
Bringing Sous Vide to the Home Cook - wglb
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/11/20/technology/personaltech/bringing-sous-vide-to-the-home-cook.html?_r=0
======
servercobra
My perfect Sous Vide machine would be a Mellow[0] with an API. I want to throw
some eggs (or other breakfast items) in the Mellow at night, it flips to a
refrigerate option, and then hooks up with my alarm (physical or on phone) to
make sure the eggs start cooking a few minutes before I wake up, so they're
perfect when I roll out of bed. Then I'll empty the machine, throw dinner in,
and it'll automatically be ready by the time I get home. Even if it means
throwing the steak in the pan for 5 mins, I'm ok with that.

I almost bought one, but no API makes these way less awesome.

[0] [http://cookmellow.com/meet-mellow/](http://cookmellow.com/meet-mellow/)

~~~
personZ
It is somewhat fascinating how much the tech community seems to strive to try
to solve non-problems. In this case, poaching or hard boiling an egg is so
utterly simple, done in mere minutes, that it is simply impossible that this
device could make it easier. And the grotesque proposed waste of energy
borders on the absurd.

And then, after you've had your perfectly cooked eggs that you presumably had
to hop out of bed and rush to retrieve before they overcooked, in your busy
morning you're going to vacuum pack a steak? Seriously?

Or you can turn your oven to 200F. Toss a cast iron pan on your grilltop and
sear at high heat, then move the whole thing to the oven. You'll quickly have
a _perfect_ steak without blowtorches or extended water bath time.

As with the soylent thing, it's like basic skills are now lacking so people
looking for a lot of menial work to replace trivial undertakings.

~~~
tptacek
Hard-boiling an egg is trivial. Soft-boiling an egg, or making a perfect
poached egg, is non-trivial; it's a finesse task. And doing it once or twice
is one thing, but plating 10-20 for a bunch is another.

Also: your definition of "a perfect steak" is different from mine. You either
like a little overcooked steak or a little undercooked steak (or maybe a lot
of either), because you can't get uniform doneness in a cast-iron skillet and
an oven.

~~~
personZ
As I addressed in the other comment, yes, indeed, this is a technique built
for traffic spikes. It is not a technique made for cooking breakfast.

As to steak, just to be clear (since there seems to be a lot of misinformation
in here), the best New York City steakhouses grill steaks in a 1800 degree
broiler. This is a heat that is difficult to obtain at home, so the sear+oven
actually yields a wonderful, very uniform doneness. I suspect you've never
tried it, have zero experience with it, but nonetheless pass judgment on it?
Why is that?

As someone who has eaten the most expensive steaks, at the most expensive
steak houses in the world, I think it's quite fantastic. I guess I defer to
your judgment though?

~~~
tptacek
That's a funny bit of message board aggression. Suggesting someone on a
cooking thread about cooking steak that someone has never tried cooking a
steak in a pan.

~~~
personZ
Recall that you were the one who first said that I am an "enemy of quality".
Somehow on HN your smiley-disclaimed trolls -- posts that are almost always
the "enemy of quality" \-- get a pass. So yes, accept it as some aggression:
When you _dare_ pass judgment on my opinions in such a vapid, haughty way,
expect a negative response.

------
tripzilch
You can also use a beer cooler or other thermo-isolated container, filled with
hot water at the correct temperature (kitchen thermometer), and a bunch of
plastic baggies (plus something clever with tape).

It's not quite as set-and-forget as a real sous-vide machine, you need to
readjust the temperature (measure, adding more hot water, and stir a little,
measure) about every 20 minutes or so (depending on the volume of water,
obviously).

You need to know what you're doing, but I've gotten really great results with
this DIY method :)

~~~
danieltillett
I have used this method before and it works great. It is really useful for
large parties where you are not sure when everyone will want to eat. Just
throw everything in the cooler (heater I guess) and when everyone says let's
eat throw everything on the bbq for a couple of minutes to sear.

~~~
tripzilch
Agreed, but if you did it right (that is, heat the meat through and through at
the correct temperature[0]), really you shouldn't sear it for more than 15-20
seconds on both sides. The meat is already done, searing is just for the
Maillard reaction creating a browned crust on the outside, adding flavour. Any
additional heating beyond that just increases the size of the transition
between (hot) brown crust outside and (less hot) perfectly done meat inside,
and it is that transition layer that makes a steak tough. Which is exactly the
(somewhat) hard thing about cooking a proper steak, the very thing you're
trying to solve with sous vide.

That is the reason why they sometimes attack a sous vide steak with a butane
torch. It's not _only_ because it's cool :)

[0] 53 degrees Celsius is for rare steak. Rare should not be "undercooked"
(flesh proteins denature at about 50C) and with sous vide you can make sure
this is indeed the case.

~~~
danieltillett
By a couple of minutes I meant ~60 seconds a side - basically just leave it on
long enough to get the level of Maillard browning my guests like. This is one
of those things that helps to have all the guests crowd around while you do
this as they can then tell you when to take it off the grill. Yum!

------
analog31
Why not simply let the factory do it for you? I foresee a market for prepared
sous vide meats that are sealed well enough to store for weeks or even months
on the shelf. Goodbye salmonella. From what I've read, this is how restaurants
are already doing it.

------
compumike
If you'd like your perfectly-cooked steak in 20 minutes, not 2 hours, try
Pantelligent (note: co-founder). Video here:
[https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hevans/pantelligent-
int...](https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/hevans/pantelligent-intelligent-
pan-cook-everything-perfe)

Unlike sous-vide cooking, Pantelligent is not limited to things you can cook
in a plastic bag, doesn't take forever to get to steady-state temperature
equilibrium, and most sous-vide recipes encourage you to finish in a pan
anyway!

Instead, the Pantelligent app helps you control transient time & temperature
profiles. The recipes adapt automatically just like a real chef would (for
example, extending the cooking time a bit if the temperature is a bit too
low). And the results are delicious, every time.

~~~
chrisan
Do you have a patent on this? Hopefully! I can see a big brand wanting to have
a stove top that auto regulates the temperature for you so it stays at the
perfect temperature exactly leaving your job only to place and flip

~~~
ifelsethen
s/big brand/consumer ftfy

the technology should be in the stovetop/hotplate burner, not the pan, IMO.

------
ingenieros
ChefSteps.com has a great introductory class to sous vide for those curious to
experiment, but not foolish enough to spend a bunch of money on expensive
equipment. I just cooked salmon this past week following their poor man's
method and it came out great.

------
bane
If you have a rice cooker, you can make some incredible fall off the bone
slow-cooked ribs.

Recipe:

1) toss in ingredients

2) hit the cook switch

3) leave it till the next evening and enjoy

It's basically a slow cooker, but you might already have it if you cook lots
of rice at home

------
thecolorblue
Does anyone know who had this sous vide stick design first, this (Anova) or
the nomiku([http://www.nomiku.com/](http://www.nomiku.com/))? It is possible
that they both were designed in parallel but I would bet one came out before
the other.

~~~
joezydeco
Weren't they all evolved from the chemistry lab immersion circulators that
sous-vide chefs originally used?

[http://www.coleparmer.com/Product/PolyScience_Standard_Immer...](http://www.coleparmer.com/Product/PolyScience_Standard_Immersion_Circulator_12L_120_VAC/EW-12101-84)

[http://www.polyscienceculinary.com/sousvide-thermal-
circulat...](http://www.polyscienceculinary.com/sousvide-thermal-
circulator.php)

~~~
cnvogel
They just _are_ what's being used in laboratories (or, at a larger scale, in
industry) for keeping temperature. No need to evolve anything.

[http://www.lauda.de/shop/en/temperiergerate/warme-und-
kaltet...](http://www.lauda.de/shop/en/temperiergerate/warme-und-
kaltethermostate-eco/eco-einhangethermostate/eco-gold/)

Probably my family will complain if I bring the huge Lauda cooler/heater from
the lab to the kitchen, though...

------
codemac
Is there a mirror or anything?

------
highlander
There's enough evidence that plastics leak harmful chemicals into our food
that I don't want to eat anything that's been sitting in a plastic bag in warm
water for hours on end. No thanks.

~~~
ojilles
Not eating out, in your case? I'm no industry insider but from what I hear
sous vide )and therefore plastic) is rampant.

~~~
joezydeco
Sous-vide isn't that prevalent in the mass-market chains, but what _is_ used
is the technique of preparing the bulk ingredients in a central kitchen,
vaccuum sealing in plastic and then transporting to the stores.

The stores then rewarm the food in a hot water bath before serving. This
technique enabled a chain like Taco Bell to drop all cooking in-store. It also
raised their average sanitation scores since the risk of undercooked food is
practically nil.

Even the beloved Chipotle prepares some stuff offsite, like the barbacoa and
carnitas.

