Posted by mike9 : " How large of a cooler do you recommend? " How big a cooler will depend on how much food you try to sous vide. Since the components of my system are portable, I have several container sizes, from a small one to cook a few eggs to a good size cooler for large roasts. "How much power do i need? " The pump is less than 10 watts, the rest depends on the electric heater. Remember the heater use not much power to keep the water at the set temperature. "If i had to raise that the temperature of the cooler 30-40 degrees above hot tap water then its going to take a long time with 300w. I'd have to pull out the pans boil water on the stove etc. Could say a 1500w heater be too much and have problems with overshooting? I plan on using a PID and solid state relay. " I always use boiling water to get the water bath temperature high enough. 1,500 W heater will not overshoot if you have a good enough circulator. PID controller with a solid state relay, I believe, but not sure, throttles the heater from low to high. PID will, using self-tuning, self-adjusting to compensate overall equipment overshooting. "How much power does it take to sustain the equilibrium temp after everything has been cooking for many hours? " Depends on the insulating property of your container and the size of the container. "How much power does it take to maintain the set water temperature after a bunch of frozen food has been dropped into the bath? That could be important if i have an item already cooking and then later throw something frozen in there, if the temp of the water dropped for a long time it could mess up the cooking time of the first item. " Just keep an eye on the temperature reading, add more boiling water if needed. "I was looking at these heaters. http://www.amazon.com/NORPRO-559-Immersion-Warming-Liquids/dp/B000I8VE68/ http://www.amazon.com/Bush-CH-101-Energy-Saving-Immersion-Heater/dp/B003DLB5KW/ http://www.amazon.com/Reliance-9000129-045-Electric-Heater-Element/dp/B000H5W1TQ/ " The first two not too good: 1. they are not long lasting. 2. They are not completely submersible. The third one is very long lasting, but requires you to build something around the exposed terminals to waterproof and shock-proof. ------------------------------------------- I would like to say this to those of you who may be reading this thread, do not worry about any of these tech stuff. They are not what sous vide cooking is all about. A ready-made sous vide cooker is not that expensive anymore, plug it in, set the temperature and enjoy the superior food. That is all. All these annoying tech stuff are for crazy folks like me, who hasn�t quite outgrown his toy playing delinquencies yet. dcarch

I definitely have a Sous Vide Supreme on my want list but since I recently dropped about $700 on a VitaMix set at Costoc it will probably be a while. :D One dish that really fascinates me when prepared Sous Vide is Fried Chicken. Have you tried this before? I love experimenting with new techniques to improve fried chicken and this one is very promising. (My other favorite method is pressure cooker fried chicken but that's pretty dangerous if you don't have the right equipment!) To make Sous Vide Fried Chicken soak your chicken in a strong brine for 30-40 minutes, rinse and soak in seasoned buttermilk for 8-12 hours. Season the meat with your preferred spices, maybe a little hot sauce or fresh buttermilk. Put the chicken in vacuum bags and cook at 160F for an hour. At that point you can dry the meat, coat in seasoned flour and fry it. Alternatively you can chill the meat down in ice water and hold in the fridge for quick frying later. The benefit to that method is that you can do all of the prep work for fried chicken in advance. Also, there are no worries about undercooked centers or dried meat. The chicken stays incredibly moist and the flavors really penetrate the meat. It's great if you want to cook a large amount of fried chicken for a crowd in a short amount of time. It's also good if you want to fry chicken to order. One warning though, you might want to cook the chicken to 165 though since the USDA has recently revised their meat cooking guidelines. Here is a link that might be useful: Hacking Your Slow Cooker: D.I.Y. Sous Vide Setup

Very interesting post, FOAS. Thank you for taking the time to do the experimentations/investigations. Your efforts definitely will further everyone's knowledge in this Forum. Ultimately that is a very important part for the participation here. It is interesting that you have had mixed results. Let's look at it this way; at least it was not a total lost for you. Obviously your experience is not the same as mine. That is not to say that you have done anything wrong or you don't have good taste. Eating experience is very subjective and details for preparation can be unpredictable. I have been luckier. I have sous vided many kinds of foods. As I can remember, the biggest failure I had was with squid. My timing was wrong and the squid turned into mush. Otherwise all meats, all seafood; lobsters, clams, fish, scallops --- all were from good to fantastic. Unlike you, I had great results with shrimps, but I did my shrimps at 138 F for 25 minutes, and I was able to get very fresh shrimps, not the chemically treated ones you now find in stores. I can only suggest to you, given that fact that if you search the WEB you will realize the practice of sous vide cooking is more than just a fashion trend, that you may want to play with it a few time times before giving up. I am not going to discredit Jonathan Gold's opinion about sous vide, after all he is a Pulitzer-price winning writer. However, I do humbly disagree that a perfectly cooked piece of meat is by definition boring. No one eats a steak directly as it comes out from the cooker, there are other preparation steps before the steak is to be served. Off-topic, I noticed that Costco is now selling sous vide cookers. I must point out again that sous vide only guarantees that you will not overcook or undercook your food, but it cannot guarantee that your food will taste good. It is like having a fancy grill will not automatically give you great BBQ. I might also add that sous vide cooking for chefs is not necessarily easier than regular cooking, but that's another topic all together. dcarch

Artemis_ma, I had 146 written originally, but have changed it to 148 – thank you. OT: I woke up in the middle of the night last night, literally sat up, and almost said aloud “that is artemis ma’s kitchen!” Forgive me, I didn’t remember your reveal post, but I guess it’s been in my subconscious all the while… I love your kitchen (said that a while back, but worth repeating). I even remember a family member had made or found an incredible crazy-looking langolier-like (from a Stephen King book) metal creature sculpture with eating utensils which I adored! I hear you, I’m now in TN, where the humidity makes me soaked after 10 minutes outside. I loved NM, the heat so dry… but DH is here, so I am : ) Plllog, you have a good point. I was thinking if there were followers, or later someone searching, they’d like to hear a newbie’s experiences, but yes, this is a long thread now, and many might skip over some of this invaluable information accidentally. I’ll start a new thread but include reference to this one. I’m (again) saving your comments. I need to write all this out in a notebook – writing it again will help me remember without having to look up things every time. I put a towel over and around the container with my long-cook meat yesterday and had been watching the water level like a mother hen : ) Sherri, I’ll keep your comment in mind about fast sears. See? These types of learning experiences are so helpful and I feel others can also benefit! That’s what I’d read Islay! Endive with butter and ginger? Instant gratin? My brain is in joyful overload! Bragu, I’d never have thought of that combo, ever… will now! Sleeve, I think I will start a new thread.. Yes, I will put sous vide in the title : ) “In a 'part-2' thread I'd like to hear some recipes.” – Last night I was thinking the same thing! I’ll make that request and share what I’ve got thus far (which isn’t much, but it’s a start!). Ha! There’s a very happy dog at your home! Did you smile or grumble? I’d have done both! Ah, so you use it for lunches and tacos! Or were going too.. Oh my, that London broil… I hope I’m not sous vide’ing (OK, how do you say it???) the round sirloin tip roast too long… oh well, trial and error! Sleevendog, I know I sound dense, but to clarify: You had a London broil that had been sous vide earlier, then you smoked it 45 minutes at 180-200 F to finish? Because, I’m thinking I can get (even in this heat) the weber and pellet tube at 200 F… I have yet to pre-sous vide and freeze anything – because I need to get my times and temps down before doing several at once. This is so embarrassing, but it’s the only way to learn: I looked for a London broil last Tuesday - but I was also looking for Top Round (which I also couldn’t find). Now I understand London broil is Top Round or Flank Steak or the way it’s prepared??? I bought the ‘round sirloin tip roast’ because it was cheap, and have never bought one before (it’s about the same thickness I think as Sleeve’s London Broil pic). It’s my understanding the top round is more tender than the sirloin tip, but the sirloin tip has some flavor. I’ve stared at photos of cow cuts, read multiple beef articles and my brain is now sous vide! If anyone can clarify what a London broil is, I’d appreciate it!