…I 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.

Martin, I got an immersion circulator as well. http://www.eatfoo.com/archives/2009/01/immersion_circulator_1.php. I use a FoodSaver, but instead of getting one of their lower end consumer models, I went with their GameSaver line. The GameSavers are more powerful and made for more reliable repeated use. Specifically, I got the Gamesaver Turbo Plus, which not only has the more powerful GameSaver motor, but actually has TWO of those motors. It still can’t compress anything to nearly the degree that a basic chamber vacuum sealer can do, but it works quite well vacuuming for sous vide cooking. I very quickly got the hang of vacuuming things with liquid as well. So I recommend the GameSaver Turbo Plus. http://www.foodsaver.com/Product.aspx?id=c&cid=90&pid=251.

I think you can get away without the circulating pump when you are using a large rice cooker, since the pot is so much larger than the immersion circulators. However, you’ve gotten me thinking. Perhaps the answer is some kind of small immersion fan or pump. I’ll check them out in pet stores (for small fish aquariums, they make lots of them). Considering the overall cost is about 20% of the Poly Science model, it’s worth it (not including the vacuum sealer).

Do you think you could do Wagyu Beef with this? I wonder how the “non-rendering” of the fat would work, and it’s too expensive to experiment with.

Timing in cunking sous-vide is related to the volume, and is an exponential function, wich mades dificult to estimate the time for home cooks like us.

I usually used the tables listed ner the page 60 of the thread, and worked really well
http://forums.egullet.org/index.php?showtopic=116617

http://auberins.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=8&products_id=44

It works quite well, but not perfectly. Some of Thomas Keller and Grant Achatz’s recipes call for temperature controls by 1 degree changes. The Auber unit is digital, but the rice cooker won’t let you do it that fine. But for things like steak, it’s quite fine.

I do have a Food Saver, but half the time, it doesn’t work. So I wind up using a Zip-Lock bag, folding it over a lot to get the air out, and frankly, that works fine–and it’s a lot cheaper than an electronic gadget that doesn’t always work. Since everyone in my family likes steak cooked barely black and blue, setting the temperature to 51 degrees produces excellent results. And my kids love using a creme brulee torch to brown the meat. Rare, browned steak with no pan to clean is great.

I intend to try Keller’s vegetable ideas, but will pass on the short ribs that everyone else seems to like (well, I’ll try it once). However, I once grilled short ribs, and didn’t like the taste, so I think what I like is not only the gelatinous quality, but the sauce; and the sauce comes from the braising process. Plus braising food is fun. Simple, transformative, psycho-therapeuric, and nothing except for fresh baked bread can fill a house with so many wonderful aromas.