Sous Vide Cooking

Polyscience launched on Youtube a video about their new Immersion Circulator, the MX version.

The design of this equipment is fantastic but will this immersion circulator be affordable for sous vide chefs and individuals? Except this video, no information is available on the net. If you have some, feel free to tell us!

Here is the Youtube video!

Jean-François

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A month ago I decided to purchase a digital thermomether with a penetration probe. I had a chock when looking at prices  on internet. Price for such thermometer is usually in the range from EUR 200 to EUR 400.
Then, when I saw the Thermowoks onlineshop proposing a similarly equipment for approx. USD 110 incl. shipping to Europe…I decided very fast to make a try.

The overall price was :

• MTC, Mini Handheld Thermocouple Meter, Type K : USD 43.
• K Type Fast Response Meat Needle Probe Fitted into MPK ANSI Plug : USD 30.
• Coiled Lead Type K Extension Wire 2 Meter Plug to Socket Ansi Colour Yellow (627-741): USD 19.
• Shipping cost to Europe: approx. USD 20.

Total: USD 110.

My worry was to determine how good this thermometer is. Was it well calibrated? I asked a friend of mine if he could find a precision thermometer in order to compare its precision to the Thermoworks one.  Thanks to Bertrand.L I could find someone borrowing me the GMH-3710. He told me he purchased it here for approx?  EUR 220 excl. VAT and shipping costs. This is 3 times the price I purchased mine!

I red on internet that temperature accuracy depends of the temperature. In other words, the higher the temperature is,  the bigger the risk of inaccuracy could appear.

For the purpose of my test I tried with both the thermomethers to assess the temperature of an apple, a glass of water containeing water at 46°C and 79°C.

Above a picture of the GMH-3710

My test with an apple that was laying around in kitchen was excellent. The difference in temperature between the 2 thermometers was in the range from 0.1°C to 0.2°C only. Therefore the inside temperature of the apple was approx. 21.5°C.

The test with the 46°C water was also good with a difference of maximum 0.3°C.

I also made the test with a glass of water at 79°C. The difference of temperature was in the range from 0.3°C to 0.4°C.

To sum up : The Thermoworks digital thermometer seems to work very well and is price competitive. I am in a hurry to try it while cooking sous vide!

Jean-François

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Today Polyscience made the demonstration that a non stired water bath cannot be as efficient as an immersion circulator. It is funny to see that Polyscience directly mentions Sousvidesupreme in the TAG of the article.

Polyscience video indicates clearely that a non stired water bath has a longer response time to reach the desired core temperature. Therefore, it is obvious that Douglas Baldwin cooking tables sould be used with care. Douglas Baldwin indicates in the Pratical Guide to Sous Vide “With all these digital controllers, I highly recommend setting the temperature offset (measured near the temperature at which you wish to cook) using a high quality digital thermometer. Indeed, at the default settings the thermistors used in the above controllers can easily be off 2–4°F (1–2°C)”.

Freshmealsolutions mentions clearely in the user manual of the SousVideMagic : “If you don’t have a proper food core temperature sensor probe, always cook at desired core temperature settings for the duration as specified by reliable recipes with an additional safety factor of at least 25% longer…”
In addition the manual indicates “The default settings are designed to overshoot 1 or 2 degree higher for safety reasons. You can reduce the overshoot by making your own PID adjustments. See the document “PID Tuning”.”

Jean-François

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There is now some weeks I wanted to verify by myself if a sous vide equipment is more energy efficient than a “traditional” convection oven. Cooking sous vide some kind of meats can take even several days (for example 72 hours pork ribbs at 57°C). What are the electricity costs?

How to proceed to illustrate this point?
My first thought was to compare the quantity of energy used by a convection oven and an immersion circulator (or a PID controller) in order to obtain the same doneness (rosé) on a 1 Kg beef filet.
Therefore I purchased in a do it yourself shop a very cheap appliance (EUR 11) to calculate the quantity of energy used by an electrical appliance (“consomètre” – refer to the picture on the left).
Unfortunately this “consomètre” cannot be plugged to my convection oven (the electrical cables of the oven are directly connected in the wall.  In other word I have no mains where to plug this “consomètre”.

Thus I have decided to restrict my test to the assessment of the amount of energy used during a cooking process of at least 8 hours at 60°C. The final goal is to determine the cost of such cooking process.

I will not spend any time on the scientific explanation between Power and Energy since the purpose of this blog is only cooking. Nevertheless, for those who want to refresh their mind about physics basics I recommend reading this small article.

In order to determine the price of the energy consumption of an immersion circulator during 8 hours at 60°C I took a round pot of 15 liters and filled it with 28°C tap water.

It took 22 minutes for the swid to reach the target temperature of 60°C at full power (2,170 W).

Then the swid was stable very fast (some secondes only). At this stage the total energy consumption was 0.74 KWh which represents 8 cents (in France, 1 KWh = 0.11 €).

During the next 8 minutes the swid was struggling with power variation in the range from 50W to 600W. I would say the average could be in the area of 300W.
After 1 hour (excl. pre heating) the power variation was in the range from 14W to 200 W. At this stage (1:20 hours incl pre heating) the total energy consumption was 1.06 KWh.

Then I covered the tank with a plastic wrap in order to avoid water evaporation and let the swid run for additional 7:25 hours. When I came back in the morning the result was amazing. Power variation was in the range from 11 to 25 W. Total energy consumption was 2.05KWh (8:45 hours incl pre heating).

For France this represents a cost of approx. € 0.22 (0.33$ with currency rate of 1€ = 1.5 $). Astonishing isn’t it?

Jean-François

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Remember end August Fresh Meals Solutions announced the launch (end 2009) of the FreshMealsMagic.
In the meantime Frank Hsu (you secretive thing!) has put up the SousVideMagic 1500D for sale.

What is new with the SousVideMagic 1500D compared to the 1500 B/C versions?

• The power capacity has been raised from 2,000 W to 3,000 W
• 2 digit screens are now available (one for the temperature and one for the timer)
• Possibility to control the temperature of a large pot, up to 35 L

The price of te SousVideMagic 1500D is still very competitive USD 159!
For your information the global cost for the SousVideMagic 1500D to be sent to Europe should be around:

• SousVideMagic 1500D: USD 159 + USD 25 = USD 184 incl. sending to Europe
• Custom duties: EUR 35
• Basic rice cooker: EUR 45
• Input power cord and socket adaptor: approx EUR 16.

Grant total (1 EUR = 1.5 USD): EUR 218

Frank, what about the FreshMealsMagic Bubbler? When will you launch it?

Jean-François

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