Arley, basically what FOAS have said. Leave the pump on all the time to make sure that the temperature is completely even and thermal conduction is efficient. The pump is typically a brushless AC motor, nothing much to be wormed out. Look on eBay for immersion heaters. I use one that is 220vac/2,000 watts unit. Running 220vac/2,000 watts on 110vac gives you 500 watts. It's cheaper, less than $10.00. Plug the finished sous vide controller in a GFP kitchen outlet just incase of leaks. This portable unit gives you the flexibility of cooking with any size container. I have cooked a couple of eggs in a small pot to an entire frozen 18-lb turkey in a bee cooler. Using a light bulb as a heating source, you can have absolute repeatable bread proofing. Have fun. dcarch

You can also get an egg chart (see link) to have eggs cooked exactly the same way every time to specification, it does not matter how cold/hot/big/small the eggs are. The sous vide system can be set up to do anything which will require exact temperature control, such as making yogart, hatching eggs, pasteurize eggs (for ice cream raw eggs), pasteurize milk, proofing bread, starting seeds, ---------. The steak took me about 8 hours. I like to serve steaks as hot as possible without overcooking. The sous vide method does not require resting. This is how it works: Since you cannot overcook the meat, you can take the time to prepare every other sides, then when it's time to eat, you tell everyone to sit down and fire up the cast iron skillet. I normally get the skillet to about 520F with an IR thermometer. Sear the steak about one or two minutes each side, get the house to smell real good. Perfect timing. Served hot !!! dcarch Here is a link that might be useful:

Since there seems to be some renewed interest by those who’ve yet to try sous vide, thought I’d add a few comments/observations… For me, the most wonderful thing about sous vide is the ability to take a cheap cut of meat and make it tender and tasty – and cook it to perfect mid-rare (our preference). Whether it’s Select steaks on sale for DH and I to enjoy and feel as if we’re dining on quality steak on a weeknight, or finding some cut at the grocery which I’ve no idea what it is and SV’ing, then slicing for a fantastic lunch meat or a quick dinner sandwich… it’s amazing what the SV can do with cheap cuts… Second most wonderful thing for me: Bulk SV’ing (thanks to Sleevendog). I SV and freeze several pork chops to thaw, reheat in the SV, sear and serve; chicken to make salads and sandwiches. And DH’s favorite weeknight meal: Several cheap steaks in bags of 2, mass SV’d to desired doneness. Drop in ice bath, label, then freeze. I only need to remove a couple from the freezer, pop in the SV at one degree under the temp initially cooked, it thaws and reheats in about 45 minutes, and meanwhile I whip up a quick sauce, some veggies, and finish by searing off which also helps to heat the steaks. Makes for an easy weeknight meal. Below is a Select New York Strip, little to no marbling (uber-cheap cut), with a (too thick) peppercorn sauce. It was quite good! And my embarrassing confession: I can prepare fish and seafood… but for some reason I can’t consistently make it come out perfectly cooked. Sometimes my shrimp or scallops are a wee bit on the too done side. Same with salmon (as mentioned above). Sure, should be easy for many, but for me? Eh. So SV to the rescue. I made this scallop dish last summer and while the scallops were in the SV for their 30 minutes I fried up baby kale, baked my maple glazed bacon, sliced the tomatoes and avocados, and made a sauce for BLT Scallops. Seared off the scallops for 15 seconds, sliced in half, assembled, and they were perfection. To those who scoff and say they can sear a scallop in moments, I say great for you, but I can’t and know beyond any doubt they won’t be under cooked or overcooked. With SV I can : ) fillmoe, and anyone else interested, have fun and enjoy!

First try at leftovers from the freezer the other day, a pork loin roast, worked perfectly. Nice to have hot leftovers without overcooking. Less success, again, with steaks. Figured I’d try it on my kids without them knowing anything. 1.25” strips, a bit of salt, bit of avocado oil. 132° for about an hour, pan seared. As opposed to my typical pan sear, rest, oven. My daughter immediately picked up on something being different. “The juice doesn’t taste right.” I asked my son if his was ok. “Not as good as normal but it’s fine.” That was as much descriptive as I got from them. Add them to the list, as my wife never likes it either, complains about the texture. Can’t say SV steak is idiot-proof because this idiot has yet to nail it.