My first experience with the Anova (v.2) Precision cooker was just ok but I hope it will get better as I progress. I used the Sous Vide °C iOS app to connect via Bluetooth for temp control & timer. I wanted a soft boiled egg with the yolk runny & the white set but the entire egg was runny at 142.5° for 45 minutes. I dropped two eggs in a ziplock, let the air escape then sealed it & clipped to the side of a metal cooking pot.
The tap cold water was around 50° & reached to 142.5° around 15 minutes & maintained it. After 45 minutes, I cracked one egg & the entire contents was runny so I raised the temp to 145° and kept the other egg in for another 30 minutes but it still did not set the white of the egg.
This is just my first experience & will share more.
Greetings @Anova2Cook,
The people over at chefsteps.com have a great webpage called “the egg calculator”. It lets you choose the texture for both the white and the yolk, and gives you a time. They even have videos, so you can pick your texture!
Based on your description, the calculator says you should cook your eggs at 156 F or 69 C for 20 minutes. Let me know if that yields better results!
P. S. They have tons of recipes and information too. They have a free class called “Cooking Sous Vide: Getting started” that has about 10 pages of reading and lots of videos. You will be a pro in no time!
Egg calcator says hard boiled at like 167 for close to 20 mins. No way is this right. I did 165 for 45 to get something near hard boiled per seriouseats.com and their sous vide egg test they did. I would imagine 20 mins would leave me a pretty unset white.
You need to remember that an egg cooks from the outside in. To get a firm white and runny yolk, you want to cook hot and fast (156 for 20 minutes). You can actually cook low and slow to have an unset white, can custardy yolk (140 for 7 hours 45 minutes).
The egg calculator (as per the chefsteps app) suggests the recipe for hard boiled is 185 F for 14.5 minutes. But that isn’t the texture @Anova2Cook wants. So I stand behind my suggestion.
I know it’s not what he wants but to me the egg calculator timing is too short for at least my preferred egg style so I don’t think I’ll trust it for others.
I did run across ChefSteps.com’s Egg Calculator after the fact because of the way the eggs turned out for me. I’m sure this will be helpful for others.
I was using the Sous Vide °C iOS App & it provided me with the temp & time but I did not verify so that was also my fault…I will mention this in my review of the app.
Sous vide has flipped cooking on its head - it is temp dependent, not time - my mind was still set on time dependence vs temp. Lesson learned. I’ve been watching tons of videos but failed to watch an egg sous vide video because I thought it was just too basic to screw it up.
@mspeleoto : I did not & I will. My calibrated thermometer will arrive next week. I did check the water bath against a non-calibrated thermometer & my reading was 143 degrees vs the Anova’s reading of 145.3 degrees…a difference of 2.3 degrees. At least it’s not too far off.
I just pulled my scarmbled eggs from the water bath at 160 degrees for 1.5 hours & it was too silky for my taste. I will try it at 165 degrees next time. I also tried the Ginger Soy Chicken recipe found on this site & had it in the bath for 169 degrees for 5 hours & the flavor did not reach the center like I thought it would in Sous Vide. Maybe it’s the ZipLock bags. I also have a FoodSaver vacuum sealer on the way. So far, this is turning out to be a rough ride.
I’d always trust the lower value myself, especially for pasteurisation. Definitely experiment with different temps though to see what textures you like. I think the 2.3 degrees might make a noticeable difference in egg texture though, they’re pretty finicky.
Marinades/flavourings (except salt - and just salt) don’t really get through the first mm of meat, if you were cooking whole chunks then that might be your problem.
@ejmcga I sous vide soft boiled eggs in a bag for insurance against. breakage & getting in the circulator. I’m sure that a thin plastic will not make a huge difference.
However, scrambled eggs must be sous vide in a bag.
It’s less about the thin plastic and more about the potential to trap air – but I’m sure that you’re expelling the air.
FWIW, I cooked my first batch of eggs this weekend. One was put in with a hole in it and the other cracked at some point during the cook (I tried adjusting the impeller direction to no avail; I ended up trapping the eggs in a corner with drinking glasses). In both cases the warm-enough water caused the egg whites to congeal and essentially self-seal (the first one had a 1cm long wispy bit coming out of the hole).
I’d like to add that after my 3rd use of the Anova Precision Cooker, the unit started to make a grinding sound.
I unclamped the unit from the pot, removed the impeller cap & adjusted the impeller with a slight nudge towards the center & put the cap back on. I hope it doesn’t continue to do this after each use. Anova should have used a rod guide near the impeller so that it doesn’t move too much from the center.
Before receiving my unit, I read the entire PDF manual so this was a quick troubleshoot but for those that didn’t, they’d be on complaining or calling customer service asking for a return.
@Anova2Cook I’m with you on the rough ride. Bought some nice steaks at Whole Foods and put them in a 135 F bath for 1.5 hours and it came out DRYDRYDRY! Seriously one of the driest steaks I’ve ever had. So depressed! After some research it looks like I left it in the waterbath too long? Which doesn’t seem to make sense since I see people saying they leave theirs in for hours at a time.
I guess it’s a lot of trial and error when first starting out with sous vide cooking!
After a few trial & errors with my Precision Cooker, I think I’m getting better at predicting the outcome of my sous vide meats.
Yesterday, I sous vide a packaged Hormel Boneless Pork Sirloin. [image removed]
It was already vacuum sealed & seasoned so I just washed the outside of the plastic & dropped it in the pot for 22 hours @ 145°F. It came out great, moist & flavorful.
Seems like that would be tremendously convenient.
I have a vacuum sealed and seasoned rack of lamb from TJs but, I’m leary of putting that directly into the circulator with no assurance that that plastic is free of BPA phthalates, and other plasticizers…So I’m going to reseal it into a foodsaver bag that the company says is free of the Estrogen disruptor…
Really concerned about plasticizers leeching into food especially during long cooks…
@saluki How long do you plan to keep your food in? The Precision Cooker doesn’t reach a temperature high enough for the plastic to be an issue, even during long cooks so you should be okay.