across this thread after a Sous Vide Google search. I recently became interested in Sous Vide because of its ability to turn ho-hum cuts of meat into something special without breaking the bank. I decided to make my own Sous Vide machine because I had accumulated most of the required parts over the years. I already had an RTD temperature sensor, a PID controller and a suitable heater/cooker in the form of a 340 watt slow cooker. Last weekend I managed to get everything working in harmony: The sensor in the cooker sending the temperature to the controller and the controller cycling the cooker. I managed to hold the cooker to within 2 degrees F of the setpoint. Last Friday my first attempt was eggs because I didn't have the Food Saver bags as yet. I did the eggs at 152F for almost 2 hours. The eggs were very interesting in terms of texture and color and I have eaten them several times since cooking them.
On Saturday I bought a rechargeable Food Saver gadget for $19.99 at Walmart and it came with 4 quart bags. I placed 2 small Petite sirloins in the Food Saver bags and used the gadget to remove the air. It worked very well. I also did 1 small sirloin in a zip back. These went into water bath which had reached 140F. The Food Saver bag sank (sinking is important because the bag is totally submerged in the water bath) while the zip bag floated a bit because I didn't get all of the air out. These were cooked at 140F for 2:10. The resulting steaks were impressive. I had pan fried a piece of the steak earlier. It had good flavor, but tough and chewy. After Sous Vide'ing the meat was actually fork tender and very flavorful. Since then i have done chicken breasts with the same results.

I am now working on a larger cooker and it looks like I will be able to hold the temp to within +/- .5F. I think that this is pretty close to how commercial equipment performs.

(Positive) review of the Sous Vide Supreme:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/12/new- ... ref=se-bb1

FYI, It looks like Richard Blais is a spokesperson for the Sous Vide Supreme & you can get $25 off if you use the code "blais" when you order.

Darren72 wrote:I spent a day working in Charlie Trotter's kitchen about 10 years ago. One of the most interesting things that I saw was that they cooked a lot of stuff in ziplock bags, sitting in warm water.

While paging through some issues of Quick Frozen Foods from 1959, I came across the following cartoon. I wonder if Chef Trotter would find it amusing.

wendy wrote:(Positive) review of the Sous Vide Supreme:

http://www.seriouseats.com/2009/12/new- ... ref=se-bb1

For anyone who hasn't seen it, the link is worth it for Kenji Alt's slideshow of a month of sous-vide cookery alone.

J Kenji Lopez-Alt's sous-vided and seared burger courtesy of Serious Eats:


Quick, someone tweet this sous-vided beef heart and resulting tacos to KennyZ!

I also heard you can approximate Sous vide cooking at home with a rice cooker put on the "warm" cycle. I saw a recipe once calling for cooking pot roast overnight at the warm temperature. Was afraid to try it though.

Here is another website with sous vide supplies and machinery.

http://www.jbprince.com/sous-vide-equip ... s-vide.asp

toria wrote:I also heard you can approximate Sous vide cooking at home with a rice cooker put on the "warm" cycle. I saw a recipe once calling for cooking pot roast overnight at the warm temperature. Was afraid to try it though.

Here is another website with sous vide supplies and machinery.

http://www.jbprince.com/sous-vide-equip ... s-vide.asp

Most people use our temperature controller (SousVideMagic) to turn a rice cooker or slow cooker into a constant temperature bath. Check http://www.sousvidemagic.com out.

toria wrote:I also heard you can approximate Sous vide cooking at home with a rice cooker put on the "warm" cycle. I saw a recipe once calling for cooking pot roast overnight at the warm temperature. Was afraid to try it though.

This is my SV rig. I also use a $22 aquarium water circulator. It is rated for 95F, but I haven't had any problems (yet) at 130F-140F.

Watch this space. I'm waiting for the arrival of parts so I can build my own immersion circulator, per the project at Make Magazine.
They say it's a $75 Immersion Circulator, it's coming out closer to $100 once you factor in shipping.

some time last year i got a controller working which used the slow cooker as the tub/heating element. used it once then never got around to "finishing" the electrical components (was going to solder the wires, etc and put it in an enclosure).

maybe i'll get around to it this year.

JoelF wrote:Watch this space. I'm waiting for the arrival of parts so I can build my own immersion circulator, per the project at Make Magazine.
They say it's a $75 Immersion Circulator, it's coming out closer to $100 once you factor in shipping.

I believe this is the same article (same author anyway) for those who aren't subscribers to Make...


http://seattlefoodgeek.com/2010/02/diy- ... -about-75/

Coogles wrote:I believe this is the same article (same author anyway) for those who aren't subscribers to Make...


http://seattlefoodgeek.com/2010/02/diy- ... -about-75/

Yup, that looks to be pretty much identical.
I will end up with a few spare parts when I'm done (including an extra circulating pump and a source for a few more), give me a holler if you're going to try this.

joemsewi wrote:The eggs were very interesting in terms of texture and color and I have eaten them several times since cooking them.

I imagine that the texture and color get even more interesting each time they're eaten!

JoelF wrote:

Coogles wrote:I believe this is the same article (same author anyway) for those who aren't subscribers to Make...


http://seattlefoodgeek.com/2010/02/diy- ... -about-75/

Yup, that looks to be pretty much identical.
I will end up with a few spare parts when I'm done (including an extra circulating pump and a source for a few more), give me a holler if you're going to try this.

I was getting ready to start buying parts for the Seattlefoodgeek project when I was able to get a good deal ($130) on an old immersion circulator off ebay. It was old, dirty and made a horrible noise but after a little cleaning and service now runs like a champ. Anyone who wants to get one on the cheap without building their own should keep an eye on ebay, every now and then one slips through at a good price. If you live near a university you may also want to find out if the auction off surplus equipment from time to time.

Last night we ate my first attempt at 72 hour sous vide short ribs, they were incredibly good. On Saturday I made a quick marinade of red wine, soy sauce, garlic, onion, salt and pepper and let the ribs soak for a few hours. Then they were vacuum sealed along with some of the marinade using the gentle/moist setting on the foodsaver and put in the water bath set to 58* C. After work last night I removed them from the bath (about 75 hours total cooking time) and let them cool in the bag for about 30 minutes before de-bagging, patting dry and searing in a hot pan. The meat was amazingly tender (but not falling apart or mushy), was rare throughout and had a great beefy flavor. Even the fat cap I left on was tender and flavorful (and I normally cant stand eating solid fat on beef or pork). Definitely a worthy project for the sous vide inclined.

For christmas I got a sous vide supreme cooker. Very easy to use. I have made many meals with it. I find it interesting but not revolutionary, maybe not yet. I have made several steaks with it, from mediocre cuts to prime steaks. I think the steaks I made before I got it were better. Maybe something more on the lines of a brisket would be better to suited. Fish has been a mixed bag but I usually cooked frozen fish from trader joe's though I had make some fresh salmon fillets, not bad but not great. I have made some soft boiled eggs which are fine, my egg-hating daughter really likes them, I wished the whites had set up better, the yolks were perfect. Pork tenderloin was only ok. I enjoyed the dry-rubbed grilled ones I made better. I made burgers the other night. This is were the sous vide really shines. Half pound chuck at 130 degrees for 2 hours seasoned with salt and pepper; I then through them on a sizzling cast iron skillet to the brown the outsides. Perfectly medium-rare burgers that were safely pasteurized. I have yet to make foul in the vacuum pack bags. I think this might another place sous vide shines.