

Over the past decade, a new trend has been growing at a slow burn throughout the culinary industry: sous vide. Soon, some believe it will pervade almost every kitchen across the country. Here, we take a look at what exactly sous vide is, and why it's the newest cooking sensation.

What is sous vide?


The term, French for "under vacuum," refers to a method of cooking that was developed in the 1970s in which food is vacuum sealed in plastic bags and then slow-cooked in water heated to a low, precisely controlled temperature. This process allows for foods to retain more of their natural flavors and keeps meats with a tendency to dry out while cooking nice and moist. 

In 2005, the concept sous vide was introduced widely to the American public in a piece by Amanda Hesser for The New York Times Magazine in which she explained the process and it's newfound place among both the culinary elite and the production of food on a mass scale. From there, it became a part of restaurants within the molecular gastronomy movement, in which cooking meets science and chefs wear lab coats while designing foods to be flash frozen in liquid nitrogen. Most recently, sous vide has experienced a new swell of excitement as it becomes more of a staple among fine dining establishments across the country, and slowly works its way into the everyday arsenal of the at-home chef.

What makes sous vide so special?

The logic behind the method is surprisingly simple: As David Chang stated in his book “Momofuku,” “If you know what temperature you want the thing to be, just cook it at that temperature for long enough to bring the whole thing up to that temperature and presto!" Cooking sous vide can end up looking a bit like a science experiment, with futuristic cooking tools sticking halfway out of a pot of simmering water, and the resulting meals are both delicious and consistent; meats retain all of their juicy goodness and are never undercooked on the inside while the exterior is burnt to a crisp, and eggs can be poached to an exact degree of runniness.

Recently, sous vide has been making headlines as more and more culinary experts predict that at-home sous vide cooking methods will be the most kitchen-changing innovation since the advent of the microwave. The reason is because the method allows home cooks to create dishes with the precision and consistency of the professional chefs. Some believe that this convenience will lead immersion circulators (one of the tools used to heat water while cooking sous vide) to soon be as ubiquitous in home kitchens as ovens and microwaves.

What can I cook sous vide that I can't cook now?

1sansaire1Sansaire Instagram

Well, it's not necessarily that you can't cook these things right now, but sous vide aims to make a lot of meals easier to cook with greater precision and magnificent results. You'll no longer be cooking steaks rare or medium rare, you'll be cooking them to exactly 126 or 131 degrees. Vegetables that you used to steam will be alive with more flavor than ever before because they'll be losing less water to their environment. Sous vide also serves well for creating infused liquors, vinegars, and oils for those seeking to get a bit more adventurous in the kitchen.

How do I start?

Currently, there are already a few options out there for the aspiring sous vide chef. The at-home immersion circulator market is still a young one, but it's not short of players attempting to become the leader in the industry. Everyone from kick-starting entrepreneurs to technological leaders in other fields are getting into the game. Below we'll take you through some of the best options available to get started in expanding your culinary capabilities.

A few good immersion circulators:

If you already know you’re willing to take the plunge on this cooking method, here are some recommendations.



Anova is angling to be a part of every smart kitchen of the future. Their latest immersion circulator comes with a WiFi + Bluetooth option, allowing cooks to monitor their sous vide while out and about, an important feature considering some dishes take long stretches of cooking and cooling before they're ready to serve. Anova is also aligning itself with Apple, placing an app in the app store, and the company plans to soon be compatible with HomeKit, Apple's smart home software, meaning soon you'll be able to simply ask Siri to start cooking.

Anova WiFi and Bluetooth Sous Vide Precision Cooker, $167, available at Amazon.


1sansaireSansaire Kickstarter

The Sansaire immersion circulator started as a Kickstarter campaign with a goal of $100,000 in 2013. After exceeding that goal by over $700,000, Sansaire is now a leader in the marketplace. The company began after founder Scott Heimendinger reverse-engineered his own immersion circulator and posted his results and progress online. Soon thereafter, he left his career in the tech industry to become Director of Applied Research for Modernist Cuisine. It was a position apparently well-deserved, as Sansaire is now one of the highest reviewed products in its industry.

Sansaire Sous Vide Immersion Circulator, $175, available at Amazon.



Joule is an immersion circulator created by Seattle startup ChefSteps. While the company's main focus has been to become a resource for home chefs, producing videos taking their audience step by step through high-quality recipes, Joule represents its first foray into making its own products. However, the foundation that ChefSteps has laid may give it a jump on the rest of the industry. The app that comes with it includes not only WiFi and Bluetooth controls, but also tons of recipes ready to get new cooks started with sous vide cooking.

ChefSteps Joule, $199, join the waiting list at ChefSteps.

This article was originally publiches on 12/2/2015. 

