Sous Vide Equipment
There are two types of equipment you need for sous vide cooking: heat regulators and vacuum sealers. We'll take a look at some of the various options of each kind.
Many people interested in learning sous vide cooking are turned off by how expensive the sous vide equipment can be. While it is true that much of the higher end equipment can get costly, it is still less expensive than many normal kitchen appliances (a Viking stove can be over $5,000).
We look at the entire range of options you have when purchasing
sous vide equipment, from using a pot on the stove with zip lock bags, to $150 "sous vide controllers", to $1,000 thermal immersion circulators and chambered vacuum sealers.
Just remember, you do not have to bankrupt yourself on expensive sous vide equipment. Start small and test the waters. If you like sous vide cooking then it might be worth spending a little more for some dedicated sous vide equipment.
This information, as well as over 100 recipes is available in our book
Beginning Sous Vide which you can get at Amazon.com or as a
pdf download.
Did you know we also have an
iPhone and Android app? It has over 400 time and temperature combinations for 175 cuts of meat, fish and vegetables. You can find it at the
iTunes or
Android stores, or you can search for "Sous Vide" and look for our easy to find icon!
Types of Sous Vide Equipment
One of the most commonly asked questions we get is
Which sous vide machine should I buy? We normally take them through a series of questions to see what would work best for them. We thought this would make a great flowchart and could help people make up their mind about which sous vide equipment to buy more easily.
It's followed by an easy to read chart comparing the basic features of each one and then a short description of each type of machine. You can also click on either image to bring it up to full size.
Proper temperature control of the water bath is crucial to effective sous vide cooking. Temperature fluctuations of a few degrees can drastically change the texture of many types of sous vide dishes.
With all the options for sous vide equipment available it can be hard to determine how to get stared. Some setups run thousands of dollars while others a few hundred. Here's a few of our recommended sous vide setups.
To sous vide cook you will need to seal your food before putting them into the water bath. There are several ways to do this, each with their own trade offs.
One of the biggest complaints we get is that we don't properly address cooking sous vide by thickness. We feel that in general cooking by tenderness is the easiest method to learn and is safer to implement since it helps to eliminate the need for exact temperatures. However, we do our best to listen to our readers so we've made our own version of a printable sous vide thickness ruler. To get the free ruler you just have to sign up for our Sous Vide Mailing, which is sent out every 2 to 4 weeks.
As the gift giving season approaches it can be hard to figure out what to get the cooks in your lives. Here are a few of our recommendations, both in and out of sous vide. We hope you enjoy our Cooking Sous Vide Gift Guide
Want more great Sous Vide content?
Our free Cooking Sous Vide newsletter will be sent every few weeks and each edition will contain tips, tricks, recipes, and how-to's for Cooking Sous Vide. They will also contain links to some of the best sous vide information on the internet.
Subscribe Now!
to get notified
