Many of you who follow my food diaries know that I am a fan of steak, but more importantly, of good steak.  I won’t waste my time eating it if it’s not tender, juicy and flavourful.  I’ve been a fan of the reverse sear method, but it can be tricky if your probe doesn’t work or if you leave it in too long because the oven can’t be set to such low temperatures.

Recently I tried the Sous Vide by Anova and I must say, I was quite impressed.  The Sous Vide precision cooker by Anova was an inexpensive device you can find for under $200 that requires very little set up and clean up too. Upon opening the box, I realized there weren’t a lot of instructions of how to use or what do do, so I downloaded the app and was quite satisfied.  The app provides recipes, cooking guides and suggestions and can even connect via bluetooth to your machine to regulate temperature and keep track of cooking time for you. Wow.  That’s pretty cool.

As for set up, I figured out how to use it by way of YouTube videos but I must admit, it was quite easy.  You clamp the machine to a deep, wide pot of water and turn on the desired temperature.  You put the meat in a freezer bag with seasoning and salt and remove all air from the bag.  I bought a nice tenderloin and cut it into 1 inch steaks and submerged the seasoned steak bag into the water so that no parts are above water.

The steaks took about 45 min to cook at 130F and then I took them out and put them on a paper towel lined plate to remove water and moisture.  I browned butter in my cast iron pan and let the steaks sear in the hot pan for about 1 min on each side. You can add extra salt if needed but if you put it in the bag, it should be sufficient.

All in all, I would definitely recommend this product for people who are interested in attaining a flavourful and very tender meat. It is very similar to the reverse sear method which I have always used and loved in the past but now with more accuracy and less effort. Please let me know your thoughts and if you found this helpful.