Regulating Water Temperature
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.
There are several ways to regulate water temperature and we'll discuss the positives and negatives of the main ones.
The techniques range from inexpensive and inexact to incredibly precise with the price tag to match.
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.
Ways to Regulate Water Temperature
A thermal immersion circulator is a device that you put into a container of water that will keep the water a uniform temperature. It's probably the best piece of equipment you can get for regulating water temperature in sous vide cooking.
The other heavy duty way to regulate water temperature in sous vide cooking is through the use of a circulating water bath. These devices are similar to the thermal immersion circulators except they come in their own enclosed container for holding the water.
A great mid-range sous vide solution that was recently introduced is the Sous Vide Supreme water oven. Billed as "the world's first water oven for the home" it is really a large self-heated water bath. It currently runs $450 dollars right in between a
thermal immersion circulator and a
sous vide cooking controller.
One of the best combo systems is the sous vide cooking controller. This device is pretty simple in principal and is much less expensive than a water bath or thermal circulator.
The cheapest, and least precise, way to do sous vide cooking is directly on your stove. It only requires a thermometer, some hot water, and some cold water.
Sousvide EU had an interesting looking LFP-SV1000 immersion circulator on eBay and I managed to pick it up for £130 as opposed to the €299 on their website. It certainly wasn’t a looker but as I couldn’t really be bothered spending the time soldering and making my own, for the price I wasn’t complaining.
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