I love food, and by this I mean good quality food. I don’t need anything fancy either; sometimes the simplest of meals are the best. I’m also always intrigued by new ways of cooking, especially if it involves some sort of small appliance. Here I’ll be looking at the SousVide Supreme Water Oven and testing it out to see what it’s all about.
What does SousVide even mean you might be asking? SousVide is actually a French term meaning “under vacuum” which means you’re cooking your food inside a vacuum sealed food grade pouch. Once your food is vacuum sealed it cooks submerged in temperature regulated water for as long as it takes for the food to reach the desired temperature. I’m thinking this sounds like a great way to get tender and flavourful meats.
Initial impressions
After taking the SousVide Supreme out of the box I was happy to see there wasn’t a lot of accessories or things needing to be put together. It’s designed well and is stylish and sleek and will easily fit on the countertop or fit nicely in the cupboard. The buttons on the screen look basic and very easy to use.
Charting the key considerations
How long does SousVide take to reach cooking temperature?
The SousVide water heats quite quickly, by the time I got the meal ready and vacuum sealed the water was ready to go. I also liked that you can see numbers on the screen rising with the water temperature.
What’s the average cooking time for meals?
Depending on what you’re cooking. You can cook eggs between 15 min and 1.25 hours, fruits and vegetables between 30 min and 2 hours, fish between 30 – 60 min, poultry between 1-8 hours, pork between 1.5 – 12 hours and beef or lamb 1 – 24 hours.
What are the benefits of cooking with SousVide Supreme?
- Your foods will have amazing taste and texture without the loss of nutrients.
- You can cook multiple servings individually served in their own pouch for leftovers in the fridge or freezer.
- It’s hands off cooking.
- You can’t really over cook your meats because the vacuum seal keeps the moisture in.
Is SousVide easy to clean?
Yes, while it’s not dishwasher safe that doesn’t really matter since the food is sealed in a pouch there’s no mess to worry about. Simply empty out the water after each use and give a rinse with warm soapy water.
Testing it out
Once you take SousVide Supreme out of the box the next step is to wash the lid, rack, grill and stainless steel bath with warm soapy water. SousVide is not dishwasher safe but it is really easy to wash without a lot of extra parts. Once the parts have been washed and dried, plug in the unit and fill it with water. Only after you’ve filled the bath with water should you power it on by pressing the on/off button until you feel a small click and hear a beep. You’ll see the water temperature light up with the current water temperature and from here you can set your desired temperature by pressing the “set temp” button and then the + or – button until you see the temperature you need to cook and press “start”. The water will now start to heat and let you know it’s reached your desired temperature by beeping and changing the light colour from red to green.
While your SousVide is heating up you can prepare your sealed pouches. I always like to test out a recipe from the included recipe book when I get a new small appliance. It’s a great way to get to know your new appliance, and give you a feel for other recipes you can create on your own.
The vacuum sealer is very user friendly. Simply place your ingredients in a sealer pouch, place the open end inside the sealer and click the top down. You’ll hear a click and notice it’s locked in place and the vacuum seal will start automatically. Once the air is sucked out, the sealer will seal the opening and your meal is ready for the water bath.
Now that your meals is ready, simply place your sealed pouch or pouches in the wire rack and submerge the rack into the water and cover the water bath with the aluminum lid. You can set the timer if you want according to the handy chart included with the SousVide but you don’t have to, the SousVide will still cook your food without the timer running. Personally I always set the timer because I have been known to be forgetful.
Here’s my video review of the SousVide Supreme.
Final Thoughts
Just like any meal you make, there is some prep time with the SousVide but I wouldn’t say more than any other meal you would make. What is great, is that once you place your meal inside the water bath you don’t have to give it much thought until your timer beeps.
There were a few things I loved about the SousVide. The best being how easy it is to use. All it really takes is to power on the appliance, set your temperature, quickly and easily seal your foods and place them in the SousVide. At this point you can just walk away and continue on with your day. I find I get stuck in a routine of cooking meats and veggies the same way, and my kids and I get sick of eating the same old thing. With SousVide you can get tender meats and perfectly cooked veggies infused with flavour, and since you can change your sauces and seasonings each time, you can get variety.
I also love that you can seal and cook separate pouches for easy and convenient single serve meals. This is great for weekly food prep for lunches or even busy weekdays when you don’t have much time to cook a fresh and healthy meal
After writing this and testing out a chicken recipe, I had a thought that the SousVide would probably make a really great fruit compote to add to some vanilla ice cream.
You can find the SousVide Supreme in the small appliance section at bestbuy.ca.
this is a great cooking appliance, and especially great for those that prefer to steam their food instead of burning it with flame or microwaves. I enjoyed the demo video and the chicken looked like it turned out great.
Where do we find extra pouches, are they special pouches?
From my knowledge any vacuum seal bags work in the sealer, just be careful not to use any ziploc style bags.
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