Hot take: That $200 immersion circulator I bought is now a dust collector

I overheard a chef at a local diner saying sous vide is just fancy steaming for people with too much counter space, and it clicked for me. Last week I tried using my circulator for a steak, and the bag leaked everywhere, took two hours, and honestly the texture wasn't even that great. Has anyone else realized these things are overhyped for daily cooking?

3 comments

3 Comments

morgan_king3623d ago

Well, that chef might have a point about it being fancy steaming. Seems like a lot of fuss for a steak that takes half the time on a hot pan. Maybe it's fine for big batches of stuff, but for a Tuesday dinner it feels like overkill.

wade25018d ago

The bag splitting isn't really the circulator's fault, that's more about not getting a good seal or using cheap bags. A proper vacuum sealer helps a lot. But the bigger thing is sous vide really only shines for certain cuts like tough roasts or chuck that need a long time at a low temp to break down. A ribeye or sirloin steak just doesn't need it, a hot pan does the same job in way less time. It's a tool with a narrow sweet spot, not a magic bullet for every piece of meat.

robert65923d ago

Man, I was all in on sous vide for like a year. I bought a circulator and was telling everyone it was the only way to cook chicken breast without drying it out. Then I had a bag split open on me during a cook, lost a whole pork shoulder in hot water, and had to scrub my pot for an hour. That was the moment I realized I was fussing over something that doesn't save me any real time or taste better than a simple sear in a cast iron pan. It just sits on my shelf now, right next to my bread machine.