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Anova's Wi-Fi enabled sous vide cooker allows remote cooking

Anova's Wi-Fi enabled sous vide cooker allows remote cooking
The latest sous vide device from Anova adds Wi-Fi to the recipe
The latest sous vide device from Anova adds Wi-Fi to the recipe
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The latest sous vide device from Anova adds Wi-Fi to the recipe
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The latest sous vide device from Anova adds Wi-Fi to the recipe
The Anova sous vide precision cooker attaches to the side of most any pot
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The Anova sous vide precision cooker attaches to the side of most any pot
The Anova sous vide precision cooker disassembles easily for cleaning
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The Anova sous vide precision cooker disassembles easily for cleaning
The latest sous vide precision cooker offers easy set up
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The latest sous vide precision cooker offers easy set up
The latest sous vide device from Anova adds Wi-Fi to the recipe
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The latest sous vide device from Anova adds Wi-Fi to the recipe
The Anova sous vide attaches to the side of most pots
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The Anova sous vide attaches to the side of most pots
The Anova precision cooker is easy to use: simply drop the sealed food in the heated water and press start
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The Anova precision cooker is easy to use: simply drop the sealed food in the heated water and press start
Attach the food to the side of the pot, and set the timer
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Attach the food to the side of the pot, and set the timer
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Sous vide (literally, under vacuum) is a popular method of slow cooking for professional chefs and serious home cooks alike, though its use has mostly been limited to epicureans with a budget for spending on the necessary gadgetry. Anova is among those who have sought to lower the bar of entry in recent years, releasing its affordable sous vide Precision Cooker in 2013. With its latest precision cooker, the company has added Wi-Fi to enable meals to be ready and waiting when you return home. We recently had the chance to try it out for ourselves.

What's gotten cooks so excited about sous vide is theprecise control it allows for cooking any type of meat or vegetable. Aftersealing my seasoned filet mignon in an airtight baggie, I dropped it in water heated and maintainedby the device to an exact and ideal temperature. I set the device to 135° F (57° C) for my cut to cook exactly the way I prefer, which came out with the same pinkish red throughout, not just in thecenter. I kept it in for two hours, but adding time doesn't overcook the food, only changes the texture. The steak and asparagus I cooked came out moist and full of flavor; it's virtually impossible to dry anything out with the sous vide cooker.

The addition of Wi-Fi to the device ups its convenience, especially since sous vide requires longer cooking times than conventional methods. The target audience for this would seem to be time-crunched cooks who want to enjoy the benefits of sous vide but may not have the time to wait around for the results. Thus, you can bag your food and set up the device before heading off to work, and start cooking from the office via the smartphone app. As long as the pot is set on the right surface, such as a trivet or potholder, safety shouldn't be a major concern, especially since the device won't engage if the water is below the minimum level (4.25 in / 11 cm).

The Anova device is ready to go out of the box, with two parts – a clamp that attaches to the side of a pot and the sous vide device which slips into the clamp's ring. It's exactly like the previous model – solid, sleek and modern – except for the addition of a Wi-Fi signal light on the interface. The user guide is found online, but setting up and operating the device only requires a few instructions.

After downloading the app on my phone, the device connected automatically to my home Wi-Fi without the need for a password. To operate it manually, there's a wheel below the interface that allows the user to set the temperature and timer. Hit the start/stop button, and that's it. If the water level is too low, you'll get a beeping sound. The same beep alerts you when the set temperature is reached, and when the timer is done. And you can change everything in mid-course.

The Anova precision cooker is easy to use: simply drop the sealed food in the heated water and press start
The Anova precision cooker is easy to use: simply drop the sealed food in the heated water and press start

The app is just as simple, controlling three functions: temperature, time and start/stop. It also gives you finer control of the temperature to a tenth of a degree, as well as a half-minute of time, though it's detail probably only a true food chemist might appreciate. You can also access sous vide recipes and other relevant information. Just like the interface on the device, the app tells you the current temperature of the water, and how much time is remaining. I actually preferred using the phone app, even from the couch at home.

One minor annoyance I found was a continuous beeping sound after setting the time and temp. I corrected this by pressing the start/stop button twice to shut off the device and turn it back on, stopping the noise and picking up the cooking process where it left off.

All in all, adding Wi-Fi is a nice touch for a sous vide cooker. Given how it works (slowly and safely), there are some real benefits to being connected. A sous vide device is high on the list of gadgets the dedicated home cook should consider adding to their arsenal, and Anova is offering its latest precision cooker at the relatively reasonable price of US$199.

Product page: Anova

Buy it now: Amazon

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6 comments
6 comments
Jugen
Although not good for energy saving. Design a double walled vacuum pot with a lid designed to go around the device then it's a whole new device.
BenjaminFranklin
Jugen, there is a kickstarted sous vide "box" (around $400-$500 on pre-order right now) shipping in summer which IS an insulated chamber. it can also cool the water if certain items need to stay cool for a couple of hours before the cooking starts. it's also a smarter interface where you can tell it when you plan to eat and it will start cooking to deliver the food at the expected time. the Anova is one of the 2 best sous vide at the sub $200 price point.
pldurand
Having used sous vide for a number of years I must comment on this. So the scenario is as follows: Leave home at 8 am and expect to return home at about 5 or 6 pm, supper (sous vide) ready. Assume a 2-3 hour cooking time.
You have now left some chicken, or other protein, in room temperature water for upwards of 7 hours before the device heats up. That just about guarantees food poisoning.
Or have I misread the article?
Firehawk70
What I still don't get about this product is that it's not a vacuum? Don't real sous vide devices require that you vacuum pack the thing you're cooking with a true vacuum machine? Of course there are home-use vacuum baggers available, but this product and its literature doesn't seem to suggest using them, just "put it in a baggie". Doesn't sound like the same result would occur. And yeah I thought the same thing as pldurand about the bacteria issues. I assume they wouldn't recommend remote cooking for all recipes, which limits the usefulness to fresh produce under limited preparations, something like artichokes with lemon peel and oil.
bozozozo
well, maybe they are saying that as long as you pasteurize (heat + time) the food when you finally do turn the heat on, you can kill all the bacteria that have grown since you put it into the room temperature water. not sure how long it takes for botulinum toxin to be produced.
this may be part of the issues the NY health department had with sous vide in NY restaurants, causing many restaurants to shut down sous vide use until they could satisfy the inspectors: but i've read some of that had to do with not chilling food cooked sous vide quickly enough to stay out of the danger zone (temp and time), then freezing or storing for later use.
but I have to say, not sure what the utility of bluetooth or wi-fi for immersion circulators is: I've always thought the value, aside from the hard to screw up doneness, was the old Ronco phrase: set it and forget it. why do you need to constantly check on it?
the vacuum packing is only to provide optimal heat transfer from the water bath to the food in the bag: air in the bag inhibits that heat transfer and may lead to uneven heating. it also makes it harder to keep the bag completely under the surface of the water, which would also tend to cause uneven cooking.
cooking in a Ziploc bag with air evacuated by immersing in water until just the seal strip is above water, then sealing, works just about as well as vacuum packing. may not be as good as vacuum packing for marinating, tho.
Ken Brody
Not a breakthrough. Now, remote EATING! That would be a breakthrough.