The Best Sous Vide Immersion Cooker

You may have heard the term “sous vide” while watching your favorite cooking show. You’ve probably even enjoyed sous vide-prepared foods at a fancy restaurant or two. But you don’t have to be a professional chef to cook your foods using the sous vide method. There are plenty of sous vide immersion cookers designed for the home market that will make it easy to prepare delicious meals at home.

What is sous vide? It helps to know that in French, the term translates to “under vacuum,” which is exactly how you’re cooking when you make something sous vide. To cook this way, you first seal your ingredients in an airtight bag, then immerse the bag in a large pot of hot water until the contents are done. Your food cooks gradually without ever coming into contact with smoke, steam, flames or even boiling water.

To make this innovative cooking technology work, though, you’ll need something called a sous vide machine. This machine has a heated coil that warms the water to the temperature necessary to cook your food. It’s important to note your food can take a while to cook this way. Your steak may take a couple of hours rather than the minutes you’d get with other cooking methods, but that just means your meat is cooked well without being overdone.

Steaks and poultry aren’t the only things you can cook using the sous vide method. You can also cook eggs, custard, cheesecake, oatmeal and sauces, among many other foods. You’ll need cooking bags to insert your foods into the water, and a vacuum-sealing system to make your food airtight. Experts recommend the FoodSaver vacuum-seal bags that are made to go with their vacuum-sealing system. If you’re concerned about chemicals leaching into your food items when heat is applied, make sure your bags are BPA-free.

• Unlike other types of appliances, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity are essential features with a sous vide immersion cooker. Some of these cookers can only be controlled with an app, which can be problematic if your device frequently loses Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connectivity. If you want to be able to control your cooker with an app, you may prefer to have a cooker that you can control on the unit itself.
• Another reason apps are important is that manufacturers now stock them full of recipes and cooking instructions. Some apps even guide you through cooking.
• If you choose a cooker with an app, you can also control cooking remotely. That means you can walk away from your pot of water and do other things while you wait. You can also control some sous vide cookers via voice command if you have an Alexa device in your home.
• As useful as app control is with an immersion cooker, there’s a simplicity to those that build controls onto the device with no app control available. You don’t have to worry about connecting it to your Wi-Fi or linking up your mobile device. Just power it up and start cooking.
• The wattage of your sous vide immersion cooker is also important. The higher the wattage, the more foods you can cook. You’ll also find more powerful cookers heat the water quicker and hold a more precise temperature.
• Sous vide immersion cookers are relatively small in size, but some are more lightweight and portable than others. That means not only can you take them on the go with you if you want to show off your new cooking talents to friends, but you can also easily store them in a silverware drawer.
• Pay close attention to the temperature range of the immersion cooker you choose. Some swing fairly wide, which opens up the possibilities when it comes to the foods you can cook using them.
• You’ll need to maintain a minimum water level for your food to cook properly. Unfortunately, sometimes water can evaporate, leaving you with a dangerous situation. Some sous vide cookers have a built-in mechanism that shuts them off automatically once the water drops below a minimum level.
• You’ll need to clean your immersion cookers between uses. If you prefer a cooker you can slip into the dishwasher, look for one with detachable parts that can be cleaned that way.
• Your immersion cooker will attach to your pot using a clamp. Look for one that can clamp to a variety of pot sizes to diversify your cooking options. Some cookers use a magnet to attach to your pans, alleviating concerns that your clamp might not fit.
• If you plan to hang near the kitchen while your sous vide immersion cooker is heating your food, a timer can come in handy. Otherwise, you may simply want to set a timer on your phone to remind you when your food is ready.
• One great thing about cooking food in a vacuum bag is that your food is contained, which can keep you and your surfaces safe from contamination. However, you’re cooking your food for an extended time, which can provide the perfect breeding ground for bacteria. It’s important to remove the food once it’s done and serve it immediately. If you aren’t ready to eat it, put it in a container and store it in your refrigerator for safety.