Just to add - I seem to remember Douglas Baldwin putting scallops in a brine in a ziplock bag, and dropping that into a water bath. I’m trying to cut out the middle man.

I could see it being a problem with a delicate fish that falls apart and gets macerated, but I'm thinking about something sturdier like shrimp.

How do you clean the innards of the circulator after? Are you sure you can adequately clean the bits the liquid will touch berfore? My instinct is one doesn't introduce food into machinery. DCarch probably knows...

I do have experience heating a vessel of liquid inside a sous vide immersion circulator (Anova, also) regulated bath. It works very well. Put the food in the stock in a sous vide bag in the circulator bath, or in a container in the bath. Go ahead and ”poach”, without gumming up the works. Actually, for poaching in particular, if you use a container, you can heat that first, and add the poachee when it's ready if you want a shorter time in liquid. That way you're really poaching like on the stove, but with a regulated temperature.

I was posting while you did. Leave the middle man! Besides my questions above, how do you keep the shrimp out of the intake of the circulator? How do keep the violence of the liquid leaving the circulator from buffeting the shrimp even if you have them pinned in place?

No, just no. You can't let scale build-up from water on a sous vide stick. You absolutely should not get food particulate stuck up in there. The food is in a container in the water bath for a good reason. If you just have a bag leak into your bath water and turn it dirty, you should take it apart for cleaning. The Anovas seem to be open units instead of sealed units. Even with running the stick in clean bath water, you should run it through a vinegar cycle on the regular to clean out any buildups.

Slightly OT -- my only experience with sous vide is the stuff I've purchased from Kevin's. Three different entrees and no desire to try a fourth.

https://www.kevinsnaturalfoods.com/collections/heat-eat-entrees

I’m looking at my circulator and am just not seeing it being that difficult to clean. nothing hidden, nothing a toothbrush couldn’t easily reach, And while I don’t see any scale deposits on it, if I did why would it be more concerning han the scale in a coffee maker?

But the fact that you aten’t all saying ”Sure!” goves me comfort that I’m not missing out on something everyone’s already doing. Thanks!

I keep thinking about running shoes on sand. Yeah, you can get them clean, but what about those few grains of scratchy sand that remain...?

Wondering, does the manufacturer have anything to say about it? Is there a FAQ section @ their site?

Did a little searching and found this:

https://community.anovaculinary.com/t/can-anova-be-use-to-cook-broth-and-other-non-clear-water-liquid/25908

If some tiny something gets stuck to it and that something is sterilized prior to use, I don’t see where it’s a potential problem. ”Void the warranty” to me sounds like a general statement saying it won’t be covered if used in any way that it was not intended for. A generic CYA, not a judgment call for one nonstandard use over another. I could see it being a bad idea to try to keep New England Clam Chowder warm with it. Rather than come up with a list of do’s snd don’ts, just say water only.

I’m not trying to convince myself or anyone it’s ok to do. Just explaining why I think it probably would be just fine.

What’s prompted all this is a Cook’s Illustrated recipe I read today (others may have also gotten the email) that has you start the shrimp in a cold brine and heat them up to temp. They claim that for a given amount of shrimp of X size in Y volume of brine, bringing the pot up to Z temp will result in the shrimp being an optimal 140 degrees. It's presented as quite precise, but the differential is pretty big, 20° in their base recipe. I'd need convincing that this is not noticeably dependent on other factors such as shape and material of the cooking vessel and strength of the burner. I was thinking the fastest and most precise way to get the shrimp to 140° would be to cook them in 140° liquid. Or maybe 141°. But I'll try their method and see if it works acceptably for me.

FOAS, You can do that recipe without voiding your warranty. I do 5 quarts of milk in a container in a circulator bath, in a cooler, to hold at temerature (112F?) for 12 hrs. to make hoop cheese, and have done smaller amounts in jars in a roaster pan, etc. You can bake jar cakes in the ”water oven”. Is there some reason you don't want to? You could use the pot you'd use on the stove in a washtub or goose pot, or cooler, or whathaveyou.

Yes, I don’t want to because it'll be much slower and my gut tells me the extended warming time wouldn't benefit the shrimp. I could be wrong.

I love shrimp and would be happy to run my own course of experiments, but I've been lowering my consumption of late. But I will try their method as written and see what the ol' Thermapen says.

I'm no expert, but I thought it was heat or acid that transformed shrimp. At low temperature, my guess is it would be okay for quite awhile. They're aquatic!

I have an Anova and a different one that is simply a basin of water that's held at the required temp. That one could be used no problem for the type of cooking you're hankering to try. There's no circulation. It works a treat. I have this one. https://www.amazon.fr/Russell-Hobbs-Programmes-R%C3%A9cipient-dAluminium/dp/B098FFX67J/ref=sr_1_28_mod_primary_new?mk_fr_FR=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&crid=37AXKFJNXFV8P&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.oDoe1X190dD-3-f-KPWr4KWlTait44b9ipBqcjDOw2Ck3EzUIeAPKyAH70GvAYQAxcsHtk0Rit-KrMqHEb6wuHY92zCw39LX2gC6yTkbH4dAHK0UB4jWY-JO2xQamslEZdxQ_3kVP1ZkhK1RM0U0j6PyG9YPl4iHt80z0dDI1DcrQErlSIxxpSQDiznd11Ol71fG6SGzKy1BgXa46-clMlqDynhn4EQgDjQQ87SQlAltKlu5ZA6k6YAjh3yqkuDbE0j7rNeYJBOndrWwuCXA8WlEFAs3TtPJE5PJNVRAk.7tmksibeTNvGJ1lzn35p-2wnuWvtQ0uvrSb67zgrM1w&dib_tag=se&keywords=sous+vide+multicuiseur&qid=1718436528&sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&sprefix=sous+vide+multi+cuiseur%2Caps%2C169&sr=8-28

I don't see brine or juices being a waranty issue as the circulator 'fan' and motor are sealed but any solids could get in the gap and clog the circulator. That happened to one of our air fans. A small plastic bag got sucked into it and stopped the blades from moving and burned out the motor.

Bags do sometimes leak. Not had that problem but if it did the circulator and the cambro would need cleaning. So i would not call that cutting to the chase having to add that extra cleaning step after using.

I would think using a couple quart or a half gallon ball jar would keep the shrimp contained and bring to temp without babysitting the stove top pot.

I'm pasturizing a few eggs this morning for a Caesar salad tomorrow. I'm bagging them as eggs often leak a small snake of white.

I do see many using ball jars. I have made the small egg custards blending egg and cottage cheese, ham, spinach, red pepper, chunks of feta. But nothing larger than the mini 4-5 oz jars.

I don't use my sous vide that often but do like the ease of a few small packages of boneless pork chops. One for dinner and two into the freezer. Set it and forget it with no clean-up.

Islay - Yeah, no circulator. I believe some instapots have that capability and I’ve been toying with finally getting one. Almost asked for one for Father’s Day. Last night I was thinking I could make something similar with my crock pot and the controller from my original homemade SV that dcarch helped me with many years ago.

Sleeve, I was thinking about bag failure as well.

I don't think anything in the circulator that is to be submerged can be damaged by corrosion. All the parts are made with stainless steel.

The submerged part of the circulator is like a little hand blender, it will chop up you food. I would be concerned about the motor, it is a very weak motor, if it has to deal with any liquid thicker than water, it may get overheated and burnout.

If you really want to try the idea out, may be you can disconnect the motor and use an air bubbler to circulate the food.

dcarch

My thoughts exactly, dcarc!

From my experience, circulating water isn't really necessary. The still pot works just as well.

Lots of food is poached. It gives food time for flavours to mingle and meat to tenderise. Think of a poached chicken. Meat stews. Lamb hotpot.

Chefsteps have some interesting recipe where you sousvide meat in the bag with the sauce with it. It's effectively in liquid. I did a lamb one and it was very good.