When I read the recipes they all seem quite time consuming and after using this device I have to do more things to finish the preparation??
Joanne, your time input depends on what you choose to cook. I usually cook multiple items in meal-sized packages, freezing most for future meals so i find the Anova saves me time overall.
Rather than sous vide you might find the new June Intelligent Oven more suitable for your expectations. Using artificial intelligence it recognizes the food you put in it and then perfectly cooks it without any of those pesky time consuming sous vide activities like vacuum packaging and searing.
The June’s only potential time waster that i have identified is if you use its app’s cooking progress monitor. That’s an interior camera that allows you to observe cooking so you can get just the right degree of browning from wherever you are. I’d watch it all the time, particularly the time-lapse videos of your food cooking to share later with family and friends.
Not sure which recipes you are working with, but the benefit of sous vide is that even though you can go quickly from waterbath to table, with the intermediate step of finishing, you don’t have to.
Almost anything you sous vide can be done hours, if not days ahead of time, leaving the food sealed and chilled in the bag, only to be warmed and finished, as taking sous vide steaks from the fridge and finished on a hot grill or skillet.
Same can be done with vegetables and other sides.
To be honest, leaving most proteins in the bag for a couple of days provides a better product.
Very few things need to be processed right away.
And preparing ahead of time and adequate cooling means the location of finishing doesn’t have to be anywhere near where the prep was done. It’s a very portable option.
There is a shorter window from prepping the bag until requiring it to go into the bath, but even that can be done hours ahead of time depending on whether you include specific ingredients like fresh garlic, which I have never had success with in sous vide, or acids like lemon juice which will cook your food even if refrigerated. Prepping meals at a more convenient time and freezing prior to cooking is quite the timesaver.
TL:DR Sous vide gives you options between steps you didn’t have before and having to follow the steps in quick succession can be a hard habit to break.
Sous vide definitely isn’t the simplest cooking technique. For someone like me who likes to dabble in the kitchen but is lacking in skill, sous vide takes me longer, but gives me more consistent results than I’m able to obtain in a pan, oven or on the grill.
And forgive me, please. I initially misread your headline as being a concern about speed when you plainly meant simplicity.
Sous Vide doesn’t necessarily make cooking faster but does give greater control over much of the cook (texture, doneness, etc.) - think of steaks or eggs. Also, by cooking for the freezer one can save a good deal of time. Planning ahead will free up more time than any single device or cook aid.
Thanks for all the feedback gang
I will give it a go
To me, the beauty of Sous Vide isn’t the time savings (though it really is set and forget) but the results. Out here there’s a meat called beef tender steak (it looks like a tenderloin). Its from the neck region of the cow and is supposed to be a REALLY tough piece of meat. I sous vide for about 28 hours at 132 and it bomes out beautifully pink and tender as a tenderloin. Seriously, before I bought an ANOVA, I thought the “cheap steak to tenderloin” thing was hyperbole, but seriously, I’ve done it twice and both times it was like a tenderloin texture–but with more flavor. And cooking real tenderloin–truly the best steak I’ve ever had.
Cooking sous vide takes time… But it’s mainly unattended time. Throw a lump of beef chuck or bolar blade in the tank. Come back in a day or two to sear it off and enjoy the most luscious medium rare roast. Easy.