Sous vide kit recommendations, please.

[M_Six]

We have no place to put a grill at our house. At least not without having to walk through most of the house to get between the grill and the kitchen. But this past weekend I brought a couple of nice ribeyes to a friend's house and he grilled them to near perfection. Made me realize I'd like to eat steak more than the few times a year I get one at a restaurant.

Soooooo... I'm thinking sous vide. Seems easy enough and virtually fool proof (and I can be pretty foolish when it comes to cooking). But there seems to be a gazillion companies making the kits. I know there was a sous vide discussion here once and a few folks here use them, so I'm looking for recommendations for brands and any "gotcha's" to avoid. Money is not a big issue as they don't appear to be that pricey to begin with.

Also, we have a large pot we could use, but are the sous vide containers (plastic?) better? Or doesn't it matter? And any advice about zip-lock bags vs vacuum wrap?

Lastly, as I stated, no grill. Are sous vide steaks finished in a skillet just as good? We (sadly) have an electric stove, if that matters.

[kscarrol]

We have the Breville Joule. Works great with the WiFi/Bluetooth app on your phone. Large pot is required but you have that. As for bags, I use a simple ziplock bag, submerge to get the air out, seal and then I use a clip to hold the bag at the top of the pot. No need for vacuum bags in my opinion.

As for finishing, we do have a grill so a quick sear there is all we need. I know folks use a hot skillet on a cooktop as well but have no experience with that. Imagine a hot skillet with a little butter or oil would be excellent as well though good ventilation is a must!

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

We have the Breville Joule. Works great with the WiFi/Bluetooth app on your phone. Large pot is required but you have that. As for bags, I use a simple ziplock bag, submerge to get the air out, seal and then I use a clip to hold the bag at the top of the pot. No need for vacuum bags in my opinion.

As for finishing, we do have a grill so a quick sear there is all we need. I know folks use a hot skillet on a cooktop as well but have no experience with that. Imagine a hot skillet with a little butter or oil would be excellent as well though good ventilation is a must!

How long does it take to get a filet or strip to internal temp of 125 or so using this method?

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

We have the Breville Joule. Works great with the WiFi/Bluetooth app on your phone. Large pot is required but you have that. As for bags, I use a simple ziplock bag, submerge to get the air out, seal and then I use a clip to hold the bag at the top of the pot. No need for vacuum bags in my opinion.

As for finishing, we do have a grill so a quick sear there is all we need. I know folks use a hot skillet on a cooktop as well but have no experience with that. Imagine a hot skillet with a little butter or oil would be excellent as well though good ventilation is a must!

Thanks. And yeah, the searing process in the house has me thinking how much we can get away with as our smoke detectors are hypersensitive. Big price difference between the stainless steel version and the polycarb version. Is there an advantage to the stainless version?

[Dlpfcb]

I went with the anova, reasonable priced and works great.

[jsf721]

Anova 1200 watt unit from Costco.

[kscarrol]

Originally Posted by RickFLM4

How long does it take to get a filet or strip to internal temp of 125 or so using this method?

For a filet, around 1.5 inches thick, it will take 1.25 hours which includes getting the water to temp. You get your perfect temp every time, prep other foods while filets are in the water and then a quick sear on the grill, super easy. Never put a strip in the sous vide but assuming a similar 1.5 inches thick I would assume a similar time in the water. Thinner would be less time. We have used it for chicken breasts as well.

You do all you seasoning before putting the steaks in the bag. We stick to simple salt and pepper but any seasoning/marinade works.

[omasou]

I have been using the Anova WiFi and have been happy with both the unit and app. I would wait for an Anova sale before purchasing. The only negative for sous vide is the time it takes for some recipes that may require planning and starting the day before, e.g. 12 hour cook time requires getting up early or eating later.

Yes, the searing smoke detector thing is a PITA. For ribs, I use the broiler, which should work for the rib eyes too. For non-meats I sometimes don't bother searing.

I use a Food Saver to seal bags which is a bit challenging w/liquids. Yes, bags can be expensive but can be thrown away instead of washing. Seems like some people like Stasher bags, I have used them and they do work.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

For the container the 12QT is a good size w/o being too small or too big...

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

This lid or one like it helps to keep the water from escaping. They make versions w/cutouts in the corner or end, depending on how the sous vide is mounted.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0...?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Anova has also introduced an insulated container, which I may buy in the future but for now I already have the pieces that I need for the frequency that I use it.

https://anovaculinary.com/sous-vide-...ted-container/

[M_Six]

I ended up buying a Breville Joule. Works like a charm. I cooked ribeyes at 132F @ 1.5hrs tonight and they came out on the medium rare side of medium (or the medium side of medium rare). Next time I'll lower that to 130F. They were amazingly consistent throughout, though, which is the whole point of sous vide. The only prep I did was salt and pepper and then we seared in vegetable oil and butter. They tasted ok. But it was steak instead of STEAK, if you know what I mean. I had a ribeye about two weeks ago at a friend's house. He didn't do any prep other than salt and pepper, but he did them on a grill. Those were even more on the medium side than ours tonight, but they were also more flavorful. Could be a slightly different cut of beef or maybe that's the difference between grilling alone and sous vide.

Do any of you sous vide folks do marinade or other prep before bagging? Or before searing?

[Wineguy]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

We have the Breville Joule. Works great with the WiFi/Bluetooth app on your phone. Large pot is required but you have that. As for bags, I use a simple ziplock bag, submerge to get the air out, seal and then I use a clip to hold the bag at the top of the pot. No need for vacuum bags in my opinion.

As for finishing, we do have a grill so a quick sear there is all we need. I know folks use a hot skillet on a cooktop as well but have no experience with that. Imagine a hot skillet with a little butter or oil would be excellent as well though good ventilation is a must!

Use a hot cast iron pan with butter and herbs. Finish steak by bathing meat with butter herb mixture. Maybe 3-5 minutes as I dint know how finished meat is in a sous vide.

[M_Six]

Some of the difference may have been due to a difference in marbling. The steaks at my friend's house were well marbled. Lots of white fat sections. The ones we had tonight had surprisingly little fat. Just some around the edges. I'll have to keep that in mind next time I shop for steaks.

[kscarrol]

I've always seared my steaks on the grill so not an expert at the cast iron pan method. But just thinking out loud, I would drop the oil and use the butter only, making sure the butter is seasoned/flavored with salt and pepper/herbs etc.

[MKSixer]

Originally Posted by kscarrol

I've always seared my steaks on the grill so not an expert at the cast iron pan method. But just thinking out loud, I would drop the oil and use the butter only, making sure the butter is seasoned/flavored with salt and pepper/herbs etc.

I've used the pan method a couple of times recently. I remove the steak from the refrigerator 45 minutes before cooking and used Tony Chachere's and a touch of pepper to season the steak. I placed butter the pan and heat it to the temp of the sun. On the last one I did 5 mins on the first side and 3-4 mins on the second side. I let the meat relax about 10 mins before serving. I serve on a hot buttered plate with 20 mg of Lipitor.

[M_Six]

Originally Posted by MKSixer

I've used the pan method a couple of times recently. I remove the steak from the refrigerator 45 minutes before cooking and used Tony Chachere's and a touch of pepper to season the steak. I placed butter the pan and heat it to the temp of the sun. On the last one I did 5 mins on the first side and 3-4 mins on the second side. I let the meat relax about 10 mins before serving. I serve on a hot buttered plate with 20 mg of Lipitor.

I suspect I didn't leave them sit long enough to sear properly. And I'm sure we cut into them too soon. Wifey was hungry, though.

[jsf721]

We are on the same page. I cook my red meats to 128 then sear to perfection!

Originally Posted by M_Six

I ended up buying a Breville Joule. Works like a charm. I cooked ribeyes at 132F @ 1.5hrs tonight and they came out on the medium rare side of medium (or the medium side of medium rare). Next time I'll lower that to 130F. They were amazingly consistent throughout, though, which is the whole point of sous vide. The only prep I did was salt and pepper and then we seared in vegetable oil and butter. They tasted ok. But it was steak instead of STEAK, if you know what I mean. I had a ribeye about two weeks ago at a friend's house. He didn't do any prep other than salt and pepper, but he did them on a grill. Those were even more on the medium side than ours tonight, but they were also more flavorful. Could be a slightly different cut of beef or maybe that's the difference between grilling alone and sous vide.

Do any of you sous vide folks do marinade or other prep before bagging? Or before searing?

[RickFLM4]

Originally Posted by M_Six

Some of the difference may have been due to a difference in marbling. The steaks at my friend's house were well marbled. Lots of white fat sections. The ones we had tonight had surprisingly little fat. Just some around the edges. I'll have to keep that in mind next time I shop for steaks.

Marbling will make a huge difference in flavor.