The method involves submerging a sealed bag containing your ingredients of choice into a heated water bath, which must be regulated at all times to make sure it maintains the desired temperature.

New methods spawn new problems and with them, new solutions. This time we will focus on water leaking into your submerged pouch. Has it ruined your food? What can you do about it?

If water gets into your vacuum-sealed sous vide bags, it can impact the taste and texture of the food. The more water you get into the bag, the more it will dilute the flavorful juices released from the food that’s being cooked in the bag. While the meal will be less tasty, it is still completely safe to eat.

The ingredients can be removed from the leaking bag and placed in an intact bag then be submerged into the water bath, once again. However, it’s common for people to consider throwing waterlogged bags in the trash, including the bag’s content. Let’s talk more about why some people do it and the alternatives.

What Happens If Your Sous Vide Bag Is Leaking?

First and foremost, I do recommend getting a proper vacuum bagging setup if you’re planning on cooking sous vide-style once a week or more. Ziplock bags are quite useful but having a bag with an opening will definitely increase the risk of a leak, compared to a vacuum-sealed bag.

Proper vacuum-sealing equipment doesn’t cost much either. You can get your hands on a good-quality vacuum sealer for no more than 30 bucks.

Either way, you want to keep water out of your bags when you’re cooking sous vide. The water will drain all of the taste from your food, making it far from what it could have been.

You never want that to happen when cooking, especially not when you’re cooking sous vide-style, as it usually takes quite some time. Your food may be fine texturally, but lack quite a bit in taste if the bag has been waterlogged.

Other times, both taste and texture may have suffered from the water inside the bag. It depends on what kind of food you’ve got in the bag. Nevertheless, it does have a negative impact.

There’s nothing unhealthy or risky about eating food that’s been in a leaking bag, it just doesn’t provide the experience that it could have done. It’s mainly that it dilutes the tastes.

Well, there’s one exception that one should consider – if the water used for the vessel isn’t fresh. Has it been stored for a long time? Does it contain bacteria? If you’re uncertain about the water used in your water bath – don’t risk it. Other than that, there isn’t much to worry about.

I’ve eaten several waterlogged bags of food and I haven’t felt anything but I still recommend that you go with your instincts and make your own decision based on the information you’ve got.

When it comes to the machine, however, there’s a slight risk of fat coating the mechanisms, which may (in the long run) render your immersion cooker useless.

Therefore, it’s quite important that you make sure to clean both the cooker and the vessel if your bag has leaked while cooking. You don’t want there to be any signs of the leak in the vessel or on the machine the next time you’re using them. This is to protect the machine but also to prevent taste transfer from prior usage.

How Water Gets Into Sous Vide Bags

Knowing what causes water to get into your sous vide bags will make it easier for you to prevent it from happening again. As you may have imagined, there are several ways water can get into a sous vide bag and ruin dinner. Thankfully, there are also several solutions to the problem.

Let’s go through them, one by one. Please comment down below if I’ve missed something.

Your bags aren’t sealed properly

If you’re using ziplock bags, make sure they’re sealed completely at the top, as water will find its way through small gaps easily. Alternatively, make sure the top of the bag (where the seal is) never goes underwater. That way, you know there’s no chance of water getting into the bag that way. Clip the top of the bag to the edge of the container to keep the bottom of the bag submerged at all times.

Make sure there are no holes in the bags prior to using them. This can be done by either;

• Filling the bag with air and placing it underwater. If bubbles surface from the bag, then there’s a hole.
• Filling the bag with water and holding it over the sink. If water escapes the bag, then there’s a hole.

Additionally, this will tell us where the hole is located but I wouldn’t spend time trying to fix the bag unless it’s the last bag at my disposal. Otherwise, I would just try to replace it with a new one. Of course, fixing and re-using is the most environmental-friendly alternative and I should condone it but I think this is where I draw the line, at the moment.

If you’re using a vacuum sealer, you shouldn’t have to worry about the sealing, but do keep track of holes in the bag as they can appear in vacuum-sealed bags too.

Your food has sharp edges or bones

Perhaps you’ve tested your bags using the method above without finding any holes but somehow the bag has started leaking anyway. The safest bet is that these holes weren’t present when you did the test prior to cooking. They’ve actually appeared at a much later stage of the process, probably caused by bones being pressed against the bag until they pierce it.

It doesn’t have to be bones either. I’ve had asparagus sticking out the end of my ziplock bag. It seems like the sturdier end of it was pressed against the bag. Anything that’s sharp or rough can pose a threat to the pouch. Keep that in mind.

Your rack has pierced the bag

If you don’t know of sous vide racks, they’re like dish racks but placed in the water bath to keep the bags submerged. The design is as perfect for sous vide as it is for drying dishes.

The little space between each dish/bag gives it the space it needs to allow water to flow through and distribute heat evenly (or air if you’re drying dishes).

These racks can, however, have sharp edges too. It may be your rack that’s slashing the bags open. Make sure there are no rough or sharp edges. Try to locate the hole on the bag to see if it possibly could be the rack that’s causing the holes.

Your food has released juices

It may not be water that’s gotten into your bags, it can actually be juices released from the food as it’s heated. Sometimes a steak can release large amounts of juice when cooked – as I’m sure you’ve seen when it’s cooked in a frying pan. These juices shouldn’t be removed as they carry a lot of taste. They won’t ruin your food.

You’re using the wrong tools

Some people use metal tongs to retrieve their bags from the water bath, I wouldn’t recommend doing so. Compared to plastic or silicone utensils, metal tongs can be sharp enough to pierce the bag, especially when they’re gripped and moved around with the tong. Opt for plastic or silicone utensils when cooking sous vide.

Evaporated water is dripping back down into your bag

When you’re cooking sous vide, you want to keep a lid over the water bath in order to trap vapor. Letting vapor escape the bath can result in a too shallow water bath if enough time is given. Therefore, a lid is used to trap the vapors which then drop back into the water bath to maintain the water levels.

If you have an opened ziplock bag placed under the lid with the seal above the surface, drops of water can and will end up inside the bag. Given that sous vide can take hours and hours to finish, these small drops of water can end up making a big difference.

Counteract this by simply keeping a very small gap open if you decide to keep the sealing part of your ziplock bag above the surface.

Can You Put Liquids in Sous Vide Bags?

Liquids are only put in bags for one reason, and that’s displacing air. Small amounts of water can easily displace bubbles of air trapped inside the bag’s cavities. However, you don’t really need to add water to your bag in order for this to happen, most pieces of meat will release enough juices when cooking to take care of the last bubbles of air.

Some people add a small amount of butter or oil to the bag, which also helps.

The actual procedure of cooking is quite lengthy but simple and requires very little maintenance from the user. Preparing the food in the ziplock bags and preparing the water bath takes a little bit of time, but rarely more than 10 minutes. Adding these together can result in cooking times between 1-4 hours, which is why a lot of people want to prepare as much food as possible, and even multiple foods at the same time.

You can sous vide as much meat, fish, or any other food as you can put in your water bath while maintaining enough space between the bags so the water can circulate properly, ensuring that every piece is cooked evenly. Additionally, it’s ok to put more than one steak or filet in a single ziplock bag as long as the food isn’t layered, as it increases the cooking time because of the extra thickness.

How Much Food Can You Sous Vide at Once?

Because there are a variety of container sizes, there’s no magic number of steaks that can be cooked at once. Instead, there are certain guidelines that can be useful when cooking larger amounts of food.

It’s all about making sure that every single piece of food in the sous vide bath gets the attention it needs. You don’t want to force a bunch of zip-lock bags into the container only to open it up 4 hours later to find out that they’re still raw in the center.

So, as long as;

• The ziplock bags aren’t jam-packed with food
• The vessel used for the water bath is spacious enough to keep the bags separated to allow water to flow freely throughout the bath. (In a well-insulated vessel, many sous vide immersion cookers are capable of heating up to 10 gallons or 40 liters of water)

You should be fine. Additionally, under these circumstances, the cooking time shouldn’t increase either – to clarify; sous vide cooking times depend on the thickness of the meat, as long as the pieces aren’t stacked, the cooking time won’t increase.

When packing your food in ziplock bags for sous vide, make sure there’s enough room to put them in a single layer. For this reason, having a vacuum sealer is awesome, as it will allow you to pack food in a single layer in a bag and then vacuum it to make sure it’s held in place and in the “department” created around it when the air is sucked out of the bag.

Here’s the one I’m using. If you do decide to get one, make sure to research what else you can do with it as there’s more to having a vacuum sealer than simplifying the process of sous vide.

Can You Cook Multiple Foods in a Sous Vide at Once?

By now it should be clear that you actually can cook larger amounts of food in a sous vide, under the right circumstances – but what about different foods?

You can cook multiple, different foods in a sous vide at once. When cooking multiple foods, there are certain things one should keep in mind.

Don’t pack different foods in the same ziplock bag

Not only will different foods have some level of taste transfer if they’re cooked together in one and the same bag, they will also have to be removed from the water bath at different times, most likely. The taste transfer that takes place when cooking is a good enough reason to avoid packing everything in the same bag – especially if you’re using different spices.

But if you still decide to give it a try, which I won’t promote, make sure that everything requires the same temperature for the same amount of time. Otherwise, you will have to remove the bag, open it up, and take out half of the bag’s content.

Make sure all of the ingredients are supposed to be cooked at the same temperature

As obvious as it sounds, it’s still something that I really want to highlight as I’ve had a bunch of not-so-foolproof ideas myself. When placing food in the sous vide water bath, make sure that all of the foods are to be cooked at the same temperature. There is only one set temperature and the immersion cooker will regulate it throughout the process.

Placing food that requires higher or lower temperatures may result in under or over-cooking. Doing so would be kind of counterproductive, seeing as the sous vide is marketed and sold to those who seek to achieve the perfect texture when cooking.

Keep track of how long each ingredient has been cooking

You really want to keep track of both time and temperature, especially if you’re doing sous vide without an immersion cooker (as they automate the process quite a bit).

When cooking different foods in different bags, bear in mind that the ingredients may not require the same amount of time in the bath to be cooked and should therefore be removed when they’ve reached the desired texture.

Do Sous Vide Bags Need To Be Fully Submerged?

Floating bags is quite common when cooking sous vide, we’ve heard of a dozen of our readers who’ve had trouble getting their bags to stay underwater, which is vital for sous vide. The reason why your ziplock bag is floating is that there’s air trapped inside it, as you may have guessed.

However, it doesn’t have to be because you failed to remove all of the air inside the bag. The food itself contains air that can be released when it’s heated. There’s also going to be vapors forming inside the bag as water evaporates.

Your bag may also be kept afloat because the food is less dense than water.

Getting the remaining air out of the ziplock bag is an easy task if you have a vacuum sealer at your disposal, but everyone doesn’t have a vacuum sealer at home so I’ve included another method that’s almost as effective as a vacuum sealer – but not fully.

If you plan on cooking sous vide in the future, I suggest you spend an extra 30-40 bucks on a vacuum sealer. They’re not only used for sous vide either, but they’re very useful for it. This is the one I purchased on Amazon and I’m very pleased with it. It’s been used to store food when our family is out hiking and it’s been great.

To get the air out of our bag so the bag can be submerged, do the following:

• Holding the bag above the water bath, close the ziplock 95%, leaving a little path for the air to escape.
• Lower the bag slowly into the water bath, without letting any water enter through the little opening we left. The pressure from the water will push the air out of the bag.
• Continue lowering the bag until the little hole is the only thing that’s left above water then close the last gap and lift the bag up again. The bag should be free from air, however, air bubbles trapped inside the meat can still escape but will probably not be capable of keeping the bag afloat.

But what if you have vacuum sealed / drained your ziplock bags of air but they’re still floating? Then you have to anchor the bags so that they’re kept below the surface at all times. This is done by either placing a “weight” inside or outside the bag.

I’ve seen people put silver knives or spoons at the bottom of their ziplock bags to keep the bag submerged. It works but I have gone another route, I have a couple of custom made sous vide bags that I placed small weights on. These weights keep the bags underwater throughout the entire process.

Ever since I was blessed with a sous vide (immersion cooker) two years ago, I’ve tried to get the people around me to use one because of how awesome it is, but they still haven’t. So, I took the matter into my own hands and bought a bunch of sous vide cookers and now most of my friends will be getting the exact same present.

However, I tried to be as strategic as possible when buying the machines. Because the size of my friend’s families varies greatly, I needed to make sure that the sous vide machine they got was sufficiently large to make cooking for their families convenient. Otherwise, I think the sous vide-alternative would be less attractive and perhaps end up in their garage.

This required me to do some research on sous vide containers and what size to look for depending on the size of your family, or the household you’re cooking for.

The standard size sous vide containers, which are suitable for a regular size family, can hold a 12-quart water bath, which equals about 11.5 liters. There are larger alternatives, such as the 18-quart container, more suitable when cooking for larger families. For a single person, you shouldn’t need anything over 4-quart, preferably something smaller.

What Size Sous Vide Container Do I Need?

As you may have imagined, sous vide containers come in different sizes and sous vide immersion circulators (the electronic stick you put in the container to keep it heated) have some restrictions. These restrictions vary depending on the model and brand but some things are quite common no matter which brand you talk about.

It’s important that the container and the sous vide cooker match as they’ll be used together. To give you an idea of what these restrictions may be, let’s take a quick look at them.

When placing an immersion circulator on a container, the water should not be too shallow. Anovo, which is a renowned brand in the sous vide-industry, states on their website that their sous vide circulators shouldn’t be used in water that is shallower than 2.5 inches or 6.35cm.

The second boundary that one must keep in mind is the amount of water an immersion circulator is capable of heating up. Anovo, once again, state that their circulator is capable of heating no more than 20 quarts or 18.9 liters of water. That’s the maximum amount of water that one can sous vide in efficiently.

Aside from that, the width of the container must be taken into consideration to make sure that the sous vide machine can be clamped onto it. Most clamps are adjustable but still restricted to certain widths. Prior to purchasing either a container or a cooker, make sure that they match and fit the criteria in order to use them together.

Now that we’ve covered what you’ve got to think about when matching a container with a circulator, let’s talk about the containers themselves.

Custom made sous vide containers come in different sizes but the most common size is the 12-quart container. However, there are both larger and smaller containers that may be more appropriate options depending on your situation.

When you decide on which container to get, keep in mind that you never want your food packed tightly when cooking sous vide. There should be plenty of space between each zip-lock bag, to ensure the food is cooked evenly by allowing proper water circulation.

• For a single person: Any small pot or vessel will suffice. You shouldn’t need anything larger than 4-quart.
• When cooking for 2-3: Something along the lines of an 8-quart container is probably a good option when cooking for a family of 3.
• When cooking for 4-5: If you’re housing 5 people and plan to cook sous vide, you’re going to want a 12-quart container to make sure there’s enough room for all the bags or jars.
• When cooking for crowds or larger gatherings: When cooking large quantities of food, we’re looking at the 18-quart option or larger.

Remember to make sure that your sous vide is capable of heating the amount of water you place in the container. Information regarding your specific model should be available on the manufacturer’s website, along with other information that may be useful when picking the most suitable container.

However, as tempting as it sounds to get a custom-made sous vide container, it isn’t the only option. You probably already have other options at home that could double as fully functioning sous vide containers.

Do I Need a Special Container For Sous Vide?

No, you don’t. You can use a bunch of other stuff instead of buying a custom made sous vide container. It’s important that the vessel you sous vide in is capable of insulating heat, so it can hold the temperature for several hours effectively. Sounds like something you’ve heard of? Yes, a cooler. It’s a cheap alternative and it’s probably something you already have at home.

Other things that work include;

• Pots of any sizes
• Steady-bottom bowls
• Cast-iron skillets
• Dutch ovens
• Plastic storage boxes

Insulated containers specifically designed to hold sous vide water baths can cost quite a bit, which can seem like a waste when there are other, less expensive, options available. However, there’s something very convenient about using containers specifically made to hold immersion circulators.

They’re insulated, some come in sleek designs, they have attachments for the circulators. You want to use a container that’s able to keep as much heat as possible, and that’s why these insulated sous vide containers are a good option. But they’re not a must. You can definitely achieve greatness without them.

Here’s a link to the container I’m using on Amazon. I think it’s great and it has worked perfectly not only for Anovo precision cookers but also for other brands. Can’t tell you how many times it’s been used and it’s still in pristine condition.

The difference between homemade containers and containers like this one is definitely the lid, while most homemade use saran wrap, these come with lids that help retain the heat.

Can You Really Sous Vide in a Cooler?

As I mentioned earlier, some people choose to sous vide in their coolers and yes, you can really sous vide in a cooler. It’s a totally viable option that seems quite popular. Coolers are often quite large and come at a cheap price, making them the perfect budget version of a sous vide container.

Here’s a video showing a sous vide cooler.

It may seem excessive to use a cooler to sous vide in, but when the time comes to sous vide a whole suckling pig or a turkey, you will understand why coolers have become such prominent sous vide containers. They’re often large enough to hold the animal.

Here’s a guide from Anovo’s website on how to build a sous vide cooler, save it for when the time comes.

What’s the Best Container To Sous Vide In?

The best containers to sous vide in are factory-made sous vide containers, such as the Everie container, available on Amazon. It comes with a silicone lid and a stainless steel rack that keeps your food separated and underwater, to ensure it’s cooked evenly.

It also has a cutout corner which holds a perfect slot for the precision cooker. The design will make sure the water is circulating properly at all times while also retaining as much heat as possible.

How Big Are Sous Vide Containers?

Normally, a sous vide container is somewhere between 10 and 18-quarts large, with most of the containers being 12-quart. However, those are specifically made by the brands that manufacture the immersion cookers used for sous vide. If you decide to create your own sous vide cooler or use pots that you have at home, there’s really no limit to how large it can be.

If I recall right, there’s a Youtube video of someone using their bathtub as a water bath for sous vide.

I don’t recommend it and I have my doubts regarding the results, but there’s still something to consider in that video; the fact that there aren’t that many boundaries when looking for a sous vide container as long as the precision cooker is capable of heating the amount of water placed in it, and that the container is deep enough to place the cooker in it.

Other than that, properties such as insulation are a great bonus.

Getting more familiar with this technique just requires some knowledge and experience.

Can you reuse water for sous vide? Yes, sous vide water can be reused. However, it should be changed every 5 to 15 days. Deciding on when to change the water depends on how often the sous vide is used for cooking, as well as the water quality itself. It is ideal to start out by changing the water about once a week.

When cooking meat and vegetables, it can be difficult to achieve the right texture. Using the sous vide method can help you get better results.

This type of cooking requires certain measures to ensure that the food turns out just right, which includes knowing when to change out the water.

How Often Should You Change Sous Vide Water?

Sous vide water should be changed when it gets too murky, has visible particles floating in it, and/or smells off. People who use this water bath method on a regular basis tend to get a good idea of when to change it out based on trial and error.

A common misconception with the sous vide method is the idea that the water needs to be changed after each use – you do not need to do this!

Since the food items placed into the water bath are in vacuum-sealed bags, the freshness of the water really does not matter. A good average range to consider when changing the water is between every few days to two weeks.

Signs It’s Time to Change Sous Vide Water

Even with daily usage and the cooking of different meats, there is no real need to change out the sous vide water very frequently.

Aside from the general range in the number of days you should wait before changing out the water, there are other signs that can tell you it is time to dump out and refill your water bath:

• The water becomes murky and unclear
• There are visible particles floating in the water
• There is a bad odor emanating from the water
• There is a hole in the vacuum bag (in which case you should replace the bag as well)
• If anything has gotten into the water that should not have, or if it has been tampered with

If any of the above situations take place, you should empty out the water from the sous vide and refill it before the next usage. Even when changing out the water, though, it is helpful and important to know that that same water can be used for other things.

Other Uses for Sous Vide Water

As mentioned, sous vide water can be changed out every few days or so. This means that it can be reused quite a bit. Using fresh water as opposed to water from a few days prior really makes no difference at all in terms of the desired outcome.

In today’s western approach to hygiene, we have gotten used to thinking that things must always be cleaned out and changed out after every use. While this may be the ideal case for many things, it is not that way for sous vide cooking.

Sous vide water can be reused in terms of leaving it in the water bath for a little while, as well as when it is time for it to be discarded.

The general amount of time and the signs for when to change the water were discussed. But there are also other uses for the water when you want to change it out of the sous vide. Some of these uses include:

• Washing or soaking your dishes
• Watering your plants (once the water from the sous vide has cooled)
• Giving it to your pets as drinking water (and even drinking it yourself, if you’re up for that!)

[Source:  Jason Logsdon ]

Keeping Sous Vide Water Clean

There are various reasons why people may feel the need to change the water of their sous vide more frequently rather than less so. One main reason is the “cleanliness” of the water, and the thought that bacteria could grow in standing water that is heated at high temperatures, and then cooled, repeatedly.

While the food itself is safely within the vacuum bag, not exposed to the water, the concern for food hygiene is understandable. Some suggest adding vinegar to the water, as the acetic acid may help kill any bacteria that may end up in the water.

If you live in an area with hard water, this addition can also help mineral deposits from accumulating on the walls of the pot or Dutch oven. 

Which Type of Vacuum Bags to Use

There are many different types of bags that can be used “under vacuum” (the literal translation of the French phrase “sous vide”). For that first starting out, it is fine to use regular Ziploc bags, and sometimes those are even preferred over vacuum bags designed specifically for sous vide cooking.

Aside from Ziploc bags, plastic wrap can be used for some foods, as well as canning jars. It all depends on the temperature of the food being cooked, as well as the type of food.

With specific sous vide vacuum bags, they can be used anytime you are cooking sous vide, and do not have restrictions like Ziploc bags do. Here is a link with more in-depth information on the different types of sous vide containers that can be used.

Safe Cooking Temperatures for Sous Vide

When cooking sous vide, aside from knowing when it is best to change out the water, it is also very important to know at exactly what temperatures different foods should be cooked at. The rules of food safety are important, no matter what cooking technique is used.

Not only is this information vital in ensuring that raw foods such as different kinds of meat get cooked at the right level to kill bacteria and prevent food-borne illnesses, but it is also necessary to know how to retain the moisture.

According to Cook’s Illustrated, to prevent bacterial growth, most foods must be cooked at or above 130°F/54.5°C. If cooking below that temperature, it is important to sear the meat first to kill any bacteria on the skin.

Another advantage of searing meat before sous vide is to help retain the moisture and tenderness of the meat.

As with cooking any food, using any method, always keep food out of the “danger zone.” (USDA) Bacterial growth thrives at temperatures between 40 °F – 140 °F. This is why it is dangerous to cool food on the counter or put hot food directly into a refrigerator. Cook’s Illustrated recommends rapidly chilling any food you intend to refrigerate after sous vide.

In Conclusion

When it comes to sous vide cooking, a common question asked is, “how often should I change the water?”. Knowing that it is not required to change the water very frequently enables you to focus more on the culinary art of the practice itself, as well as the bags used to create for a more desirable outcome.

Being aware of the things to look out for when it comes to bacteria and illness prevention is key with sous vide. If you know the signs and stick to the general guidelines with changing out the water, you can be sure to have a wonderful experience with this unique style of cooking.

So, is sous vide the same as boiling?

Sous vide and boiling are different from one another. When cooking sous vide, the food is placed in sealed bags to stop the water in the pot from diluting the taste. Unlike boiling, where the food is in direct contact with the water that’s cooking it. Sous vide is a low-temperature cooking method that cooks food to perfect texture while preserving as much flavor as possible.

You’ve probably heard of the praises regarding sous vide. Things like “Sous vide food is simply the best I’ve ever tasted,” “The best part about sous vide is I can cook delicious dinner while at work” — and so on.

And you want to know more. Well, in this article, we’ll show you how different sous vide is from boiling and walk you through the relevant basics regarding this fascinating cooking method.

How Is Sous Vide Different From Boiling?

Sous vide is quite different from boiling, not in the things it uses to get the job done but in the process itself too. And therefore, the results vary from those of boiling as well.

Check out the differences of sous vide from boiling:

• Sous vide is low-temperature cooking while boiling is only done using the boiling point of a liquid.

• Sous vide ensures predictable results of the food being cooked while boiling makes it easy to undercook or overcook.

• Sous vide is a “set it and forget it” kind of cooking while boiling in absence can easily lead to the burning of your food.

• Sous vide uses a little water while boiling can use lots of water due to high evaporation levels.

• Sous vide temperatures are safe with food-grade plastic bags, while boiling can prompt their melting or release of toxins.

As you can see, sous vide is definitely different from boiling in a bag. It uses a sous vide machine which is designed with controls that facilitate particular results that boiling can’t make happen. But what makes it useful for you?

What Are The Advantages Of Sous Vide Cooking?

You’ve heard the praises, but you can’t stop wondering, “Is it as good as they say?” You might wonder if you need sous vide at all in your life. Well, check out sous vide advantages to see if it might be the best cooking technology for you.

Consistency

With traditional cooking, you mostly can’t guarantee a perfect cook. You’ll generally get unevenly cooked food, and you’ll have to be satisfied with that.

However, since sous vide involves consistent exposure of the food to a water bath of the same temperature, you can now get a perfectly cooked steak without agonizing about numerous factors.

In restaurants, this means that they can produce similar food results for their customers day in day out. Therefore, if you liked their steak the previous day, you can go back and enjoy the same thing, thanks to the temperature and time control in sous vide.

Predictability

You know the ideal temperature for cooking the perfect steak, and you know the duration you need to cook it for. So what would deter you from cooking the perfect steak?

With sous vide, you can be sure that what you produced yesterday would be the same today, as long as you set the same temperature and timeline. Even those who aren’t that good at cooking can bring out chef-grade results at home. How cool is that?

Retention Of Nutrients, Taste, And Moisture

Since the vacuum sealing prevents oxidation, the moisture, nutrients, and the food’s rich taste get retained. Even better, the added flavors in the bag seamlessly get absorbed in the food.

Sous vide food often feels soft and tasty since it’s also moisture packed. The size of a steak, for instance, will remain almost similar to the raw size. You now know why most people claim that sous vide tastes incredibly amazing.

Dependability

Think about it: you sous vide your food, go to work, and come back to find out that dinner is ready — perfectly cooked and tasty.

Traditional cooking methods mostly require close monitoring, but with sous vide, you can start cooking dinner while eating breakfast. So, you don’t have to worry about your busy schedule — sous vide has your back.

Suitable For Mass Production

Maybe you have a party, but you keep wondering how you’ll cook the huge steak that your friends love. With sous vide, you can prepare huge chunks of food in a water bath with no hassle whatsoever.

Any Sous Vide Disadvantages?

So, is sous vide cooking flawless? Well, it’s almost perfect since the only disadvantage of it is the long cooking time. You can cook most dishes for 15 minutes yet in sous vide it may take 45 minutes. Therefore, as far as time constraints are concerned, sous vide won’t make sense.

So, What Do I Need For Sous Vide Cooking?

Do you wish to do sous vide too? You must be wondering about where to start. Here’s all you need for sous vide cooking:

Food Containers

Cooking sous vide requires airless bags to ensure a seamless transfer of temperature from the water bath plus other nutrient and flavor advantages. But do you need a vacuum sealer? No.

You can remove the air by immersing the plastic in the water bath to expel the air, use a straw to remove the air, or go for the vacuum sealer.

You can use:

• Food-grade vacuum sealing bags. These sous vide-safe Foodsaver bags are some of the best out there.
• Canning jars. You can use these for deserts, beans, and other foods that mostly pack well in canning jars. Beware of a thermal shock though. You can utilize these mason jars or any that you already own.
• Resealable bags and jars. You can use any heavy-duty, BPA-free resealable bags for sous vide.
• Silicon bags. You can get reusable silicone sous vide cooking bags like these from Platinum Pure. These are meant to handle sous vide masterfully, so you might want to start with them if you don’t desire the other options.

Sous Vide Water Bath Containers

If you prefer to monitor your water levels and make precise measurements, get a dedicated sous vide container. However, you can also use the pots you have at home as long as you can mount the sous vide machine on its walls. Speaking of the machine:

Sous Vide Cooking Device

This is the main tool in this process. The sous vide machine has been around for years but only remained in professional cooking setups. However, you can now access them as long as you are interested in exceptional and hands-off cooking strategies.

The Anova Culinary Sous Vide Precision Cooker Nano is one of the most popular sous vide cooking devices in the market. It is made in the USA — a promise of quality to many users. Most importantly, it comes equipped with the necessary features that impress even the most skilled sous vide chefs.

You can also choose the new, improved Wi-Fi model from Anova Culinary.

Is Cooking With Sous Vide Plastics Safe?

We get it, cooking with plastics can be daunting. However, the sous vide plastic manufacturers promise heavy-duty, safe qualities in their plastics. Also, research has been done, and the Food Drug Administration deems these packages as safe. Just make sure you get the right plastics.

Do Bacteria And Other Pathogens Die In The Sous Vide Low Heat?

Yet another question of safety. Although bacteria don’t die instantly in the low heat, it’s chances of survival diminish as the containers eliminate the air to form a vacuum.

Also, most bacteria get destroyed after a consistent subjection to the temperatures around 135 degrees Fahrenheit and above. It is even safer than most other traditional cooking methods.

Final Thoughts

Sous vide is more advantageous that it is not. So, if you’ve been asking, “Is sous vide worth it?” you now know the benefits and the single disadvantage you can hack.

For most lifestyles, sous vide is worth it. It isn’t that expensive to use, and you get to reap the benefits of highly nutritional and tasty food. That adds up to the overall quality of life. So, would you try sous vide? Speak your mind in the comments!

Any experienced chef will tell you that the method of cooking you use can greatly impact your results. Most expert chefs prefer sous vide or slow cooking to prepare their signature dishes? But what’s the difference?

But is sous vide and slow cooking the same?

In sous vide, the food is placed in a sealed plastic bag which is then placed in a body of hot water to cook. In slow cooking, the food is placed in a large ceramic pan which is placed on a heating element. Sous vide is more accurate and precise when it comes to inner temperature and texture. They are only similar in terms of how long it takes to cook using these methods.

Before you decide to invest in a slow cooker or sous vide unit, it’s essential to understand all the differences between these units so that you can make an informed decision.

In this article, were going to look at all the differences between sous vide vs. slow cooking to help you make the right choice.

Is Sous Vide and Slow Cooking the Same? A Detailed Comparison

Before we get into the sous vide vs. slow cooking differences, it’s crucial for you to understand how both units work.

How Does a Sous Vide Machine Work?

Sous vide is a French term meaning “under vacuum.” It refers to the process of vacuum sealing food and cooking it in very precise temperatures inside a water bath.

This cooking method always delivers consistent, restaurant-quality results, and it’s impossible to achieve sous vide results with any other cooking process.

The sous vide cooking process involves three steps. These include:

• Prepping the precision cooker: Before you start cooking, you need to ensure the precision cooker is attached to a pot of water. Next, set your desired temperature depending on the level of doneness you want to achieve.
• Seal your food: Ensure your food is vacuum sealed in a bag, making sure there’s no way for water to get into the food. Afterward, clip the bag on the side of the pot
• Grill or broil the food: If you want the food to have a crispy brown finish, grill or broil it to achieve your desired results.

What sets the sous vide cooking method apart is the fact that it uses precise and controlled temperatures throughout the cooking process. As a result, you’re capable of controlling how the end results will look like and replicating the same results every time you do it – something you can’t do with other cooking methods.

How Does a Slow Cooker Work?

A slow cooker works the same as a pot on a stovetop. The base of the slow cooker heats the bottom of the unit, and the heat rises on the sides, thereby cooking the food within.

The difference between cooking using a slow cooker and placing a pot on a stovetop is the fact that you can control the temperatures on a slow cooker because these units have temperature settings.

Low temperatures are mostly used for foods such as meat. The temperature is low enough to ensure prolonged cooking, especially if you’re dealing with hard meat, and it’s sufficient to ensure the meat is cooked through properly.

High temperatures, on the other hand, are perfect for sauces or dips that you’d want to cook in as little as an hour.

Modern slow cookers are quite convenient. Most of them have programmable settings that allow you to set the temperature and time. When the time is up, the cooker automatically goes off.

However, unlike sous vide units, it’s not easy to achieve consistent, excellent results with slow cookers. According to Hamilton Beach, this is because it’s impossible to give a definitive temperature for each heat level you use.

Sous Vide Vs. Slow Cooker – Pros and Cons

So which unit is worth investing in? The answer to this question is solely a matter of preference and what you’re hoping to achieve. Here are a few factors to consider:

1.      Cost

Before you decide to go for either of these units, it’s essential to know what it means for your budget. Slow cookers have been in the market since the 70s, so you’re more likely to get them at a lower price.

Sous vide units, on the other hand, provide a sophisticated way of cooking that was for a long time only embraced by expert chefs and restaurants.

For this reason, sous vide units for home use are quite new in the kitchen appliance market. You should, therefore, expect to spend more on a sous vide machine.

Not to mention, you need to invest in additional items if you decide to go for a sous vide unit. Some of the things you’ll need include a container to hold the water and bags or pouches to hold your food.

2.     Quality and Taste

Another difference worth considering is the quality and taste of the food you’ll get. Sous vide units guarantee increased volume, and even cooking throughout the food. In addition to this, you don’t have to worry about dry food because in sous vide cooking, the natural juices of the food do not escape as they do in slow cookers.

It’s also unlikely that your food will be overcooked or undercooked in a sous vide unit. Because sous vide recipes require specific temperatures and cooking times, you always achieve excellent results, which can’t be said about slow cookers.

3.     Cooking Time and Organization

The other benefit of sous vide cooking is the fact that it gives you the freedom of organizing your cooking time. You can prepare and vacuum seal your foods in advance and cook later, or sous vide throughout the night without having to keep checking due to the low temperatures the unit uses.

With slow cookers, you don’t have the luxury of preparing food in advance because you have to have it inside the pot to start cooking. And unless it has programmable settings, you cannot leave the cooker unattended.

4.    Health Benefits

You should also consider the health benefits of these cooking methods before making a final decision. Sous vide has the upper hand when it comes to this.

According to Clifton At Home, the fact that the food is prepared in a vacuum means that you don’t lose valuable minerals or vitamins, which isn’t the case with slow cooking.

Not to mention, the flavor, natural color, or flavor of the food is not lost either.

5.     Speed

For both slow cookers and sous vide, the idea is to cook slowly so that the food is evenly cooked and tasty at the end of it all. Therefore, do not expect your food to be ready in a few minutes.

Foods that take about 30 minutes to cook with other methods may take up to 4 hours in a slow cooker or sous vide unit.

Make the Right Choice

Deciding between sous vide vs. slow cooker can be challenging. But now that you know how these two units work and their pros and cons, you can make an informed decision.

If you’re not limited by your budget, we would suggest going for a sous vide cooker. It may be pricey, but the results it gives are worth every dime. And you’ll never have to work so hard to achieve restaurant-quality results every time!

That’s why so many people opt for the sous vide method when cooking. It provides delicious, juicy meals efficiently and easily. But is it possible to overcook food with the sous vide method?

Why is my sous vide meat dry?

While it is challenging to end up with sous vide meat that is dry, it’s not impossible. Some of the top reasons why sous vide meat ends up dry include:

• The meat was left in the water for too long
• The meat continued to cook after being taken out
• You seared the meat for too long.

If you are trying your hand at sous vide and keep ending up with dried out meats, then there is an issue happening somewhere in your cooking method.

The good news is, there are plenty of easy fixes to help you end up with juicy meat on your next sous vide attempt. This article will discuss the reasoning behind your dry meat and how you can solve this dilemma.

Why Your Sous Vide Meat is Dry

The great thing about opting for sous vide, which is merely cooking at a very low temperature, is that it’s almost impossible to overcook your dish. In fact, some chefs – both amateur and professional – claim that it is impossible.

Unfortunately, though, it has been shown time and time again that it’s possible to overcook while using the sous vide method, albeit very unlikely.

Knowing that it’s difficult and rare to overcook with sous vide is a big confidence booster for any chef that’s tired of baking overcooked chicken cutlets in the oven. But if your chicken is struggling even with sous vide cooking, what’s the deal? Let’s take a look at the top 3 reasons your meat is dry:

1. You Leave Your Meat in the Sous Vide Machine or Bag for Too Long

Whether you’re cooking at a high or low temperature, you can overcook your food. Most of us know that when meats are left cooking for too long, they will begin to take on an undesirable texture, and the same is true for meat that’s been sitting in a sous vide water bath for far too long.

There are actually two things that will happen when your meat is left in the sous vide water:

• You are going to end up with dry, texturally unpleasant meat
• The meat may even take on a mushy texture.

Essentially, you are left with a dried out, mushy plate of food that is incredibly unappetizing.

2. The Meat Continued to Cook After Being Taken Out

This is probably one of the most common reasons for dried out meats while using the sous vide method. Many people will be under the impression that once their meat is done cooking in the water bath, they can take it out, wait a few minutes to cool down, slice it up, and serve. But this may lead to a dried out cut of meat.

If there is one thing to remember when cooking with the sous vide method, it’s this: the meat will continue to cook for a while after it’s taken out of the water bath. Therefore, it is highly recommended to place your meat directly into an ice bath. This might sound a little strange, but it’s necessary to halt your meat from continuing to cook.

Did you know that the ice bath is also crucial for destroying bacteria? As explained by Chef Director Chris Holland in “Can Sous Vide Overcook?” since your meat isn’t being cooked at high heat, some of the bacteria may not be killed off.

But the ice bath ensures that bacteria are destroyed, and you can serve your guests a delicious, moist piece of meat that is bacteria-free and safe for consumption.

3. You Are Over-Searing the Meat

Another possible culprit of overcooked sous vide meat is that you’re simply over-searing the meat. In “Sous Vide Cooking Mistakes That Can Get You in Hot Water,” Erika Raws states: “You can easily overcook [meat] during searing, especially if you’re using a thinner cut.”

There are not any real ‘rules’ when it comes to how thick your meat should be when using sous vide. However, as we mentioned earlier, thinner cuts of meat will be more likely to come out dry.

This is because the searing process can make them tough and dry, and they can become overcooked fairly easily in the sous vide bag or machine.

Most chefs will recommend that you use meat that is at least two inches thick. But in reality, you should always think ‘bigger is better’ when it comes to the sous vide cooking method.

Can You Overcook Chicken, Pork, and Meat in a Sous Vide Machine?

The simple answer is yes. You can overcook all types of meat in a sous vide machine. This is especially true if you do not read the directions of your sous vide machine or leave it on for too long.

It is essential to pay close attention when setting up your sous vide machine, as all meats have very different instructions. Let’s take a look at some of the common timeframes, as sourced from Cooking Times & Temperatures by Sous Vide Supreme:

• Tender cuts of beef, veal, and lamb of 1-inch thickness should be cooked for 1 to 4 hours.
• Pork tenderloin with 1.5-inch thickness should be cooked 90 minutes to 7 hours.
• Two-inch thick chicken breasts should be cooked 2.5 to 6 hours.
• Fish, such as tuna and halibut, of 1-inch thickness, should be cooked for 20 to 30 minutes.

To properly cook your meat using the sous vide method, all you will need to do, according to Sous Vide Basics, is:

• Fill the sous vide machine with the right amount of water.
• Generously season your meat before placing it in the bag.
• Place your bag gently into the water.
• When done cooking, sear it (be careful not to over sear).
• Let the meat rest for at least 20 to 30 minutes.
• Serve.

How Long Can You Leave Food in a Sous Vide Cooker?

One of the significant benefits of the sous vide cooking method is that it’s not super finicky, like an oven or stovetop. However, that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to leave your meat in for too long. Overcooked meat in a sous vide cooker will lead to soft, unappetizing meats that would be better off in the trash bin.

While you can get by with leaving your meat in the sous vide cooker for an hour or two after the recommended time, it’s always ideal to take your meat out of the sous vide cooker when it’s done and place it directly into an ice bath for best results.

Conclusion

The sous vide cooking method makes it almost impossible to end up with dried, overcooked meats, but it’s still a possibility. The most common culprits of dried meats are leaving your meat in the sous vide machine for too long, not placing your meat in an ice bath after cooking, or searing for far too long.

Follow the recommended cooking times, use thicker cuts of steak, and always end the sous vide cooking process with an ice bath – for taste and food safety!

Do you need to preheat water for Sous Vide?

Preheating your water before you add food is a good idea because it reduces temperature fluctuations. The water needs to reach the appropriate temperature for the recipe before placing food in it. You can use a pot or a water bath for preheating, and you’ll need a food thermometer to monitor the temperature.

The fantastic thing about Sous Vide is the simplicity of the process that doesn’t vary significantly between different recipes and types of food. You will still follow many of the same steps, including how to go about preheating your water.

How do you Preheat a Sous Vide?

Sous Vide focuses on precision. At the heart of this cooking method lies a reliable way to regulate temperatures and cook your food perfectly every time.

This doesn’t mean there are no directions to follow, but you can rest assured that this is an easy process designed for consistency.

If you have a Precision Cooker or Sous Vide Stick, you will be able to preheat and regulate temperatures directly through the appliance. We’ll talk more specifically about the heating up process for those in the next section.

If you don’t have the additional appliances, don’t worry. You can easily use the Sous Vide cooking methods without them.

Here are some simple steps to follow:

1. Fill your pot or water bath with water, leaving enough room at the top so that when you add the food, it does not overflow.

• Place a thermometer on the side of the pot by mounting it so that it stays submerged, or at least have it handy to begin monitoring temperatures as you go. If your thermometer doesn’t have a mounting feature, you can also use a heavy-duty metallic clamp. Just be sure to use oven mitts when removing it.

• Turn your burners up to medium-low and wait for the water to reach the desired cooking temperature that is listed in the recipe you’re using.

You want the temperature to gain steadily. Therefore, it is crucial to have the water warm slowly over medium-low heat, rather than a high heat that will work faster but not as steady. You may find you need to adjust the burner if you notice the temperature lacks a consistent climb.

Don’t stress if you can’t seem to get a steady increase right away! It can take some time to ensure the temperatures are climbing as they should. Stirring the water occasionally can also help, as it moves the water around so that everything is getting even heat distribution.

Once your water reaches the optimal temperature for your recipe, you can add the food. You’ll want to have it already seasoned and ready to go in your bag so that once the temperature is reached, you can place the food immediately after.

Pro Tip: If you are using a standard pot and need to find a way to let air escape the bag, you can use a clip or clothespin to attach the opening of the bag to the side of the pot. This will allow the air to escape the same way a professional appliance would allow.

How Long Does a Sous Vide Stick Take to Preheat?

If you decide this is a cooking method, you’ll be using a lot. It may be worth looking into purchasing a Sous Vide Stick. These metallic gadgets that appear to be from the future will help you maintain a steady environment for your food through the entire preheating and cooking process.

Most Sous Vide Sticks will take around 15 minutes to heat properly when starting with room temperature tap water. But there are a few variables that can change that number.

The variances that come with preheating will have to do with the starting temperature of the water. If you draw hot water from the tap or use filtered water from the fridge – your overall preheating times will fluctuate.

You should consider the amount of water you need to heat. The bigger the pot, the longer it will take.

These cookers offer a great way to maintain the steady conditions needed for Sous Vide, and many even come with Bluetooth options so you can control and monitor directly from your phone.

Pro Tip: Go heavy on the water. Make sure it will not overflow once you add the food but use as much as you can. It will take a little longer to preheat but will help regulate the water when the food is added.

If the food is cold, fresh out of the fridge, it will naturally drop the water temperature a bit once it is added.

The more water there is, the less it will affect it. Therefore, it should help keep it better regulated. You can also consider bringing the food out of the fridge for 10-15 minutes to help increase the temperature a little, so the change in the water will be less severe.

Can you Put Meat in While the Sous Vide is Preheating?

While it is possible to do this and still achieve a fully cooked dish, it isn’t optimal for cooking. The consistent method of Sous Vide relies on the elements to be steady and even.

If you put the meat into the water while it is room temperature, it will be going through all the temperature changes as it preheats.

This will cause an inconsistency in the recipe and will not do you any favors with the flavor. Some may think it is a time-saving method because the meat can start cooking a little sooner as the water heats up.

But Sous Vide isn’t a method that is meant for a quick meal that you want to throw together in 10 minutes. It is similar in ideology to a slow cooker to stews or BBQ. The flavor needs time to marinate within the bag, and the timing of everything in this process is key to making it as flavorful and tender as possible.

The preheating process becomes even more critical when dealing with food that requires a shorter period of cooking time. Think of it as a percentage of the whole cooking time.

If your dish will take 1-2 hours to cook, but the first 15-20 minutes is spent with fluctuating temperatures, it will not garner the delicious result you were hoping for.

If it takes 5 hours to cook, those first 15 or 20 minutes might not have as much as on impact on the result because it has a longer recovery time where it will be able to be in steadily heated water.

While it may affect it less, it is still wise to preheat no matter the length of your cooking time.

Using Sous Vide to Make Your Best Meals

Whether you are whipping up a perfectly cooked steak, some asparagus with a nice snap, or some fish that you want flaky and flavorful, Sous Vide is an excellent method to master.

Preheating the water thoroughly before adding any food is always going to be a best practice that should be followed for the best results.

Make sure you have all the supplies you need, allow yourself enough time for proper preheating, and do everything you can to maintain and regulate steady temperatures.

While the method of cooking food for a long time at low temperatures has been seen before, the simple appliance used to automate and regulate the process is, in fact, relatively new.

Not being familiar with sous vide cooking will raise questions. One of the questions regarding sous vide that I’ve been getting a lot lately is;

What’s the difference between pressure cookers and sous vide circulators/cookers? Pressure cookers increase the boiling point of water which reduces the cooking time significantly while sous vide circulators are designed to cook food at low temperatures for hours. Pressure cookers can make tough cuts tender but also overcook them easily. Sous vide sticks regulate temperature as needed which results in tender meat.

In this article, we’ll explain the difference between pressure cooking and sous vide-style cooking. In addition to that, we’ll also talk about the different areas where they excel and which one you should buy depending on your needs.

How Do Pressure Cookers and Sous Vide Work?

Looking at these two you’ll see that they are very different from one another, in fact, I think you could say that they are on two separate ends of the spectrum.

To better understand what they can be used for, what separates them and which one you may benefit from purchasing, we’ll take a closer look at each appliance and the mechanics behind it.

Pressure Cookers

Electric pressure cookers have four major components;

• The pot: The vessel which holds all the ingredients.

• The heating element: Recent generations of pressure cookers come with an internal heating element and are electric. Older pressure cookers were placed on the stove to generate heat.

• The lid: The lid is one of the most important components as it seals shut to trap the pressure inside the pot.

• The safety valve: The safety valve keeps the pressure cooker from exploding by letting out excess pressure when the pot’s inner pressure exceeds safe levels.

Combined, these parts make up the body of the appliance. While most electric pressure cookers are equipped with more parts than the ones I’ve mentioned, these are the essentials. Without them, the pressure cooker would not work as intended.

So how do these parts, in combination, work in practice?

The ingredients are placed in the pot with sufficient amounts of a liquid of your choice, preferably water. The lid is then placed on the pot – but won’t seal shut just yet.

Now, when the cooker is started and starts heating up, the liquid inside the cooker will start to vaporize, producing steam. At this point, the pressure cooker’s lid will be under enough pressure to seal shut completely.

Because the cooker is locked shut, the steam will have nowhere to escape – increasing the pressure inside the cooker.

The increased pressure inside the cooker means more atmospheric pressure, which, in turn, changes the boiling point of water. Traditionally, water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit or 100 degrees Celsius.

But in an environment such as the one a sealed pressure cooker provides (about 15psi or 1 bar above the pressure at sea level) water will boil at temperatures as high as 250 degrees Fahrenheit or 121 degrees Celsius.

In addition to the increased temperature, the increased pressure also forces the liquids, juices, and heat to penetrate the ingredients resulting in reduced cooking times.

It may sound dangerous to trap pressure inside a sealed vessel, and it is. The pressure cooker has been labeled as hazardous before – but they aren’t anymore. Today’s pressure cookers come armed with advanced safety measures.

They regulate temperatures and pressure with the help of sensors and release any excess pressure through the “venting hole” to keep pressure levels safe.

Once finished cooking, the pressure cooker must release pressure – which can be done two days. The first method is a quick release, where the venting hole is opened to release the pressure.

The second method is to just let the pressure cooker sit until it has depressurized completely – it isn’t nearly as quick it is very useful.

When I’m cooking meat I use the quick release to make sure the meat doesn’t overcook. The second method is extremely helpful when cooking things that foam, such as beans or grains.

If I were to open the venting hole on a pressurized cooker full of foam, it would shoot sizzling hot foam all over the place.

My two cents on the pressure cooker? It’s a versatile appliance that has earned its place in my kitchen arsenal. I’m using it more than the slow cooker just because it suits my spontaneous lifestyle.

It has certainly been nice to have a pressure cooker now that I’ve had less time to spend in the kitchen. It’s easy and I’ve been able to teach the entire family how to use it.

With that said, I still use all of my kitchen appliances and love them all.

Now I’ve talked about the pressure cooker for way too long, let’s shift our focus over to sous vide immersion circulators and the principles they run by.

Sous Vide Immersion Circulators/Machines

Restaurants have been using sous vide cooking for a long time to cook food to perfect doneness. Other methods of cooking will require much more skill to recreate the texture that you’ll get from sous vide.

Often, only a small portion of a piece of meat is cooked to the perfect doneness. With sous vide, this isn’t the case. You’ll get the texture you want all the way out to the edges. That’s something I really like about sous vide.

It was only recently that the appliances used to sous vide on a commercial level were made more user-friendly and sold at a price more suitable for the average household. That’s when I decided to start cooking sous vide style.

Sous Vide Cooking requires a minimum of three components:

• The immersion circulator: Sous vide “sticks” like the Anovo Precision Cooker regulates temperature to ensure that the ingredients are cooked at the perfect temperature throughout the entire procedure. The immersion circulator circulates the water to make sure that any ingredient is consistently cooked.
• The container: You need a container to hold the bath that you’ll use for sous vide cooking. Your sous vide stick can be mounted on most pots.
• The sealable bags: When cooking sous vide, the ingredients are placed in sealable bags which are then placed in the bath and removed once the cooker has finished cooking.

Other than immersion circulators, there are Sous Vide water ovens. These are fully-contained water baths and are significantly larger and pricier than sous vide sticks. For someone who’s trying to get into sous vide cooking, I would seriously recommend getting a sous vide stick over a water oven.

Sous vide cooking is a quite simple procedure that requires very little maintenance from the user.

I’ll show you how it’s done, step-by-step.

The first thing to do is to pack the ingredients, including any herb of your choice, in a sealable bag and seal it shut before submerging it in a container filled with water.

The immersion circulator is then placed in the bath so that the heating element is immersed in water. The control panel should, however, stay out of water.

With the sous vide stick placed in the bath, proceed to plug it into an outlet to power it.

Lastly, set the temperature and time according to the recipe’s demands (temperatures often range between 105 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit).

The immersion circulator will now heat and circulate the water to ensure the ingredients are evenly cooked. Keeping the temperature at the precise level is crucial when it comes to getting food to the perfect texture.

Because immersion circulators are able to keep the temperature at a steady level and regulate accordingly, cooking to the perfect doneness becomes an easy task.

Once finished, the bags can be removed from the water bath – you can now choose to serve them as they are or finish them off by searing or grilling them for an even juicier finish.

Can You Cook Sous Vide In a Pressure Cooker?

Now that we’ve gone through how they work, you may have understood that pressure cooking is a speedy procedure useful when cooking tougher cuts of meat while sous vide is a long procedure where temperatures are held low to ensure the ingredients don’t overcook.

Doesn’t sound like they are very similar, does it? They aren’t.

Pressure cookers reach high temperatures quickly and are used to speed up the cooking process, this would pretty much render the idea of sous vide cooking useless. Take into consideration that sous vide has to be kept at just the right temperature from start to finish – this can be quite hard using a pressure cooker (which also regulates temperature and pressure autonomously) because temperatures fluctuate a lot.

When we’re talking about pressure cookers we often turn to the Instant Pot. The Instant Pot has become one of the most popular kitchen appliances and seeing as it can do pretty much, I think it’s fair to say that it has earned its place.

However, I have yet to see an Instant Pot that offers the right tools for sous vide cooking, at least not as they come.

What do I mean by that?

Well, when it comes to pressure cookers – there may be other alternatives that provide the option to cook sous vide, or at least something similar to it, and when it comes to Instant Pots there’s a solution provided by the makers of the Instant Pot.

Because the instant Pot doesn’t offer the proper tools required for sous vide, the team behind the Instant Pot have created their own immersion circulator, you can find it on Amazon.

However, this isn’t as much of a 2-in-1-solution as I had hoped for, it still requires the user to purchase the immersion circulator and/or the Instant Pot in order to get the best of both worlds.

The second alternative, which my friends are vouching for (and I’m still getting to know) is the Fissler Multi Pot which comes with a ridiculously large number of options; 18 different cooking programs.

I have no idea if Fissler’s ideology is to pack as much value as possible into one product and pray that we become dependent but they have surely packed a bunch of settings into one appliance.

But to the point; one of the options provided by the Fissler Multi Pot is actually “sous vide” cooking.

If you were hoping to find a way to both pressure cook and sous vide using the same appliance, then this is it.

Check the listing on Amazon to find out more about the Fissler.

What Are the Benefits of Using a Pressure Cooker?

Well, what are the benefits of using one or the other? Which one will you benefit from most? Considering these two methods of cooking and the devices used for them are far from alike, you’ll have to pick the one that suits your needs the best.

Pressure cookers are the quickest of the two, capable of cooking a meal in 30 minutes or less – depending on the ingredients used, tougher cuts of meat may need more time. This is, of course, something to take into consideration when picking which appliance to get.

Using the pressure cooker has saved me a lot of time over the years. If you’re looking for a way to throw all ingredients into a pot and set it to cook then the pressure cooker is the better alternative.

While both are simple and require very little maintenance (this is only true for electronic pressure cookers – stovetop pressure cookers require a lot of supervision because they don’t regulate pressure like electronic cookers do) the pressure cooker is just more convenient than most tools used for sous vide cooking.

More specifically, if you purchase an Instant Pot or any other Multicooker you’ll be able to enjoy a wide variety of different features.

Immersion circulators, on the other hand, rarely do more than their primary job.

In our household, the pressure cooker and the immersion circulator are both used frequently but you can definitely see a correlation between how often we use the sous vide and how much spare time we’ve got.

Verdict: If you’re looking for a quick way to prepare thousands of different dishes, ranging from one portion to larger batches – then the pressure cooker is for you. Cooking meat to the perfect texture may take a little bit of practice using the pressure cooker but you’ll get there.

What Are the Benefits of Using a Sous Vide?

With a sous vide immersion circulator you’ll be able to set temperature and time – the heating element will then communicate with sensors to adapt whenever the temperature changes. By regulating temperature automatically and instantly, the circulator can keep ingredients from overcooking.

Aside from the choice of ingredient and spices, doneness and texture are the best ways to make a dish taste great, according to me. There’s nothing worse than eating a dry cut of meat – right? With the sous vide you’ll be able to replicate chefs at top-tier restaurants.

Our guests are often impressed when we serve food cooked with the sous vide circulator. Eggs, chicken, lamb, beef, vegetables, you name it.

Compared to the pressure cooker, the sous vide isn’t as quick – the entire purpose of cooking sous vide is to cook the dish at low temperatures for a long period of time.

Verdict

If you’re looking for a way to cook the juiciest pieces of meat (or any other ingredient) you’ve ever cooked, then the immersion circulator is a good pick.

For larger batches of food and multi-ingredient dishes, I would pick the pressure cooker.

While this is certainly one way to keep the food from touching or mixing with the water, sous vide is not about cooking with plastic or plastic being a must-use item during the cooking process.

The only reason that cooking sous vide is synonymous with the use of plastic is because the original chefs chose to use vacuum-sealed plastic as a means of keeping the food separate from the water. Rather, the cooking technique is more about heating the food up at a stable temperature.

So, can you cook sous vide without plastic?

You can cook sous vide-style without placing the ingredients in vacuum-sealed bags. Using plastic bags is the more common approach as it keeps the water from mixing with the ingredients and, essentially, reducing the taste. Canning jars are a good substitute for plastic bags when cooking sous vide. Some items, such as eggs, can even be cooked without a container.

Some chefs choose to use Pyrex casserole dishes as the vessel while others simply use glass containers.

The only criteria that makes sous vide, sous vide is that the food must be cooked underwater with precise temperature.

Choosing to cook with glass is a great way to relieve any anxiety surrounding the use of plastic, however, we will run through some common safety questions that come up around the use of sealing food, using plastic baggies, and what you should buy if you want to cook sous vide with or without plastic.

Does Sous Vide Need to Be Vacuum-Sealed?

While sous vide does mean “under vacuum” in French, you do not need to purchase an expensive or inexpensive vacuum sealer to successfully cook your food at low temperatures in a water bath.

If you are new to sous vide or have a budget that you need to stick too, you can simply use regular Ziploc-style bags.

If you want to purchase high-grade bags that are intended to be sealed with a vacuum sealer but cannot get your hands on a vacuum sealer, you can still use these to cook in sous vide without sealing them.

How Do You Use a Bag Without Sealing It?

If you are using a Ziploc-style bag but cannot seal it, simply remove as much air as possible before placing it in the water bath. To do this, follow the steps below.

⦁ Make sure that your sous vide device is filled with the water bath.

⦁ Place your food ingredients inside the bag, making sure that they do not come up past 1 inch or 2.5 centimeters from the bag opening and close the zipper almost all of the way shut.

⦁ There will be a tiny bit of air at the top of the bag, but it will get displaced by the water when you place the bag into your sous vide machine.

⦁ Submerge the bag slowly into the water, leaving the top portion of the bag where the zipper is exposed.

⦁ The water should come up to just below where you can zip it up.

⦁ Zip the bag shut.

You do not have to worry about there being too much air in the bag as the temperature at which you cook your food will prevent any bacteria growth.

Is It Safe To Sous Vide in Ziploc Bags?

When it comes to using plastic, we are told that items like plastic bottles, plastic plates, and take out containers can all leach bad chemicals into our foods.

So, of course, many of us no longer use these types of items as we do not want to consume harmful chemicals. This has brought on a lot of concern for individuals who want to cook in sous vide using plastic bags like Ziploc.

However, current research indicates that when you use food-grade, high-density polyethylene, polypropylene, or low-density polyethylene bags, you are generally safe.

For those who are looking to purchase sous vide bags specifically, almost all sous vide plastic bags are made from these plastics and their inner linings are almost always polyethylene.

Other types of plastics, such as bulk plastic wraps that are made out of polyvinyl chloride, polyvinylidene chloride or polycarbonate as these do contain harmful plasticizers that can leach into fattier foods like cheese or high-fat cuts of meat.

If you are planning on using plastic bags with your sous vide machine, do not use any that are made out of these types of plastic, as they will leach chemicals into your food when heated.

While using Ziploc bags for sous vide is considered generally safe, there will always be some small health risk involved in cooking food in plastic. The best way to minimize any risk is to use high-quality bags and engaging in safe cooking techniques and methods that reduce risk.

Choose Ziploc bags that are made out of low-density polyethylene and if you are cooking in water temperatures that are above 158 degrees Fahrenheit, double bag your Ziploc bags.

This prevents the bags from coming open at the seams and exposing your food to water.

Are Ziploc Bags BPA free?

Yes, almost all name brand Ziploc bags are BPA free. This means that they are not made out of bad plastics such as polycarbonate, which releases the chemical Bisphenol A (BPA).

Generally, it is plastic cling wrap, plastic bottles, or very cheap plastic plates, utensils, and containers that are not BPA free and will leach BPA into your food when you heat them.

What Type of Plastic Bags to Use For Sous Vide?

⦁ Ziploc-Style Bags.

These types of bags are really good to use if you do not plan on buying a vacuum sealer and like to cook a lot of meats such as chicken breasts, burgers, pork chops, fish, and steak.

If you want to cook several servings of food inside the same bag, look out for the galleon sized ones. Always purchase Ziploc style bags that are made from high-quality plastics.

If cooking above 158 degrees Fahrenheit or 70 degrees Celsius, double bag your Ziploc bags.

⦁ Sous Vide Bags.

These types of bags are some of the best to use because they are designed for higher temperatures, have strong and long seams, and are vacuum-sealable (although not necessary).

They are also great if you want to clip the bag to the side of your pot or secure it with the lid as these bags tend to be much larger than Ziploc-style.

These are very good for cooking braised meats, beans, vegetables, and lentils.

• Avoid using plastic wrap.

While you can buy high-quality plastic wrap, they are generally not very good for wrapping your food and cooking it.

What it is good for is to use as a wrap around the outside of your sous vide machine to help cut down on water evaporation during longer cook times.

What to Use If Not Cooking with Plastic?

If you do not want to use sous vide bags or Ziploc-style bags, you can use canning jars. While these are traditionally used for canning and pickling food, they are very easy to come by and are made out of glass, so they can be reused.

Canning jars are great for sous vide cooking if you are planning on doing “batch-cooking” where the recipe needs to set, like with yogurts and custards. However, there are some things you will need to keep in mind if you choose to use canning jars.

⦁ Do not tighten the lids all the way, as air will need to escape during the cooking process.
⦁ Your jars can float.
⦁ Be careful of getting burned when you remove the jars. Glass jars contain thermal mass and will stay heated for much longer than a bag would.
⦁ Glass is an insulator, so it will require more time to cook with them than if you were using plastic bags. If you choose to cook meat from the freezer or refrigerator, it’s going to take much longer than if it were at room temperature.
⦁ Heat takes longer to pass through glass, so your canning jars will act more like an oven. To help the heat reach the food, consider using liquid sauces.
⦁ Pay attention to your liquid levels, some can oxidize if your liquid levels aren’t right.
⦁ The temperature of the air that is above the waterline will affect the cooking process. Try to keep the air around the same temperature as the water as this reduces how much energy gets wasted.

Other than this, always make sure that your jars are sterile. Do not store your sous vide food unrefrigerated and on a shelf as the sous vide temperature is much lower than traditional canning temperatures.

Refrigerating if you are not going to eat the food right away is a must for safety reasons.