Steak is why you buy sous vide, but chicken is what has the biggest quality delta over conventional cooking.
I don’t have sous vide yet. It is most definitely a wanted item for me. That plus more kitchen room.
I have to ask though because the one thing that gets me is how are you guys able to quickly sear things post sous vide?
When I cook a chicken breast as an example, I sear both sides on a medium high skillet for approx 7 minutes per side, then it goes in an oven to finish and depending on the thickness, at about 10-15 min at 350 F.
Does the sear still take as long post sous vide just for color and taste? Does that not overcook the chicken?
No, not at all. Chicken breast is maybe 30 seconds on each side, or a minute on the skin side if it’s on. Steak I usually do a 45 seconds a side plus 30 on the edges. Less if it’s a thin steak.
This is all at max heat. The idea is just to get the maillard reaction on the surface, but not to cook it any more than you have to, because the meat is already at the right doneness. So it’s all about short, sharp heat (fatty skinned meat being the exception, because the fat insulates the meat while it’s cooking)
Okay, that makes complete sense. And max heat isn’t a problem, hell, skillets were made for that. I think what scared me away from jumping on sous vide was the frequent mention of, “a seazall for that perfect sear.” Pardon my phrasing, but fuck all that. If it required even more kitchen gear for me beyond adding sous vide stuff, I just don’t have the room or patience.
Bear in mind sous vide doesn’t really need more space (other than a little cupboard space for storage). If you get a stick you can just use an existing pan or plastic bin.
I have some existing pots that will work, but as with anything, I will probably want to over-prepare. While my pots might be okay for a chicken breast or three, if I’m spending the time, it wouldn’t hurt to be able to drop in a couple more.
Any recommendations on which Anova is the latest and greatest?
I would guess whatever is the most expensive. To be honest, I don’t even know if Anova is the recommended brand these days. I’m very happy with mine, but I haven’t followed those that came out after it.
Gendal
5014
I got a searzall as a gift. Eh. Totally unnecessary. I prefer the grill or cast iron skillet.
There’re two models out there – one with bluetooth and one with bluetooth+wifi. The bluetooth only model is 800 watts vs the newer bluetooth+wifi being 900 watts. The only real difference is that the 900 watt wand will get water up to temp faster. The bluetooth only version is a bit cheaper; want to say it was $120 vs $160 when I bought my dad one for his birthday. Neither of us has felt he’s missing out on anything with the bluetooth version.
Wirecutter/Sweethome still recommends the Anova but mentions a more compact version may be out soon.
Sounds like Anova it is. I’ll update when I get one in use. I was wanting to update my grill, but it’s still working and that’s a tougher sell to myself when I can keep going with this old one for a bit. I’m considering shifting to a Weber (finally.) I’m growing very tired of the 2-4 year replacement of crappy grills.
Gendal
5017
I would also look at the Joule. If it had manual controls it would be a no brainer for me if I was going to upgrade, but I already got two Anovas with manual controls.
I love gadgets and apps but I don’t really see the point of it for a Sous Vide stick. Stick in water, set temp, set timer, forget.
If you don’t want to faff around looking for recipes, the app is relatively convenient for checking times and temps and then automatically using them, but frankly googling “serious eats sous vide X” is just as good.
One advantage the Joule has is that you can rest it on the bottom of a pan, so it should work in a smaller pan than an Anova would. Other than that, I don’t know if it’s any quicker to get to temp or not.
Any reason why I couldn’t use the juices left after cooking for something? Do you guys use any of it?
When I cook chicken soup vide, my dogs adore the liquid in the bag as a dressing for their kibble. They’d each give it two thumbs up, if they had thumbs.
I’m glad you said that, that was my first intention of using it. But then again as a base or stock for veggies, etc. Does it … coagulate?
I know these questions sound dumb, but the revolve around the fact those juices are produced at much lower temps and longer times. So I’m wondering if the leftovers are going to be really different from what I would expect from say, roasted meat juice runoff.
EDIT: I feel like such a noob with these questions. :)
Gendal
5022
The Joule is faster than the anova at heating water, like by 25% according to Sweethome. So not only is it more powerful, but it also used less than half the energy, thanks to it’s funky heating element. It’s also smaller and lighter by a large margin.
I just looked at the app, and being able to enter in weight and thickness to get the right cooking temp and time would be nice. Sous Vide is very forgiving so I haven’t had an issue, but that is a nice feature.
Thinking about it I would probably get the Joule if I was buying one today, despite my dislike of lacking manual controls. Luckily Sous Vide wands are pretty utilitarian and I feel zero desire to upgrade my older Anovas.
Sure, more than a few recipes use them in pan stock recipes.
If you cool the liquid down sufficiently it’ll become more viscous, like a good stock. You don’t get a ton of liquid out of each chicken breast, but I imagine you could use it to enhance a stock you’re working on.
That works for me! Thanks for the tips, guys.
Is the Joule significantly smaller in circumference than the older models? It looks a lot smaller than my Sansaire. The advantage there would be that you can put it into a smaller pot/plastic bin (or leave more room for your food.)
