I have been reading about the Sous Vide cooking on this site for a while now and I am thinking about getting into using this cooking technique. Most everyone on here seems to use either the Anova or the Joule so my question is if you were buying a new one which one would you buy and why.
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Anova because they are well established. I own one and works flawlessly. Wait for a sale because they go on sale frequently. Just get on their listserve. -
If you own and don't mind a smart phone app, the Joule is the superior tool, being both smaller and more powerful. There is risk and expense in a Joule, so if you don't want to use a smart phone app, or are tentative about SV, I'd get the Anova, while waiting for a $99 sale.Comment
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I have the Anova and would buy it again because it works well and hasn't failed me. If you get the same response with different brands go with the one with the features that you like/want vs price. Clip v magnet, size, depth, WiFi/bluetooth etc. I bought my Anova because of WiFi capability but find I don't use the technology much. I like the side mount and the size, too.Comment
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Thanks guys, I was leaning toward the Anova but I think you just made this easier. I don't want something that I have to use with an app and a smart phone, I just want something that I can plug up to an outlet and use kind of like a toaster I guess you would say.Comment
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vandy at https://anovaculinary.com/store/ see the "select connectivity" area to change the model.Comment
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I have an Anova and it has been a great little unit. I believe Meathead has used several different ones and prefers the Joule over all the others. If I were to buy another I think I'd be going with a joule. Smaller, easier to store, but more powerful than the Anova.Comment
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I wrote up my opinion in another thread. I have the Anova...
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vandy I don't think you'll go wrong with either one. I bought mine before the Joule came out. You can definitely cook a whole pork butt or turkey with the Anova though. I have cooked one pork butt at 165 in a Rubbermaid commercial container with no problem holding temperature. I couldn't fit 2 pork butts in it so I used the cooler which was big and insulated.Comment
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EdF Lobster pot! That's a great idea for big cooks. The only downside is still the insulation. You can buy a nice sized cooler that's insulated and cut a hole in the top for the anova that would prevent it from sliding into the water for less than $20. I would image a heavy gauge lobster pot would cost around $50 or even up to $100.Comment
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Well, I dove in today and went ahead and ordered the Joule. I don't particularly like the fact that the only way to control it is with a phone app but I do like the simplicity and the extra power of it. I have some stainless steel pots that are at least 8 quarts to start out with for cooking steaks or chicken breasts or a chuck roast or something like that. I will start out small before I graduate to cooking a whole turkey or pork butt. Now all I have to do is figure out how to use it when I get it. I am sure if I need help I can turn to this website for it. Thanks again for all the input guys.Comment
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I have used the Anova - Wifi, the Joule, and the Nomiku - Wifi. I prefer the Nomiku. The Joule and Nomiku get the water bath up to temp much faster than the Anova, and I like the ability to control the immersion circulator from the device as well as a phone. All three get the job done though.Comment
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Anyone ever cook hamburgers with a sous vide machine? Another questions is what do you set the water temp for when cooking say a pork butt, I would assume that you set it for close to what you would pull it at when cooking it on a grill but not to clear on that. I think Breadhead said he cooks his steaks at 131 then sears them on a grill which makes sense, you would only need a couple minutes per side on a hot grill to get a good crust. I am sure I am going to be asking a lot of questions about this technique until I get up to speed on the different ways to do this.Comment
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Well, for the pork butt, here are some notes I have:
=== butts
Smoked 3 hours + 18 hours sous vide at 176F yielded 53%
Pulled pork sous-vide time: 18-24 hours at 176F (Try 36 hours at 155F to see whether it comes out moister).
Smoke for a few hours first, or add smoked bacon to packages (1 piece / pound). Meathead sets finished temp to be 203. Others think that’s too high for SV, and recommend lower/longer. Also note that Elder Ward cooks it in the egg to 200 internal (no SV).
Add BBQ sauce after torching and shredding- Ernest on Amazing Ribs did sous-vide 158 for 24 hours, then 4 hours at 160 in the KBQ. (Note the temps, with the KBQ no higher than the sous-vide machine - also note that the KBQ cooks faster than most smokers because it’s convection).
- mtvector did 165 for 24 hours followed by 3 hours at 275 in BGE and reported good results.
Potkettleblack:
165 x 18-24h for pulled texture. That's what Kenji recommends. Smoke until the stall. Or just 140 IT. It's not getting smokier after 140 IT, and SV is gonna mess with bark, so you're probably gonna want to run it under the broiler or on the grill to rebark.
In traditional BBQ, you are smoking in a hotter medium (the smoker) to get it to the point of collagen breakdown (generally 203). In Sous B Que, you're achieving the collagen breakdown at a lower temp, with greater efficiency of energy transfer (water is more efficient than air), for a longer time. Even if you're just going 18 hours, you're still transferring more energy, more gently, into your pork.
Now, I might suggest that maybe, with sous vide, you don't want to go for pulled. You might want to go for slicing, like a brisket, only from the pork shoulder. For that, I'd suggest 140-145 x 24h. I suspect, if you're willing, you can go looonger than 24 and get something pullable... I think the beauty of SV is being able to get things that you cannot get any other way. I'm pretty sure I did one low and long, like 140x 48, but I cannot find the posts, so I'm not sure it happened. I may have only been thinking about it.
Any rate, I would smoke for maybe 3 hours, to 140 IT, sv at 140-145 or 165 for 18-24, then shock, then sear.
Breadhead:
September 19th, 2016, 01:28 AM
I've done that cook twice for no other reason than to experiment. I had no guidance, I didn't copy any recipe, I just combined all of my BBQ experience with what little I had learned about Sous Vide cooking to that point, with the help of the Modernists Cuisine cook book on SV cooking.
When planning the cook... My first thought was what do I do about the stall? Will there be a stall? So... I decided I would SV the butt to 180°. Thinking that's generally past the normal stall temperatures.
Then I thought about how long it was going to take in the smoker for me to get the bark texture that I wanted? Knowing I would put it in the smoker at about 38°.
Then i thought about how am I going to get the smoke flavor I'm used too? So i decided an ice bath would be best after taking it out of the bath tub then putting it in the fridge overnight. That would allow me to put a cold clod of meat in the smoker, which smoke will adhere to best.
Then i thought... Do I cook to temperature (203°), probe softness, or do I cook to the look of the bark? Then I put my Thermapen probe into the meat, while cold, just to see where my starting point was. It had a long way to go.
I fired up my large BGE to 240° and put my pork butt on and put in more wood chunks than normal, all in one bunch right over the small fire. Thinking they will burn off in about one hour, not to be replaced with more chunks. I normally smoke at 225° but I thought the hotter temperature would build the bark faster. There was no stall. It did take a while for the meat temperature to increase because the starting point was 38°.
[SV 15 hours @180]
The end result was I smoked the butt for about 5 hours and got the bark color and texture I wanted and the meat was probe soft at that point and it was 205°. I got plenty of smoke flavor and the meat was moist and tender.
I will repeat that cook when time is an issue, entertaining guests, where I MUST serve it on time. In fact that's the only way I'll do that cook under those circumstances. I like knowing that it's about a 5 hour window so I can accurately plan.👍
On the other hand... A 14 to 16 hour full packer cook is no problem either.
Difference in food taste, texture, moisture? It's about a push. Most people would never be able to tell the difference.
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Lots of opinions and approaches. I'd pay attention to potkettleblack and breadhead.
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Does anyone monitor the IT of the meat while it is in the SV bath or is it just a timed thing? Or do you just probe it with a Thermapen occasionally to find out when it reaches the IT that you are after?Comment
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