When a steak is cooked sous vide, it has a more uniform and much juicier texture. By controlling the temperature at which the steak is cooked, it will be medium rare or to your preference each time you cook it. In addition, sous vide steaks which are then seared are just as attractive as ones that are grilled or steamed.

Sometimes it’s difficult to choose the right steak cut for sous vide. The different types of steak each have advantages and disadvantages, and the fat content of the cut can affect its flavor. The perfect cuts are rib eye, T-bone, flank, and sirloin. All of these are delicious when cooked sous vide. However, depending on your individual preferences, you may find one more appealing than the others.

What to Look for When Choosing a Sous Vide Steak

Price

Steaks made from more expensive cuts won’t necessarily be better. It doesn’t matter what cut of steak you choose; if you cook it right, it can be delicious! Often overlooked, short ribs and round steak cuts also make great dishes.

A Marbled Effect

Marbling increases the robustness of the flavor of steak cuts. When the rump steak is cooked, the fat melts, keeping it moist. Furthermore, fat provides more tenderness than muscle fibers, making each bite more enjoyable.

Thickness

The contrast between the inside and outside is ideal in the case of appropriately thick steak. Cuts of thin steaks are more likely to overcook before they produce a nice crust. In the case of sous vide cooking, thicker steaks will maintain their perfect internal temperature during searing.

Getting steaks with a thickness of at least an inch is highly recommended. If the cut’s thickness increases beyond 1 inch, you need to add an extra hour to the cooking time.

Sous-vide: Which Steak Cut is Best?

Sirloin Steak

A personal favorite cut of steak, the sirloin when cooked sous vide, will give you the best return on your investment. This cut has a moderate amount of tenderness and its surface is fat-free. Despite its lean nature, this cut remains moist and full of intense flavors, regardless of how it is cooked.

Sirloin steak should be cooked sous vide for two to four hours at 131ºF. To make your steak more tender, sear it on both sides.

T-Bone

One of the most common pieces of steak is the T-bone, and in most cases, one piece can satisfy the appetites of two people.

It combines the New York steak and filet mignon but separates them by a large bone. The bones are included in the dish. However, the bones do not conflict with the sous vide cooking technique.

The T-bone steak is best cooked at 131°F and left to simmer for about two hours to achieve medium rare.

New York Strip

Short loins are made of muscles cows rarely use. Therefore, it’s a tender cut.

The meat is only lightly marbled and is a slice of delicious meat with a texture only surpassed in terms of quality by the delicate filet mignon, which is more costly when properly prepared. Due to the sous vide cooking method, steaks are guaranteed to be perfectly cooked every time.

Cook strip steaks at 130°F for between two and four hours. If it’s cooked for longer, the steak will lose more juice, and the chewiness will decrease.

Ribeye Steak

Known by many names, like scotch filet, the ribeye steak is considered one of the finest cuts of meat due to its high level of marbling and buttery textures. Unlike other steak cuts, this quality steak retains its juicy texture even after cooking at high temperatures. In addition to its popularity among meat lovers, ribeye is also very popular among chefs and makes an excellent sous vide cut.

For optimal results, cook sous vide ribeye steaks at 129°F over two hours.

Hanger Steak

In addition to being called the butcher’s cut, hangers come from cows’ upper bellies. A cow’s diaphragm is used to hang this cut of meat. Considering how unpopular hanger steaks are, they are considerably less expensive than prime cuts, and if cooked properly, they are more than worth it.

It is recommended to cook hanger steak sous vide and set the temperature to 130 F. Cook it for two to four hours.

Flat Iron Steak

Beef chuck is used to make flat iron steaks. There is a uniform thickness throughout the rectangular shape, and it has a great beefy flavor due to the well-marbled texture. Marinades, grilling, and sous vide are great ways to prepare these cuts.

You can cook the flat iron steak sous vide to medium rare by setting the temperature to 135ºF for two hours.

Do Sous Vide Meat Need to Be Rested?

There is no need to rest sous vide steaks. When the meat is removed from the vacuum sealers after cooking, it’s already cooked through. A searing process after sous vide is suggested to give steaks a grilled appearance. In cases like these, the steak needs to rest before being seared.

Is It Safe to Put Frozen Steaks in the Sous Vide?

Cuts of steaks that have been frozen can certainly be sous vided. In addition, the steaks do not need to be thawed before being sous vided. However, when steaks are defrosted, they will cook much faster and allow you to cook them at standard cooking temperatures.

For rump steaks that have been cooked from frozen, the cooking time will vary depending on whether it’s a standard or new cooking method and the size and type of steak.

If the usual cooking time does not exceed two hours, then extend the time by 50%.

When the wait exceeds two hours, a higher temperature is necessary. Within two hours, your meat should be 140°F internally.

Conclusion

In the end, there’s no best kind of steak regarding sous vide; it all depends on what you like. Generally, sous vide steaks are done to your liking regardless of the meat cut, provided that you use the proper temperature and cooking time. Add salt and pepper to the steak, chopped herbs, or whatever seasoning you prefer! Boneless steaks, blade steaks, flat steaks, and even chuck roasts are perfect for cooking in the sous vide. For those meat lovers that wish to try cooking steak in the sous vide, give it a go and enjoy the beefy taste, easy cooking process, and exquisite taste.

What Is “Sous Vide”?

Sous vide is a way of cooking where you seal food in a vacuum-sealed bag then cook it in water at a low, controlled temperature. This method of cooking, which means “under vacuum,” allows the food to retain its natural juices and flavors with no risk of overcooking. In addition, because the food is cooked at a low temperature, it retains more moisture and flavor than other cooking methods, resulting in extremely tender meat.

The sous vide cooking method was first popularized in France but has since gained popularity worldwide. It was independently developed by two French chefs, Bruno Goussault and George Pralus, in 1971 and has been used for decades in well-known restaurants to serve quality meals.

How Does the Method Work?

Sous vide cooking is made possible through immersion circulators (devices that circulate water at a precise temperature). These devices are placed in a container or pot of water and connected to a power source. Further, the circulator heats the water around the pot or container, keeping it at a constant temperature.

The food remains at a consistent temperature throughout the cooking process, ensuring that it is cooked evenly from edge to center. This type of cooking is often used for meats (different types of steak), fish, vegetables, fruits, and even eggs.

Moreover, the low internal temperature prevents the food from drying out or overcooking, making it perfect for delicate dishes. In addition, sous vide cooking allows you to infuse flavor into your food by sealing in herbs and spices.

There are two main ways to use sous vide cooking: continuous and batch. Continuous cooking uses a water bath setup with multiple bags circulating water at a constant temperature. In contrast, batch cooking uses one bag with a single temperature setting.

Steps to Cook Meat Using the Sous Vide Method

To sous vide cook, you will need a sous vide machine or water oven, an immersion circulator, and a sealable bag or container. Here is the step-to-step guide:

• First, you will need to choose your desired recipe and ingredient list.
• Next, preheat your water bath to the appropriate temperature using your sous vide machine or water oven.
• Once the water bath is heated, carefully place your ingredients into the bag or container, making sure not to overfill it.
• Seal the bag or container using the vacuum-seal or zip-top method.
• Finally, lower the bag into the water bath and let it cook for a specified time.
• When finished, remove the bag from the water bath and carefully open it up.

Your delicious sous vide meal is now ready to enjoy!

Is Sous Vide Effective for Tenderizing Meat?

Yes, the sous vide method produces tender, moist meat that doesn’t require long cooking times to achieve tenderness. Eventually, the low cooking temperature that is maintained in the process breaks down the connective tissue in the meat, making it more tender.

It also allows you to use fewer seasonings because the meat is cooked at lower temperatures than traditional methods; this means less salt and fat are used during the cooking process. Thus, using sous vide for cooking meat is a wise choice for a chef as it can help to tenderize tough cuts of meat quickly.

Main Benefits of Using the Sous Vide Method

If you’re looking for a way to ensure your meals are always perfect, then sous vide might be the answer for you! There are many benefits to sous vide cooking; here are a few of them.

• It’s simple to use—all you need is a kitchen set up to hold the water and food, a timer, a cookbook, and a vessel to hold the food.
• Sous vide is low maintenance—you don’t have to worry about monitoring your food as it cooks; instead, you just set your timer and walk away!
• It’s easy on your budget—sous vide can be as expensive or cheap as you want, depending on your equipment and how much time you spend cooking it.
• The results are consistent because all ingredients are cooked at the same temperature throughout the cooking process—no overcooking or undercooking!
• There is no need to monitor the food while it cooks—the sous vide cooking method gives you more time to enjoy your guests or take care of other tasks.
• It allows you to cook meat to the perfect level of doneness. For example, you can cook a tender to medium-rare steak without fear of it becoming overcooked.
• Better texture—sous vide cooking maintains the shape of your food by keeping it immersed in liquid at an elevated temperature.
• Cooks faster than any other method—iIt takes half the cooking time compared to traditional methods.

Conclusion

Sous vide is an excellent way to cook meat and make it tender. Ultimately, it is quickly becoming one of the most popular ways to prepare meat dishes with unbeatable flavor and tender texture.

That is, at least, how things used to be. Innovation brings sous-vide into your household with a slow cooker and a little creativity. You read that right, folks: you can turn your slow cooker into a gadget that can make gourmet meals.

Even though sous vide cooking requires little upkeep, you will still need a second appliance, a sous vide bag, and any required attachments.

Compared to slow cookers, sous vide machines are more recent additions to the domestic kitchen. Have you ever considered that, given how they function, your slow cooker could act as a sous vide water oven? So, can you use a slow cooker for sous vide cooking? Yes, but you must watch out that the water in the slow cooker doesn’t get too hot. Here is an analysis that you can apply while slow cooking sous vide.

Advantages of Sous Vide

Consider how traditional cooking functions for a moment. We take a piece of food and place it in a hot pan or oven that is hot and then remove it after it has cooked but before it overcooks.

Additionally, remember that food cooks from the outside. Even the most experienced cooks aim to reduce the amount of overcooking on the outside for an ideal level of internal cooking.

With sous vide, you cook at the temperature you want the food to reach – for as long as you wish – instead of cooking in intense heat and pulling the chute before it burns, making it almost impossible to under or over-cook your food.

Here are the other advantages to consider:

• Consistency: Because you’re cooking at an exact temperature for a precise time, you’ll get consistent results, like salmon cooked through.
• Tasty: Your meal is moist, juicy, and tender because you cooked it in its juices.
• Precision: You don’t have to worry about overcooking when you prepare food to a precise temperature.
• Food doesn’t dry out or lose any volume, reducing waste.

Using a Slow Cooker for Sous Vide Cooking

The crockpot, a well-known slow cooker, can carry out this duty. The main downside is that a slow cooker requires more time to boil water to the proper temperature. Because a slow cooker can heat a rice cooker more and keep the temperature consistent throughout, some individuals choose to use one. If you prefer to prepare meals in a crockpot, go with an analog dial rather than a digital setting.

The standard is that you can sous vide food in a slow cooker if you buy a separate temperature regulation system. You need to cook your vegetables and meat and reheat them afterward.

How to Convert your Slow Cooker into a Sous Vide Pot

For this activity, you’ll need a Dremel with a cutting disk, a drum for sanding, a slow cooker, a thermostat, and a vacuum food sealer.

Create an open display to show the temperature

The instructions with your temperature controlling unit will specify how big the size hole you should drill to put on the display. Cut your card to these dimensions, then have it where you prefer to position the display. Sketch a circle around the card using a Chinagraph pencil at the designated location. With a Dremel and its cutting disk, remove the profile. To enable a flush fit, smooth the rough edges with the sanding drum on your Dremel.

Set up the gang switch

With the Chinagraph pencil, trace a circle around the Gang while it is lying on your workstation. The holes you will use for mounting are on the right side of the Gang when you spin it. Make the necessary cuts to create the space required for the Gang at levels with the box. To ensure a perfect fit, drill the holes for mounting after installing the Gang (3.5mm).

• Drill cable holes in the box, then connect the wires.
• Join the components. Mount your central controller, followed by the temperature controller. After that, attach the other parts and plug for the wire Gang.
• Start cooking. For instance, the cooking time will change depending on the thickness and type of meat you prepare.

Conclusion

To sous vide food in a slow cooker, you’ll need some technical know-how and extra equipment to pull it off. Continuous water circulation won’t support consistent cooking if the temperature control is off. Thus, you wouldn’t achieve the same accuracy and temperature control level as a sous vide immersion circulator. Getting one will enhance your experience.

Although more widely used in restaurants, they have recently found their way into home kitchens. This article will compare sous vide and slow cookers, highlight their differences and similarities, and also recommend which one to go for based on cooking needs.

What is Sous Vide?

French for “under vacuum,” sous vide is a method of cooking that involves vacuum packing food in a bag and then heating it to a very specific temperature in a water bath. This cooking method produces unparalleled results since it guarantees the food is never overcooked or undercooked.

To produce the vacuum effect, you either use a vacuum sealer, which removes the air around the food and seals it, or the water displacement method, which involves submerging the bag in water and allowing pressure to force the air out. This is how food is prepped before using the sous vide cooker.

After prepping and packaging the food, with desired seasoning or spices added, it is submerged in a water bath set at a precise temperature. The water is heated with a thermal immersion circulator, which also circulates it to ensure the food is cooked evenly at the desired temperature for long periods by raising the temperature of the food and ingredients to exactly the temperature of the water. This ensures that food is cooked without loss of flavor and nutrients, as there is no room for them to escape or get dried up in the cooking process.

Sous vide cooking is consistent because you can cook food at a specific temperature over a desired and precise amount of time. It also doesn’t require constant attention – you set the temperature and time and leave it.

What is a Slow Cooker?

Slow cookers, also known as crockpots, have heating coils at the base that are linked to the inner cooking pot, which is generally ceramic or porcelain and becomes heated as the cooker heats up from the bottom, cooking the food. It uses a lid to trap heat and prevent evaporation.

A slow cooker has three heat settings – low, high, and warm. These cannot be adjusted because the maker of the machine presets them.

The food is placed into the slow cooker with the preferred liquid and added ingredients.

The next step is choosing your preferred temperature setting. “Low” usually takes eight hours, “high” takes four hours, while “warm” should be used for two to four hours maximum, as leaving it longer is not advisable. The slow cooker should be left for the allotted time; do not lift the lid unless the recipe specifically calls for it, as this will alter the cooking time and cause heat and moisture to be lost.

While burning food in a slow cooker is impossible, keeping it on longer than necessary might result in overdone and flavorless food. If the time exceeds the recommended four hours, the low heat setting also changes to the high heat setting, which is inappropriate for that dish.

What Do Sous Vide Cookers and Slow Cookers Have in Common?

Low Energy Consumption and Heat Generation

Less energy is used, and far less heat is produced when using the slow cooker or sous vide cooker than when cooking traditionally. It also takes less work from the “chef” to prepare a properly cooked meal, and the kitchen doesn’t become heated throughout the process.

Ability to Cook for a Long Period

The sous vide cooker and slow cooker can cook food for long durations, making it easy for people to go about their activities without being stuck in the kitchen. A meal can be prepped in the morning to be ready in the evening and eaten at dinnertime.

Good for Tenderizing Tough Meat

Due to their capacity to cook at low temperatures for extended periods, sous vide and slow cookers are excellent for softening tough meat. To make the meat tender and tasty, they break it down and soften it, making it moist and succulent.

The Main Differences between Sous Vide and Slow Cookers

Overcooking

Sous vide cookers maintain the same temperature no matter how long you leave them, thus eliminating the possibility of overcooking. Slow cookers, on the other hand, can overcook foods if left for too long. This may cause them to dry out, become tasteless, and lose their nutrients. With sous vide, the water in the bath evaporates and the food stops heating, but it never dries out or becomes overdone.

Accuracy of the Temperature Set

Unlike slow cookers, which frequently provide high and low settings as options, sous vide cookers prepare food at the chosen temperature without faltering, no matter how long. As a result, sous vide cookers never overcook and always cook at a consistent temperature. Slow cookers cannot maintain the chosen preset after the recommended time and end up overcooking food and making it tasteless. This doesn’t offer the control the sous vide cooker gives over texture and doneness.

Retention of Nutrients

Because of the use of sealed bags that limit excessive heat exposure and assure indirect immersion in water, sous vide is good at maintaining nutrients, particularly in vegetables, without overcooking or messing with the texture, color, and flavor. In contrast, slow cooking can damage the trace nutrients in vegetables, rendering them less nutritious than when cooked sous vide or using other methods.

Food Safety

Slow cookers are more effective in killing microorganisms found in food because of their higher heat setting of over 170 degrees—pathogens die at 140 degrees. It kills germs by combining direct heat, steam, and lengthy periods of cooking. Using either the low or high heat setting will destroy all pathogens in your food when it’s done cooking.

However, sous vide cookers can only destroy a part of the bacteria through a process known as pasteurization. Because it cooks food at a lower temperature than a slow cooker, pathogens such as bacteria have more room to thrive. Bacteria may reproduce at temperatures ranging from 4.4°C to 60°C, and the faster they multiply, the more deadly they become.

Sous Vide or Slow Cooker: Which to Use and Why

We have highlighted the differences and similarities between sous vide and a slow cooker. However, knowing which one is best based on your cooking requirements and food options is important.

Choose a sous vide if:

• Even cooking is what you desire.
• The meal must be prepared at a certain temperature to avoid overcooking, allowing tenderization and preventing loss of nutrients.
• You want the food to retain its volume, especially meats that get dried up and reduced in size with traditional cooking.

Choose a slow cooker if:

• Your meals are more liquid-based – soups, stews, meat sauces—and need to simmer.
• The meal can be cooked all day and you want it ready when you get home.
• Your recipe requires flavors to simmer together in liquid form for long periods.

Conclusion

Cooking with a slow cooker or sous vide is recommended if you seek perfectly cooked meals. You can enjoy your meal with the flavors and nutrients still intact if you use a cooker that suits your cooking needs.

It won’t affect the flavor of the frozen meat, either. You can defrost cooked and raw foods using sous vide technology.

Those who enjoy sous vide cooking and own a sous vide can use the device for defrosting food. In addition to its many benefits, it is a safe method to thaw food quickly. Safely defrosting food is an advantage that is important to families.

This article aims to explain how to defrost using this machine, its advantages, and what to expect.

How to Use Sous Vide for Defrosting

• Take your frozen food out of the freezer.
• You should place sous vide foods in vacuum-sealed packets after removing the packaging.
• It’s best to use hot water in the sous vide pot. You can use cold water, but it will take a few minutes longer.
• By using high heat, you can defrost instantly, and bacteria are less likely to grow.
• You need to set your sous vide machine to a temperature of 40°F. It will defrost after 30 minutes.
• As soon as the time is up, transfer the defrosted food from the sealed packet to the plate.

How Do Sous Vide Cooking Devices Work?

Sous vide cookers can be set and forgotten, similar to how slow cookers and pressure cookers work. Cooking the sous vide way offers major advantages, including cooking temperature control and time flexibility.

Compared to slow cookers and pressure cookers, where food is cooked at one temperature, sous vide let you adjust the temperature. Various temperatures and cooking times are provided in sous vide recipes, enabling the cook to create the exact degree of doneness they desire. For example, medium-rare meat or fish can be cooked safely. It’s possible to adjust the cooking time if necessary. In most cases, there is a long period between the preparation of the food and its quality deteriorating. No matter what happens, you can cook when it works for you.

There is no need to worry about overcooking or undercooking; if you follow proper cooking time and temperature recommendations, you will always achieve perfect cooking.

Sous Vide Defrosting: Is It Safe?

There are several ways to defrost food, including cold water and microwaves. However, all of these methods can lead to contamination. The warmer the food gets, the faster bacteria multiply, and contamination can occur quickly.

Sous vide defrosting is a completely safe method of defrosting. Defrosting food in a sous vide is one of the safest methods.

Due to the constant temperature of the water and the fact that food is in the water for a shorter period, contamination risks are minimal. Food does not come into direct contact with water, so bacteria aren’t transferred from warm water to food.

How Long Does the Defrosting Take?

You must consider what you are defrosting when you decide how long to defrost. A typical sous vide defrosting process takes approximately 30 minutes, but depending on what you defrost, you can shorten the time. The thawing process usually takes 10 to 15 minutes to defrost cooked foods or vegetables.

Check whether the ice particles have melted inside the Ziplock bag. Otherwise, you may wish to keep it inside a little longer.

Why Defrost Using a Sous Vide?

The Microwave Is Terrible at Defrosting Food

In general, food isn’t defrosted evenly by microwaves.

Despite having simple defrosting settings, microwave ovens tend to overheat liquid food and warm some food while leaving other parts frozen.

Liquids are affected by microwaves a lot. Unlike microwaves, the sous vide method allows you to defrost your food evenly, leading to less overheating.

The Fastest and Safest Way

In addition to defrosting more evenly and precisely with sous vide cookers, food thaws faster. You are saving time while sustaining food quality and safety.

Thawing foods reduces the time spent at dangerous temperatures, decreasing the likelihood of exposure to food-borne illness.

The results of a study that tested sous vide thawing of meat demonstrated that it improved the texture and juiciness of the meat and met the standards of quality.

Environmentally Friendly

Leaving frozen chicken under running water is the most efficient way to defrost it. However, it can waste water.

In sous vide cookers, since moving water is recirculated, the defrosting process is gentle and fast without compromising the texture of the food or wasting water.

Enhanced Accuracy

It has been found that even within refrigerators, there is a wide temperature variation. Due to this, defrosting foods takes a long time, making thawing times unpredictable.

Defrosting without a cooking process can be done more precisely with sous vide cookers since you can control the temperature closely.

How Long Does Sous Vide Cooking Take?

Using a sous vide cooker, frozen foods don’t need to be defrosted first as long as they are tightly sealed.

Generally, when cooking frozen foods in a sous vide, approximately 50% more time needs to be added to the ordinary cooking time. For example, if an unfrozen steak is sous vide cooked for 60 minutes, the frozen one should be sous vide cooked for 90 minutes.

To thaw and cook frozen foods faster, add warm water to your sous vide to speed up the process, and cook according to the instructions.

Conclusion

As long as you possess a sous vide device, the machine has a variety of uses. In addition to cooking proteins perfectly, it can also be used as a last-minute cooking tool. It takes longer to cook frozen ground beef, fish, or steak, so you should defrost it first.

Frozen food doesn’t always cook evenly in the oven or stove. Sous vide defrosting is faster than conventional defrosting without bacterial growth concerns. As soon as the frozen steaks have been thawed in a sous vide, you can store them in the fridge for two days. Give it a try and see how you can defrost the perfect steak, pork chops, filet mignon, chicken pieces, or other types of raw meat.

I always get asked how to cook perfect chicken. It naturally a broad question, as there are so many factors depending on what part of the chicken you are cooking, a whole chicken, chicken breast, chicken wings and diced chicken for that perfect stir fry.

Let’s face it we actually need to ensure chicken is cooked perfectly, under cooked chicken can be harmful to most animals let alone humans and over cooked chicken, well unless we all have canine teeth can be very tough and hard to swallow. We all want it juicy, tender and no pink bits right.

Some of the most common questions I get asked and will cover off with a future article –

• How long to cook chicken legs in oven at 425?
• Cooked chicken in fridge for 7 days? Can I still eat?
• How long to cook frozen chicken in crockpot?
• How long do you cook bbq chicken in the oven?
• How to cook perfect chicken breast?

Have I lost you yet? Yes get straight to the point. In this article I wanted to be a little more unique and explain the actually questions the professional cooks/chef’s want to know, but I believe these are some of the most interesting and important when choosing your preparation method to cooking your next perfect chicken.

Sous Vide Cooking Times

I have compared three cooking methods, Conventional stove top, Sous vide machine and Oven for cooking the perfect chicken, you can also compare – Beef, Duck, Eggs, Salmon and Lamb with the infographic I have designed for easy visual representation. You know the Sous Vide Machine is one of my favourite’s just by the name of my blog, but for this I wont be bias.

I wanted to explore the results from our analysis in more detail and compare the following key factors in cooking the perfect chicken –

Average Time to Cook Chicken to Perfection

For the purpose of our our comparison, we used a chicken of the size of 1.5kg (approx. 3.30693 lb), we can see from figure 1, cooking a chicken using conventional stove top resulted in the quickest method of cooking with a total time of 1.58 hours (94.8 mins).

Cooking chicken in the oven was 1.88 hours (112.8 mins) and cooking chicken using a Sous vide immersion cooker was 5 hours (300 mins).

So if you are time poor the obvious winner winner chicken dinner is the conventional stove top.

It is important to understand the different methods can result in totally different flavours and also textures. If your cooking for shorter periods and cooking with your favourite flavours you will find less flavours infused into your chicken other than the slower methods.

Average Power to Cook Chicken to Perfection

When comparing the power used to cook the perfect chicken, its clear that using an oven uses the most power, its important to note, we did not use gas oven, but electric oven for the purposes of this exercise.

The Oven used 3000 watts to cook a chicken, the conventional stove top 1600 watts and Sous vide machine 1000 watts. While this is no surprise to me, this allows us to work out the actual costs to cook your favourite chicken.

Average Cost to Cook Chicken to Perfection

Now saving the best to last. The cost to cook your favourite chicken dish using the conventional stove top is the cheapest costing approx. 25 cents. With the next most economical way of cooking chicken being the Sous vide machine, coming in at approx. 50 cents and the most expensive of all the methods being the oven at $1.50.

The Verdict

As I stated previously the conventional stove top may be the quickest method of cooking chicken, but what I want to highlight is this may guide you in the choice you make when cooking. But you need to weigh up if your looking at time? flavour? or what it takes from your hip pocket each time you cook chicken. Each have pro’s / cons, but you are not going to put whole chicken on stove top expecting the lovely chicken stuffing you have created to infuse in a short period of time.

I am trying not to be bias, but I actually love the Sous vide method, as you can use many a herb and spice with your chicken in bag and cook it over time, yes 5 hours, but you can set and forget almost and know that this is not going to break the bank, but you will also get those full flavours infused for the longest period of time. Just need some planning to make this cost effective method work for you.

I have tested the Sous vide method using all three versions of machines we have reviewed at – Best Sous Vide Cooker.

Important Disclaimer

Chicken Perfection – will change depending on each individual situation and taste obviously, chicken perfection – We used well done as our indicator that the chicken was cooked correctly.
Chicken Size – Cooking times will differ pending size of chicken and methods.
Prices Used – We used an average of power usage charges across the United States in USD. Each state and country worldwide will differ. This data is to be used for indication purposes only and not deemed 100% accurate due to factors such as age of cooking equipment, state of US or worldwide countries.
Indicator Only – Figure 1, is for indication purposes only and we do not recommend using these as definitive values. You should always adhere to your produce labels and or recipe cooking times and sizes.

Have you tried Starbucks Sous vide egg bites? I love that Starbucks is taking the Sous vide cooking method main stream with their Sous vide egg bites. The flavors are amazing with bacon and Gruyère or egg white with Monterey jack & roasted red pepper both worth a try.

I have listed below some of the main benefits and variations you can try:

• Dairy free Sous vide egg bites
• Sous vide egg bites are gluten free
• You can make Sous vide egg bites at home
• Keto and Paleo diet friendly
• High Protein and No Grains
• Great nutritional value for starting your day

Can I make Starbucks Sous Vide Egg Bites at Home?

The answer is YES! I have read several articles and researched Sous vide egg bite recipes online and attempted to make the real deal at home to answer this exact question. I have access to various Sous Vide immersion cookers as you can imagine, but thought I would test making these juicy bites with one of our top choices from our article – Best Sous vide cooker – the Anova Culinary Sous Bluetooth Sous vide precision cooker.

You can try three different cooking methods to achieve the result –

• Silicon Bags – If your about presentation, then skip this method. The egg texture is perfect, but not good on the eyes. Amazon has these for around $11.00 for a reusable food bag.
• Mason Jars – You use pot of water and Mason jars. You can buy the 8 Ounce or 4 Ounce jars, both work well.
• Egg cups for poaching – These are great if you do not have a Sous vide immersion cooker.

I used the Mason jars to achieve the best result, however I found the Egg cups the fastest out of the three methods.

After choosing your method of Sous vide cooking, you will need the ingredients to ensure your little healthy treats are as close to the version you enjoy at your local Starbucks. The key ingredient I found made these little gems so good is the cottage cheese, they are what gives it the texture and taste. I simply went over to the Starbucks site and these were the main ingredients for the Sous Vide Egg Bites – Egg white & red pepper version – cottage cheese, eggs, red bell pepper, feta cheese, monterey jack cheese, spinach, unsalted butter, canola oil, green onion and to add a little spice hot sauce.

Obviously, if you want to make different versions to suit your dietary requirements for instance, vegans, gluten free or keto diets can create dairy free Sous vide egg bites, you can replace the cottage cheese with coconut milk cottage cheese and replacing the butter with a coconut oil.

Pending your diet, try adding bacon and vegetables for additional flavor to tantalize your taste buds and also great for adding that extra amount on your plate.

If you fall in love with these and want to save time with preparation, make the eggs and cheese together and add the other ingredients when its time to serve. I have made batches while the Sous vide machine is running and reheated during the week.

Sous Vide Egg Bites Recipe

I tried a version which supported those on keto & low-carb diets, this does contain dairy.

Serving – 5 x 4 oz. Mason Jars

You can mix and try various ingredients as I pointed out earlier. I personally would use a Sous vide immersion machine to get the precise temperature correct and it is definitely a better result.

Ingredients

• 6 x eggs
• 1/4 x cup cottage cheese
• 1/4 x cup cream
• 1/4 x tsp each of salt, pepper – add other spices you love
• 1 x tablespoon butter
• 1/2 x grated cup ruyere

Optional

• Hot sauce of choice – 1/4 tsp
• 5 slices cooked bacon
• Vegetable of choice

Instructions

1/ Put your Sous vide immersion cooker to 165°F. This is average temperature for creating Sous vide eggs for an egg salad.
2/ Combine the eggs in a blender or food processor with cottage cheese, cream and optional hot sauce.
3/ Use medium speed and blend until smooth. Do not blend on high speed as this will cause air bubbles to form and make the consistency when cooking not smooth and creamy.
4/ Grease lightly the 5 x 4 oz. Mason jars.
5/ Add optional extra’s you want to use such as bacon or vegetables to the bottom of the Mason jars.
6/ Now add the cheese to the Mason jars.
7/ Add the egg mixture to the Mason jars and loosely fit the lids, its important not to tighten the lids fully.
8/ Cook for 60 mins for eating immediately and if planning on finishing off the cooking process, cook for 45 – 50 mins.
9/ Remove each Mason jar and allow to cool. The cooked egg bites should slide out ready for serving hot.

If you are planning on consuming later, place each Mason jar in the refrigerator, they will have shelf life of about a week if cooked for over thirty mins.

This is a delight you will be sure to impress your friends or family with. Remember your lovely coffee and newspaper and who knows you may just think your at Starbucks.

The Nutritional Facts

In a time of the budget conscious household, gadgets and new technologies are items that warrant serious consideration prior to purchase. Do I really need it? Can I afford? Will it last?

These are just a few questions you may ask yourself in the decision making process. I can assure you, now that sous vide machines have broken away from the commercial environment coupled with technology advancement and improved manufacturing techniques, sous vide machines are now within the majority of household budgets.

In making your decision to purchase a sous vide machine, consider the following 8 reasons:

Make No Mistake

The math has already been done for you. By simply entering the correct temperature and cooking time for the article being cooked and you will get it right without exception every time. You’re a chef!

Have You Got a Minute?

With conventional cooking methods, the answer to this question can quite often be no. Turning food, stirring sauces, adjusting heating temperatures etcetera is a thing of the past with sous vide cooking. The low cooking temperatures involved might mean your food takes a while longer to be cooked but in the meantime you can get on with other things.

Time Poor? I hear You

There are some days where there just isn’t time for anything. With the sous vide machine you can cook a dozen lamb chops or half a dozen chicken breasts along with a medley of fresh vegetables in advance. All the nutrient value of your food safely vacuum sealed away and throw them in the freezer for those days when your feet don’t touch the ground.

Look at this Mess

Is there anything more disheartening than enjoying a fantastic meal only to glance into the kitchen at the mess that awaits you. Not anymore. With sous vide cooking you couldn’t want for a cleaner cooking environment. Food cooked, vacuum sealed in clean fresh water. No greasy pots and pans, no splattering, no spillages. The only thing to clean is the plate that sits in front of you.

Your Hip Pocket

As discussed earlier a lot of decision made around purchasing comes down to the what fits in with the family budget. The good news here is that by cooking with your sous vide machine there is pretty minimal energy consumption that compares well to a stove or oven. The nett benefit to you is that you will have more disposable income to spend more delicious food.

Precious Cargo

Have you ever had your heart in your mouth noticing a little one wander just a little to close to the cooktop as something simmers away? The great news here is that your sous vide cooker need not be anywhere near the cooktop, where it can sit safely away from any bench edges. As a separate safety issue, no matter how high you set the temp, your water will never boil. Sous vide is a gentle, slow cooking method. This ensures the kitchen remains a safe environment for everyone in the home.

Excuse Me

As the chief cook and bottle washer in the house, how many times have you had to say “Excuse me” to dinner guests as you leave the conversation to check on “something” to ensure it doesn’t burn or simply over cook? Plenty, I’m sure. With sous vide cooking you can sit and relax with friends until the cooking is 100% complete. Then it’s simply a matter of plating up your restaurant quality meal.

Back to Budget

Even when vacuum sealed, sous vide cooking provides a humid environment for whatever item you may be cooking. This due to the natural moisture content contained in all food. With long, low temperature cooking times, it is like your meats are being delicately braised. This means that even the very cheap cuts of meat like flank steak will come out with a texture like eye fillet. This means you can still cook restaurant quality, succulent steaks on a budget price.

We have some suggestions on which is the best Sous Vide Machine for Home Use.

There is a quiet revolution taking place in kitchens across the globe. Sous-vide (pron: soo veed) cooking. Once the domain of only the finest cooking establishments, this fuss free, convenient cooking method is empowering even the most novice of cooks to produce restaurant quality food, consistently and in the comfort of the domestic environment.

The term, sous-vide is translated from the French, to literally mean to cook under vacuum.

The process relies entirely upon three principles:

Low Temperature Heating

Low temperature heating, this ensures your product is cooked evenly both inside and out, over an extended period.

Separating your Product

Separating your product from its heating environment, this guarantees no loss of nutrient food value and no loss of moisture to the elements, assuring the diner of a perfectly done, succulent steak every time.

Sealed under a Full or Partial Vacuum

Your product to be sealed under a full or partial vacuum, the final element of the sous vide cooking process is for your product to be sealed under a full or partial vacuum prior to being immersed into its cooking bath. Extensive laboratory testing has proven time and time again that this vacuum sealing process actually enhances the flavour of your product. In fact, vacuum sealing some fruits dramatically intensifies their flavour through the compression of vacuum sealing, even without cooking.

No limits to Sous Vide Cooking

It’s important to note that cooking sous vide doesn’t limit you to the perfectly cooked sirloin or richly flavoured stewed fruits.

In fact, you are virtually limited to cooking where your imagination stops. All manner of meat cuts from lamb to pork, chicken, your favorite fish, all cooked to perfection, the way you like it and with the flavours you love. And if you are not a meat lover and vegetables are your fruit of passion, you will be surprised how your vegetables will be cooked through, again with no loss of nutrient value and yet retain that crisp crunch of the fresh article.

If you happen to have a sweet tooth, there are a range of desserts that can be cooked sous vide, including a range of puddings, crème brulee, sabayons, fudges, cheesecakes and poached fruit.

Sous Vide Recipes

As a hard and fast rule, most foods we cook require a recipe. A set of instructions, a list of ingredients, the process of construction and guiding temperatures. Perhaps the most notable exception to this rules revolves around cooking times and temperatures for varying cuts of meat. See also – 5 Ways to making Sous Vide Steak. How it is cooked is dependent on a number of variants. The weight and thickness of the cut, the ideal doneness and even the type of meat to be cooked, whether it be pork, beef, lamb, chicken, fish or something more exotic or game like.

The list of recipes on hand is limited only by your imagination.

Temperature control is a critical thing if you want to get the juiciest and moistest chicken. In addition to temperature control, timing is also a critical factor in sous vide. Cooking times using sous vide range from as little as 20 to 30 minutes (food such as scrambled eggs, and thin fillets of fish) to as long as 72 hours (for very tough meats and short ribs).

Each sous vide cooking oven or immersion circulator comes with a time and temperature table. These tables guide you as to how long food, chicken breast, for instance, should come to temperature. The time that chicken breast will take to cook to reach its desired temperature will depend on its thickness.

Sous Vide Chicken Breast: Getting the Times Right

The idea that chicken breasts are the easiest to cook is not quite fair. It can be discouraging for rookie cooks to get under- or overcooked breasts. Preparing a chicken breast that is juicy, crispy and has a golden skin is quite the challenge. However, chicken breasts show the best difference between sous vide and other traditional cooking methods. These traditional methods are quite aggressive and timing is crucial, unlike in sous vide.

Regardless, it is possible to overcook your chicken breast in sous vide cooker, but it is a little more difficult to do it. The time it takes to soften your chicken breast depends on the time it sits at a given temperature. It is possible to leave your chicken breast at serving temperature in the water oven for more than the least required time, usually 4 hours. The chicken will remain perfectly cooked until it is time to serve it.

As mentioned before, the thickness of the chicken breast determines the time it will take to reach the desired temperature for it to cook. Chicken breast takes at least 45 minutes to cook properly. Thicker pieces of chicken breast will take longer to cook.

You may think that overcooking your chicken breast will make it tenderer. Instead, overcooked sous vide chicken will end up tasting mushy. There is a stark difference between chicken cooked at the same temperature for 1, 2, 4, 8, 12, and 24 hours. It is evident that timing has more effects than temperatures when you take it to the extremes.

The Effect of Timing on Sous Vide Chicken Breast

Sous vide chicken breast will have different textures when cooked at the same temperature over a period of 24 hours. Chicken breast sous vide for two hours will be nice and retain its juiciness but will have a resilient chew.

On the other extreme end, when your sous vide it for 24 hours the chicken becomes too tender. It becomes too tender to the extent that when you touch it with your index finger, your fingerprints remain on the surface without bouncing back.

The recommended time to sous vide chicken breast is no longer than 4 hours. This will give you the best texture. It will not be too tender or too resilient to chew. Two hours may even give better results when you sous vide chicken breast.

Timing and Temperature Chart for Sous Vide Chicken Breast

The following table gives the best times and temperatures to perfectly sous vide chicken breast. From the table, there is no timing range that exceeds the 4-hour mark. Therefore, you can sous vide chicken breast between one to four hours to get unparalleled levels of juiciness.

How to Sous Vide Chicken Breast

With the time and temperature chart for cooking chicken breast, you can precisely get the exact result you want. You are probably wondering how you should go about the whole process of how to sous vide chicken breast. The following easy steps show how easy it is to prepare your chicken breast.

Step 1

Using the time and temperature chart above, preheat the sous-vide precision cooker or immersion circulator to the desired temperature. Season your chicken with pepper and salt as you allow your water bath to come to the right temperature.

Step 2

After seasoning your chicken breast, you can place it in vacuum bags or zipper-lock bags. Ensure that you expel air from the zipper-lock bags and leave the last inch of the top unsealed. You can seal this part just before you completely submerge your bag in the preheated bath. If using a vacuum bag follow the instructions provided by the manufacturer to seal the bag.

Step 3

Once you seal your zipper-lock bag or vacuum bag, drop the bag in the preheated water bath. Ensure that you do not block parts of your immersion circulator or precision cooker that intake and spit out water. A properly sealed chicken breast should sink. Follow the timing chart above to cook your chicken breast.

Step 4

Once your chicken breast is ready, remove it from the sealed package and get rid of any herbs or aromatics. Using paper towels, pat the chicken dry on all sides. Depending on your preferences, you can choose to finish cooking your chicken on a grill or a pan.

Conclusion

You can control the texture and level of juiciness on your chicken breast when you cook it sous vide. Sous vide precision cookers and immersion circulators make it is quite easy to get the timing and temperatures right. This is in comparison to using aggressive traditional means that require you get the timing perfectly.

Following the temperature and timing chart for sous vide chicken breast makes it easy for you to get the perfect results. You can get unparalleled levels of texture and juiciness on your sous vide chicken breast. However, the recommended times for cooking chicken breast is 4 hours with 2 hours giving better results.