Santa came early this year!


An brown box arrived today!


What does this look like?


That’s right – it’s an immersion circulator! The water flow around the heating coil due to the circulator pump insures an even temperature throughout the water bath.


I’m ready for some real sous-vide cooking! No more turning-the-plate-on-and-off sous-vide 🙂

27 Comments

  1. i just got a polyscience in the post 3 weeks ago! i have it in the restaurant, order in – fire lamb loins labelled with table number in et voila! its the best thing ever. and sunday brunch will never be the same again. 1 hour eggs all over the shop. perfectly poaches apples. the list goes on and on.

  2. Price: expensive (at least in Norway) … let’s leave it with that 😉 I got it from a laboratory supplier. What I can tell you is that it’s worth shopping around with regards to price. My supplier knocked off nearly 25% of the price when I asked for a better offer.

    First leason learnt: Meat is a poor heat conductor! Had to tweek it a little by turning water bath up 5 degrees above desired core temperature to speed things up. The reason for this was that I had guests waiting… But the end result was excellent and extremely tender!

  3. I paid more than that, but there will be regional differences. I don’t even know if PolylScience is available in Norway. You can find plenty of webshops (and prices) if you google “julabo ed immersion circulator”. But I should stress that the brand or make really doesn’t matter. After all it’s a pretty simple device and every chemistry lab has dozens of these.

  4. Yeah I know if I want a Poly Sci (being Canadian its going to be 1000USD (about 1200Canadian plus alot in shipping) that and in Norway you have a VAT right? which really makes stuff expensive

  5. there is a company called magrini in england that sell pacojets (so expensive!) and polyscience circulators. i think around 700 sterling. they even sell antigriddles. great service.

  6. Congratulations! I’ve had access to one for a long time (at work), but must ashamed admit that I haven’t really utilised it thoroughly yet. Look forward to new perspectives on this now 😉

  7. I have had a polyscience since early this year. Julabo is dearer in Oz. These items make it all so very very easy cooking sous-vide. I cannot recommend one highly enough.

  8. Happy holidays to all…look no further we have the right equipment for the Sous Vide culinary art with special Santa savings (*applies to North America only, offer expires 12/31/08). For more information visit our website now! Locations worldwide! 1-800-458-5226

  9. hi martin,

    i have one queries for you. i’m using a rice cooker switched to a temp controller device which i use for sous vide cooking. this time i tried to make a stew meat stew directly on the cooker and the temp controller.
    i first brined the meat for about 6-8 hours on a 1-10 water – salt ratio. after that i immersed the meat various water baths until most salt had been eliminated.

    after that i cooked it at 60º on a meat, vegetable and wine stock and waited to see when the meat was cooked. after 50 hours the meat began tenderizing, but only a small proportion of it did. even after 70 hours i had soft pieces of meat (but a bit mushy on the inside) and still tough pieces (the biggest pieces were the toughest ones). do you have any idea why i didn’t obtained good results? could it be because of the wine (acid) – and brining combination? if so, why is there an interaction in this two processes?

    thanks a lot in advance.

  10. I recall from the book “Food chemistry” (p. 593 – you can view the page directly at google books) that salt and acid counteract each other with regards to water holding capacity, with the consequence that for a marinade you should either use salt or acid but not both.

    What kind of meat and cut did you use?

  11. We have just recently had Chief Scientist Bruno Goussalt over in Dubai to conduct a sous vide seminar to the regions chefs using, of course, our Vacuum Chamber machines but also a range of water baths from Clifton Food Range, UK – http://www.cliftonfoodrange.co.uk – very nice kit indeed.

    Using the cheapest store bought ingredients we could find, the most amazing results were achievable.

  12. hi again martin,

    thanks for your answer. the salt/acid combination would only paricially explain the toughness of the meat, the meat’s lack on water holding capacity would only in part contribute to the perception of toughness, but i’m sure not to the extreme of my meat was.

    the meat i used was middle rib (between the neck and the rib eye), quite a tough piece of meat, but something other must have gone wrong… i assume 70 hours would be enough to tenderize even the toughest pieces of meat, right?

  13. Good Afternoon,

    I am writing to inform you of a new consultancy service “Sous Vide Solutions” to accommodate the growing use of this cooking technique.
    I have been using this method of cookery for many years professionally in fine-dining restaurants, and contribute regularly at demonstrations and trade-shows.
    I have been working with the leading UK waterbath manufacturers [Clifton] and alongside Mulivac vacuum packers.

    During the past 12 months I have seen much growth through the industry and a definite trend of larger-scale properties (often without highly skilled chefs) changing their cooking styles towards the sous vide method. That said the need for proper training and safe system set-up is vitally needed.

    Sous Vide Solutions provide expert, practical set-up advice and the implementation within your premises for a tailored service – including the seamless inclusion of systems, processes and technology. Full support of HACCP is all part of a safe and efficient service that Sous Vide Solutions offer.

    Olly Rouse
    Principle Consultant

    • Olly Rouse: May I suggest that you make the cooking charts with times and temperatures that you promote on your webpage available online for free under a CC license? I believe that would be more helpful for our discussion and everyone who’s into sous-vide would benefit from that! There should still be plenty of room for your company to make an income based on a complete HACCP support for restaurants.

  14. Hello Martin

    So, 18 months down the line, is it worth it? I must say I am hesitating: both cost and space required are large… I went to the demo of the Sous Vide Supreme in London last month and the result was OK but not mind-blowing. I’m nervous spending the best part of 700 Euros on something I will not use very often. Also, where do you stand in the religious debate between bath and clamped stirred heaters?

    Thanks

    Franí§ois

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