When I decided to try out yogurt making, I wondered if I should go with a dedicated yogurt maker or a sous vide. This unit won out due to it takes up less space in my kitchen cabinet, has programmable temperature which is better for different probiotic strains in yogurt making, and I can use it for different foods such as steak. I did a water temp test at first and found that over 36 hours it kept a constant temperature as I measured it with a digital kitchen thermometer throughout that time. My old yogurt maker could not do that.

I looked at a lot of ways to precisely control the cooking temperature of my homemade yogurt and this tool is perfect. It has a huge range of temperatures. I look forward to more uses like thawing frozen items and preparing a variety of recipes.

Definitely not the nicest version of this device the only thing I'm really irritated about is it beeps every time you push a button that is not necessary and I do not like it in any device....I've used it for about 20 hours total....This is the second 1 of these I have owned. ...The 1st 1 came from goodwill For $6 cause I didn't know If I wanted to be cooking things in plastic.....I did some research apparently the temperature doesn't go high enough For the plastic to bleed At least the way I use it I don't use it over 165.....This is definitely the best cooking method To turn cheap beef beef Into something edible

I've only used this a few times since getting it. It's extremely quiet and hard to tell if it's even working. The method of setting temp/time is easy, but I sometimes forget to push the set button and try to adjust the current temp. Food comes out moist and tender. Need more recipes - maybe create a recipe book or or buy/pair one to go with this cooker.

As a person with both extremely limited counter space and a love of kitchen gadgets that can simplify cooking or prep, gadgets that use existing cookware appeal to me for obvious reasons. A sous vide is especially space-efficient as it's essentially a large thermometer + precision heating element that you stick in a pot. This one is less than 3" in diameter, so it stows away quite easily even with limited space.Operation is extremely simple - grab a pot or other container, clip the sous vide to the side, fill with water to between the minimum and maximum fill lines, plug in the heating element, set the desired temp and time, and you're cooking with water!As for whatever you want to cook - while many people recommend a vacuum sealer, I didn't have one handy and went with the classic ziploc bag. Protip - you can use the water bath to push the air out of the bag before zipping it up - simply submerge it slowly, zipper side up, and let the water push the air out of the bag before you seal it at the last moment. Another protip - if your bag is floating up, you can drop something on top to keep it submerged (I used an all-metal butter knife).Now for the piece de resistance - the temperature control of the sous vide means that the water never exceeds the preset temperature. This, in turn, means that cooking time takes a back seat to simply setting the precise temperature.We'll use steak as an example - in my trial runs so far, I've found just under 54°C (around 128 F) to be the optimal temperature for a medium rare steak around 1" in thickness. And the cooking time? So far anything over an hour seems to be fine. You will note that most recipes will specify a relatively narrow temperature range and a wide time range - something like 1 - 3 hours. This is because the precise temperature control makes overcooking something quite difficult. The steak simply won't go past medium rare if you are using a "medium rare" cooking temperature.The last two pieces of the puzzle - seasoning and searing. After the sous vide cooking step is done, searing your steak is a must to try and get that characteristic char and flavor. My preferred way is in a very hot cast iron pan, over a copious amount of butter. It only takes a minute or two per side - easy. As for seasoning, I've seen some recipes that recommend seasoning after the sous vide step and before searing. This didn't sit quite right with me so I did it the other way - seasoning before throwing the steak in the ziploc.The end result is a steak that's medium rare all the way through, as opposite to the doneness gradient you get with most other cooking methods. As long as you don't over-sear the steak, it will be medium rare (or whatever you set your cooking time for) pretty much edge to edge.The only downside of this method, aside from the total cook time, is that the sear is less flavorful than you get with a grill or pan-fried steak, simply because it spends so much less time on the pan or grill. But to me, the tradeoff is well worth it as you can get what is easily a steakhouse-quality preparation at home. Best of all, whatever your skill level, there is almost no way to end up with anything short of an excellent result because there are basically zero pitfalls.