How To: Spend Time With Family, Not In The Kitchen, Cook Sous Vide

Moving on: Why I ditched my old slow cooker for my sous vide cooker

Good: Slow Cooker

I used to love cooking in my slow cooker; I was even willing to overlook all of its flaws. To the masses that use their slow cookers weekly or even daily you are probably wondering, what flaws? With traditional slow cookers there is no precision, you use three settings, high, low, and keep warm and through trial and error find what makes your meal the way you like it. Of course every slow cooker is different, I had my old one die, and when I cooked a meal the same way I always had in my old one I found it to be very overdone. So much for being able to let dinner cook itself while I get other things done, my slow cooker needs to be monitored. Not to mention the important vitamins and other nutrients lost while cooking at the high temperatures used in a slow cooker. 

Better: Sous Vide

Finally I decided to take the plunge and try this new sous vide fad, the VacMaster® SV1 Immersion Circulator is easy to use and perfect for any cook to use at home. I was nervous going into my first meal because I thought it would be complicated to use, after all I was used to a simple slow cooker. I was pleasantly surprised that using the SV1 was just as easy as my slow cooker; I just set the temperature and the timer and waited while dinner cooked itself. 

When it came time to eat was when sous vide really got to shine, my meal was perfect, no exaggeration, not even the slightest bit overdone. Through every cooking method that I have used (oven, stove, grill ...) no meal has ever come out as perfectly done as every meal I make sous vide.  

Now that this style of cooking is gaining popularity, I am able to easily find recipes online, but sous vide is so simple I am always converting my traditional recipes and cooking them sous vide. I just follow these simple guidelines for my times and temperatures: