The sous vide tool is not deserving of its present condition. Confined for most of its life to high-end restaraunts, the sous vide circulator is sometimes labeled as a tool with too few uses to justify the price. This isn’t really true.
For one, great, easy-to-use sous vide circulators exist — just look at Anova Culinary’s circulator or ChefSteps Joule, both of which offer robust and intuitive cooking apps. But there’s also the matter of what the everyday, utility-first home cook can get out of it. Here are three simple uses that justify its inclusion in your kitchen alone.
Meal prep has never been easier.
With sous vide, you can turn cheaper cuts of meat into absurdly good meals to eat all week. Essentially, you put your choice cheap meat (pork shoulder, in this case) in a big bag, sink it in a pot full of water and turn the sous vide to the desired temperature. It’ll take a long time, but there’s no flame, gas or risk involved with leaving it running while you’re away at work. When it’s done, you’ve effectively converted all the stuff that usually makes these cuts less than stellar (tough, stringy collagen) into something else entirely.
It’s the best way to defrost frozen food.
Microwaves are pretty terrible at defrosting food (it has to do with microwave frequencies and some other science). What’s more, defrosting in your sink or on the countertop has an adverse effect on the food quality, too (slow defrosting results in serious moisture loss). Using sous vide to defrost and cook simultaneously solves both of these issues, and makes cooking from frozen a practice not nearly as detrimental (and frustrating) as it often is.