Chefmom3 - Sous Vide cooks meat (or Vegetables) to a specific temp that you set the APC to cook to, in a water bath, but it does NOT brown meat, so you will need to sear meats after reaching your desired cooking temp is you want a browned exterior. This can be best achieved using a very hot Carbon Steel or Cast Iron Pan and Sear the meat for 2-3 minutes a side after removing from the Vacuum Bag an patting dry
‘Boil in the bag meals’ is a great joke that those who don’t understand the process throw around all of the time, but there’s a pretty fair chance that, if you’ve dined at a restaurant any time over the last 20 years, you’ve probably already eaten food processed via sous vide and been completely unaware of the fact.
As far as the process goes, food never gets up to that kind of temperature. Meats particularly are usually cooked around the 54-60C/130-140F region, a long way from the boiling point of water at sea level. Because of this, meats display the desired done-ness from one edge to the other.
Unlike other forms of cooking, however, where the cooking environment is at a much hotter temperature than the desired final core temperature of your product, there is no chance for the food to develop any caramelisation of sugars, the surface browning that develops that gorgeous golden crust also known as the Maillard reaction. To develop this brown, which not only looks wonderful but tastes divine, sous vide cooks will usually further process a piece of meat through various methods before presenting it to diners. Pan seared, touched with a lick of flame, smoked or placed in the oven at temperatures that would take care of a fairytale witch.
So… In answer to your question. Will the meat look like boiled food when processed sous vide? No. However it will be without browning when it comes straight out of the water bath prior to finishing. Will it be like boiled food? Hell no!
@chatnoir - Thanks for the excellent advice regarding meal prep and planning! Good advice is always appreciated!
I actually had already taken into account much of the planning you discussed, I was primarily soliciting advice such as that you provided regarding the New York Strip and the Coulotte cuts. And I have never tasted Bearnaise sauce - and now I can’t wait to try it!
I had already decided on the desired “doneness” (cook to 134 degrees for something on the upper end of a medium rare), and planned to keep all the steaks in the bath for between 2 1/2 and three hours, ensuring all would be cooked and ready at the same time. One of the things I love about Sous Vide is that “wide window” where everything is “done” and just needs to be finished before serving!
Regarding Pre vs Post Sous Vide salting - looks like you can’t lose either way! I tried a few each way and all came out just fine.
As to how the meal went…
Everything came out of the bath fantastic - where you can tell by feel how tender they were - and everything was then dried off and seasoned. Unfortunately I wasn’t clear enough to my brother (who was on “searing” duty on his “Big Green Egg”) that he had to stick to my instruction of searing each steak for no more than 45 seconds on each side. The first set of steaks went from medium-rare to something closer to medium when he took it upon himself to sear them longer. (As he later said, he had sacrificed the “inside” for the look he expected “outside”!) The next set of steaks I seared myself - high heat, quick sear - and they came out perfect, turning my brother into a sous vide convert.
btw - I had already tried Coulotte Steak at home a couple days ago with extreme success! My wife now considers it her favorite steak!
So far I’ve cooked eggs, pork loin chops, bratwurst, creme brulee, culotte steak, rib steak, and new york strip steak. Aside from the steaks that were seared a little long everything has turned out incredible!
@chatnoir I’d again like to say thanks for the help!
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Newbie question
How often do your cook the main portion of your meal. Day in advance and place it in the fridge?
Ie a larger rack of lamb or a roost
That way you can use your Anova the day of the dinner for other items such as vegetables etc. With different cook times or temps
Planning on either a rack or leg of lamb for New Years but I also want to add other items such as seafood for the actual day of New Year’s Eve
How often? Sometimes to frequently. Come the middle of summer (which I’m just heading into) I’ll quite frequently batch cook a pile of boneless, skinless chicken breasts for use in salads when the weather is too hot to think.
I frequently cook to take elsewhere, so the pre-prepare option of sous vide is very useful.
Rack of lamb is a good one because it won’t take more than an hour in a water bath to retherm it. You might consider pre-searing the fat before you bag it and bath it to give you a bit of a head start on rendering it. Then when you come to finishing for service give the fat plenty of attention doing it both first and last.
Using it fills my house with a terrible plastic smell. I read that i would go away after one use but I’m on my second use and it still is putting off a strong smell that is sickening. Is this normal?
No. This is not normal. Please contact Support. They will probably arrange a replacement unit for you.
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You know if I were the CEO of Anova, somebody’s head would roll over this. Secondly, based on the number of comments I have seen I think I would hire a full time person to open the boxes one by one and give it the sniff test. Wayyyyyyy cheaper and better customer relations in the long run IMO.
The people that post here are only a tiny percentage of all those who have received an Anova.
Hi Alyssa,
I’ve completed 2 cooks so far and thrilled with the results. I was unsure what to do with my APC when the cook was finished. Are there any guidelines on whether it’s safe to remove straight after, or is it best to cool the water before removing, drying and storing? Thanks
Hey @m13wilkinson! Congrats on your first two successful cooks!
I typically unplug and store my Anova on an open shelf, since my kitchen space is very limited. However, you may keep it plugged/unplugged in in a pot. We have plenty of that going on in the office. If you’re dumping the water after you’re done cooking, just proceed with caution, just like you would with any hot pot of water.
Thanks for coming back so quickly. Just finished up a gammon (ham) joint and it looked the same as a boiled one but wow what a difference in moisture,texture and flavour with sous vide!
When you put your Anova on the shelf do you do this immediately or do you wait for it to cool to a certain temperature?
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Usually not immediately. I unplug the Anova and lay it on a towel for a bit. Hmmm I don’t do this for the sole purpose for cooling, but to make sure it’s also dry before storing.
That’s great thanks. I’ve been leaving mine in the water to cool a little then placing it on the towel to dry before storing away. Need to look after my new best friend 
I’d remove the skirt on a regular basis as well - depending on how hard the water is in your vessel, you could have deposits on the metal elements inside the housing.
Need to be especially careful when you’re cleaning the impeller shaft…it’s pretty thin.
A brush similar to a large toothbrush (if you have a juicer, one likely came with it) is good for gently cleaning these internals.
Edit: Found the one that came with my juicer. 
http://www.omegajuicers.com/cleaning-brush-masticating-juicers.html
Hi! I just have one main question, I bought a 1 kg ribeye roast beef. It has been brined and vacuum packed. However I could not find any ratios or tables to determine the sizing for a 1Kg medium rare roast beef. So I Sous Vide it for 17 hours (followed a roast beef recipe) and it became a bit dry.
Are there links for a table to calculate the timings for the varied sizes of different cuts of meat? Thanks!!
With sous vide, it isn’t by weight, it’s by thickness.
Several charts you can use for guidance here:
The temperature is what determines your doneness (rare through well done).
Cooking meats longer, for the most part, tends to break down the proteins more, producing a more tender result.
(I’ll often cook roasts 2 or 3 days).
I have always heard that pork MUST be cooked to an internal temp of at least 145 yet all of the pork recipes here are 140 degrees or lower. What am I missing?
First thing that you’re missing is the ability to pasteurise foods at lower temperatures with sous vide. Foods like pork and chicken can be pasteurised at temperatures as low as 130F. Pasteurisation is a product not only of temperature but of time at temperature. So, no longer do we have to cook to the point of instant pasteurisation as recommended in times past by the government safety authorities. You’ll notice, if you look, that most food safety regulations have been altered to include sous vide processing.
The information contained at this link is a good starting point for understanding sous vide pasteurisation and its benefits:
http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Safety
Another thing being missed is the fact that recommendations of ‘pork must be cooked to well done’ are positively ancient. They come from a time when commercially raised pork had problems with parasites and such. The industry was cleaned up a decade or more ago.
It is perfectly fine to eat pink pork… And has been for ages (that decade or more) but information takes a little time to percolate through home cooking circles. A lot of cooks are actually quite superstitious, clinging to old erroneous beliefs because that’s what their mum taught them and mum’s cooking was always the best.
Personal preference comes into play as well. I’m quite happy with 130-135F pork, but a lot of people can’t get past the idea that pink pork is under cooked pork. 140F will get rid of most of the pink, though there will still likely be some around bones. 145F will give you solid white all the way through.
My daughter gave me this as a Christmas gift.
Trying to use it for the first time.
How do I set the temp and time without using an app?
I can get the time and temp set using the wheel. However after about 10 seconds the thing stops circulating and makes a piercing screech alarm.
Can’t cook that way.