First meal

Anova Precision® Cooker
1

I finally got my newest kitchen gadget today and didn’t want to wait for the weekend to cook something, so I chose two seafood items that would go quickly after work. I chose Sous Vide Butter Poached Shrimp with Spaghetti, Lemon and Chives, and Chilean Sea Bass, both recipes on this site. I think they were both good, but I have to admit, I wasn’t as blown away as I was hoping and expecting. But my family loved the shrimp dish, and my husband liked the bass and it’s not normally his favorite.


I also had some user error while setting the timer that could have affected the food. While setting the timer, I accidentally reset the temperature, plus changed from F to C and then back again. In any case, it resulted in the temperature falling below the cooking temp, so it didn’t stay consistent for the first 10 minutes.

One thing that was weird though was when I finally got the temp set, the actual temperature kept rising above that. I played with the set temp by lowering it a degree, which started to bring the actual temperature down, then I set the temp to where it was supposed to be, and all was fine after that. Is there a reason that that might have happened?

I’m looking forward to more cooking for sure. This weekend I’ll give a rib eye a try and after this weekend I want to make my own lunch meat, meatballs (recipe on this site) and long cooked pulled pork or something like that. I’ve been combing through the recipes on this site and bookmarking the ones I’ll try. I also want to cook and freeze, so I’ll give that a try as well. That will speed up weeknight cooking too.

This is a great discussion board, btw. I’ve been lurking for a few days and really learned quite a bit while I awaited my new toy’s arrival.
2

Welcome to the community. When you do the steak take care and season it well even if it is just salt and pepper. I like to out a pat of butter and a sprig of fresh rosemary in the bag with my steaks during the cook. Another thing that is easy and turns out well is a nice thick hamburger patty cooked medium rare to medium and then seared.

Was your pot covered while cooking? Evaporation cools the water and then the unit will heat it. When this happens it may overshoot a bit. I tend to not worry about small fluctuations in temperature as I have found that it makes no real difference in any dish I have done. The only exception now that I write that is eggs. They are very time and temperature dependant.

3

Thanks for responding. My second, third and fourth tries were more successful on the temperatures. It does take a little getting used to to get to the timer and not mess up the temperature (still working through that!). I didn’t cover the pot each time, but when I did, it seemed to hold it more on target. No worries in any case, I think I’m getting the hang of it.

4

I have a small multifunction timer that has a lanyard. When I smoke or barbecue I got use to having it hanging around my neck and timing everything with it. I have yet to use the timers on either one of my units.