Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

I just got my Anova Precision immersion circulator a few days ago. I decided to try it out tonight on a frozen, marinated, wild-caught, Alaskan salmon filet that I buy at Costco all the time. The filets come individually vacuum sealed, and so I thought, perfect for sous vide cooking! I normally make these straight from frozen in the microwave, which is 1100 watts, for 3.5 mins. They come out okay, but I knew they could be a lot better. So I looked up info regarding sous vide salmon cooking temperatures and times on the web, taking into consideration that I was planning on going straight from frozen into the water bath. I decided to go with 130F for 40 minutes. I attached the Anova Precision to a standard 4 quart stainless pot (see photos), set the temp for 130F and when the water was ready, dropped the straight-from-the-freezer, frozen salmon filet into the bath. I didn't bother with the timer on the Anova Precision, because to me, it is difficult and clumsy to use - probably the needlessly weakest part of the otherwise super easy-to-use interface. So I just used the timer on my phone. As you can see from the photos, I strung a line across the pot (a lettuce tie), sort of like a clothes line, and attached it to the pot and the salmon via binder clips - worked great! The only issue was that the salmon wanted to float, so I used a big spoon to hold the bottom of the salmon down. Well, 40 minutes later, I removed the salmon from the water bath and opened the sealed bag directly into a dinner plate. I used an instant read thermometer and tested the center temperature which read to 127F when I pulled it out (and it was still climbing slowly) - so I knew it was done temperature wise. I was so happy when I put a fork in it! It was moist, flaky, pink and delicious! Very rich and flavorful! A restaurant quality salmon filet in every way! I will never microwave these again! The Anova Precision seems to be a very high quality device. The stainless steel is thick enough as to not feel flimsy at all. I had read that the unit operated silently, and it does, but I was surprised at just how much water the pump moved! The water jet is pretty darn strong! In the case of the salmon, cleanup was almost non-existant since I didn't need to sear the marinated salmon so there was no pan to clean. Of course, the Anova and the pot were just in clean water, so although I did quickly soap up the pot, the Anova dried itself in minutes, the metal still being warm. Pro Tip: The stainless steel tube on the Anova Precision is removable for cleaning and you should clean the stainless tube, inside and out, before you use it the first time. Mine had a very thin layer of black soot inside which is by product of the rolled stainless steel. You couldn't actually see it, but if you slid your finger across it, your fingertip would be blackened. I cleaned it using dish detergent and a brush that you would normally use for cleaning the inside of drinking glasses. Also, there is a thin layer of protective plastic on the control surface that is difficult to remove as there are no tabs - you can hardly tell it's there and many people mistake it for scratches. I used masking tape to pull up an edge and then removed the plastic easily revealing the perfect glass touch surface beneath. So my first experience with sous vide cooking using the Anova Precision turned out well and I'm a happy Anova owner! Next up, sous vide pork chops! Update: June 23, 2015 Pork Chops! So I did two boneless, 3/4" thick Sterling Silver pork chops for dinner tonight. I made them according to the instructions at ChefSteps(dotcom). A quick 30 second-per-side pre-bath pan-sear right out of the fridge, then into the ziplock bags with some avocado oil for 45 minutes at 144F. I used the water displacement method for the bagging, which worked well, but you pretty much have to stop the Anova to do it or deal with a lot of water turbulence. That wasn't a problem, I just pressed stop on the Anova and then when they were bagged, sealed and attached to the pot via binder clips, I started it back up again. 45 minutes later, I removed them and patted them dry. I also noted that some of the fat from the pork chops had rendered and was left with the oil in the bags. I gave them another 30 second-per-side quick sear in the pan and served them with long grain rice and peas (yeah, rice and peas with butter! yum!) So how did they come out? They were easily the best pork chops I ever made at home. Slightly pink sear to sear, moist, tender and juicy. I don't have any photos of these, but I will try to get photos the next time I make them. But trust me, they came out GOOD! The sear part is definitely messy. Lots of oil splatter. I have to figure out a better way to do that. I'm already seriously considering buying a Searzall. Update July 21, 2015 Uploaded pics of boneless, 3/4" Sterling Silver pork chops prepared in a similar manner to what is described above, except they were grilled to finish. First, you see the raw pork chops, right out of the refrigerator, ready to bag. Here's another tip, when using Ziplock type bags, always carefully fold the lip of the bag down and over before adding the raw meat. This keeps the exterior and zipper area of the bag clean and also helps the bag stand up so you can easily insert the raw meat. Then you see the pork chops in the water bath at 144F for 45 minutes. The next pic shows the pork chops as they appear right after taking them out of the bags - not very appetizing! I assure you, they are perfectly cooked, but they are literally grey on the outside. That's okay though, I am going to add color when finishing them on the grill. The next pic is what they look like after grilling them for approximately one minute per side on a 500~600F grill. I then drizzled them with my own delicious spiced butter concoction. They were excellent! They came out moist and tender, especially good for pork chops, with just a little pink inside. Also, grilling is definitely the way to go in order to avoid the mess and cleanup of pan frying to finish. Next up, steaks... just have to get the pics done...