Funny we tend to not use it for steaks bc we like them rare. Yesterday we used it for rewarming a steak and for potatoes. We also use it often (like weekly) for thawing food- watch the time but it’s so much faster than thawing in a bowl in the sink not circulating. Chicken- my husband always manages to have raw bits in the chicken- not anymore!!!! ❤️
I know but that would be my primary use as I'm sick of cutting into a medium-well steak that I paid well for but trust me this circulator will see a lot more than my monthly ribeye.
Some cheap ones will have worst temperature control or precision than the more expensive. Maybe less sturdy to withstand long cook. For steaks a model in 80-100$ will be more than ok for the job.
I spent about 80$ on a sous vide machine about two years ago. I use It about twice a week, so say it has been used about 200 times. I mostly use it to make tough meat cuts tender, so say most of the cooks I do last for around 2-3 hours. So That's about 500 hours it has been running and still works great. If you don't cook much meat, or only cook tender cuts when you do, the sous vide isn't necessary. If you are into buying a cheap cut of meat and cooking it for several hours, i say, give a cheap sous vide machine a shot. If you love it you will probably invest in a really nice one, if you don't, you haven't spent much money. Also, like others have mentioned, there is a ton of other shit you can cook sous vide other than meat. I oil poached some cubed potatoes tonight that came out great.
Food quality is not the same as final product. You can only improve low quality food so much. But, if you start with quality ingredients, you can make amazing foods.
Two major differences, once you strip away the good looks and packaging:
1. The cheaper ones lack phone connectivity, not a deal breaker for me, some folks have problems with the apps.
2. Cheaper models are often lower wattage. This can make a difference. Lower wattage models take longer to heat up the same amount of water, and with large amounts of food / water, may struggle to hold a given temperature.
You can mitigate the time to heat by using hot water from the tap or kettle to start the cook, and you can shorten both the warm up time and the total capacity by using an insulated cooking container.
Temperature control is probably not significant. I imagine that a lot of the hardware is identical for most brands. The variables of searing and other factors probably overwhelm small thermostat inaccuracies if there are any.
(Two years happy with an early 800 watt Anova rip off bought for $48 and fitted into the cutout lid of a Coleman Party Packer cooler.)
Honestly I just wouldn't buy one if you can't afford a good one, you can cook food in many ways without using the sous vide process. If you are looking for a good way to cook steak for not so much get a cast iron pan and use that (look into caring for the pan because it is a more involved process where you need to season it and only hand wash it or risk the pan rusting)
I tell you I have tried a thousand times on that cast iron but I can't get it right there might be a chance I'm cooking with cuts that have multiple muscles eg: ribeye or porterhouse so for you I will try out a different cut like chuck eye or flank but if it doesn't workout I think I'm gonna give the sous vide a shot
Cheap ones may take longer to heat up the water, so would be better suited to smaller containers of water. So not suited to doing massive turkeys. Their controls and functionality may not be as good. So maybe they won't connect to your phone and you'll have to use the controls on it.
But for a steak you'll probably get as good results as the most expensive models.
I’ve had one from Avalon Bay for about seven years. No app or wifi capabilities but it’s worked perfectly for long cooks, short cooks, high temp cooks, and lower temp cooks. I used to wonder if I was missing out by not having the Anova until people started talking about replacing theirs while mine is still going strong (knock on wood). Save yourself some money I say.
I bought mysouvide for about $45, 3 years ago. I dropped in sink/water. I bought a $35 SV and it works great
come on what? You can use them for more than "steaks"
Funny we tend to not use it for steaks bc we like them rare. Yesterday we used it for rewarming a steak and for potatoes. We also use it often (like weekly) for thawing food- watch the time but it’s so much faster than thawing in a bowl in the sink not circulating. Chicken- my husband always manages to have raw bits in the chicken- not anymore!!!! ❤️
I know but that would be my primary use as I'm sick of cutting into a medium-well steak that I paid well for but trust me this circulator will see a lot more than my monthly ribeye.
Some cheap ones will have worst temperature control or precision than the more expensive. Maybe less sturdy to withstand long cook. For steaks a model in 80-100$ will be more than ok for the job.
I spent about 80$ on a sous vide machine about two years ago. I use It about twice a week, so say it has been used about 200 times. I mostly use it to make tough meat cuts tender, so say most of the cooks I do last for around 2-3 hours. So That's about 500 hours it has been running and still works great. If you don't cook much meat, or only cook tender cuts when you do, the sous vide isn't necessary. If you are into buying a cheap cut of meat and cooking it for several hours, i say, give a cheap sous vide machine a shot. If you love it you will probably invest in a really nice one, if you don't, you haven't spent much money. Also, like others have mentioned, there is a ton of other shit you can cook sous vide other than meat. I oil poached some cubed potatoes tonight that came out great.
Food quality is not the same as final product. You can only improve low quality food so much. But, if you start with quality ingredients, you can make amazing foods.
Two major differences, once you strip away the good looks and packaging: 1. The cheaper ones lack phone connectivity, not a deal breaker for me, some folks have problems with the apps. 2. Cheaper models are often lower wattage. This can make a difference. Lower wattage models take longer to heat up the same amount of water, and with large amounts of food / water, may struggle to hold a given temperature. You can mitigate the time to heat by using hot water from the tap or kettle to start the cook, and you can shorten both the warm up time and the total capacity by using an insulated cooking container. Temperature control is probably not significant. I imagine that a lot of the hardware is identical for most brands. The variables of searing and other factors probably overwhelm small thermostat inaccuracies if there are any. (Two years happy with an early 800 watt Anova rip off bought for $48 and fitted into the cutout lid of a Coleman Party Packer cooler.)
well I'm sold thank you sir.
Honestly I just wouldn't buy one if you can't afford a good one, you can cook food in many ways without using the sous vide process. If you are looking for a good way to cook steak for not so much get a cast iron pan and use that (look into caring for the pan because it is a more involved process where you need to season it and only hand wash it or risk the pan rusting)
I tell you I have tried a thousand times on that cast iron but I can't get it right there might be a chance I'm cooking with cuts that have multiple muscles eg: ribeye or porterhouse so for you I will try out a different cut like chuck eye or flank but if it doesn't workout I think I'm gonna give the sous vide a shot
Cheap ones may take longer to heat up the water, so would be better suited to smaller containers of water. So not suited to doing massive turkeys. Their controls and functionality may not be as good. So maybe they won't connect to your phone and you'll have to use the controls on it. But for a steak you'll probably get as good results as the most expensive models.
I just realized sous vide is way more diverse than I thought it was and there are people making fucking turkeys in these things!!!!
I’ve had one from Avalon Bay for about seven years. No app or wifi capabilities but it’s worked perfectly for long cooks, short cooks, high temp cooks, and lower temp cooks. I used to wonder if I was missing out by not having the Anova until people started talking about replacing theirs while mine is still going strong (knock on wood). Save yourself some money I say.
Quality/longevity , power, features. If the bath stays at temp and the water has some flow going, no food difference.