I started cooking Sous Vide at home in 2013, and get lots of questions about equipment, recipes, etc. from my friends. Given a lot of friends have similiar questions, I thoughts I'd post some of my thoughts and experiences here!
There are tons of different sous vide equipment options - from do it yourself (beer cooler anyone?) to quite expensive! I started my sous vide experiments with a cheap food sealer or ziploc bags and a dutch oven on the stove. After doing that for a few months, I was convinced and bought a SousVide Supreme Water Oven System with matching food sealer. I've also added a Anova Culinary Precision Cooker and an Instant Pot Duo Plus.
If you are looking at a "wand", the Anova is great. I've never used a Gourmia GSV130 Sous Vide Pod Immersion Circulator Precision Cooker, but it seems a great deal for the money... There is even a Hamilton Beach Sous Vide Water Oven & Slow Cooker now!
Here are my thoughts on the difference between a water oven and immersion circulator (and this Wired article has some similar thoughts):
First, any of these systems will work great. Just know what you are getting yourself into.
The water ovens, like the SousVide Supreme do a great job of holding temperature, because they are designed for the purpose and have a lid that closes over the entire oven. This gives you the best temperature control, and nothing else to worry about. The downside is they take up storage space, and you are limited to cooking things that fit it the water oven. Some people say they are awkward to empty, but I haven't had any issues.
If you are really concerned about storage space, you can get the Anova or another stick. But remember, you need a pot or vessel of the right size to cook in. Think might be a big pasta pot or dutch oven you already have. Professional chefs cook in very large vessels/tanks. The downside is holding temperature. If you vessel isn't well insulated, you can get some temperature variance. And if you are cooking at higher temperatures (well, for sous vide - 150 degrees Fahrenheit or above) you'll need to improvise a cover, which is more challenging with the wand sticking out. You often end up having to cover the pot with plastic wrap or other things to keep the heat in. This approach definitely works (the big restaurants typically sous vide with the PolyScience immersion circulators in ~20 gallon plastic bins covered in plastic wrap), but its a bit of a pain. There are some good tricks on this: I use the Rubbermaid 12 quart container, lid and insulated grocery bag recommended by thetastingbuds.com.
While you can do it for both, I find it much easier to do veggies with a "wand". Pectin in veggies doesn't break down until ~183 degrees, and I find it easier to get water hot on the stove and add it to a wider container the Anova is in. (or to just put the wand into the pot you are cooking with if the clamp can deal with the pot/temperature)
Why do I have two sous vides? The SousVide Supreme is still my goto cooker, especially for any long cooks. Since it heats via convection its way quieter. And its lid prevents water evaporation for long cooks. But I added the Anova for two reasons:
Veggies and proteins cook at very different temperatures, so with two I can do steak and asparagus (both amazing in sous vide) at the same time.
The wifi features of the Anova let me remotely start a cook! (more on that below in Cooking While At Work)
My final thought on equipment - buy a good sealer. If you buy one, don't skimp here. I know a lot of people that try the Archimedes' principle and ziploc bags. That definitely works for smaller uniformed shaped proteins. However, it doesn't always get a good seal and normal zip bags aren't designed for prolonged temperature exposure. The increase oxygen levels don't seem to matter much if you are cooking for hours, but it can matter if you are cooking for days. (Brisket, short ribs and others can cook for two to three days...) I started with the SousVide Supreme Vacuum Sealer that came in a package with my Sous Vide Supreme Demi Water Oven. If you don't buy that one, get one that people talk about being designed for sous vide versus a food sealer for storage. Sous vide bags can get expensive, but I found some resturant supply companies on eBay. I've since upgraded to a VacMaster DUO550 Suction Vacuum Sealer and Chamber Vacuum Sealer, which isn't remotely necessary. But the chamber sealer lets you vacuum seal liquids, which opens up a lot more options.
I'm not going to wax on about the benefits of sous vide - there are enough articles out there now, and its pretty much all true. It rocks. Here is what I'll say:
The beauty of it is that its nearly impossible to overcook food (a steak in 125 degree water will NEVER be more than rare!) and therefore very forgiving. You also can SAFELY (see below) cook foods at lower temperatures than you are used to.
The flavors are amazing, as the food cooks in a closed system (bag) so flavors are preserved.
You can also use that liquid to make great sauces. I will often make a roux and add the bag liquids and some stock to make quick sauces! You can experiment with other things like mustard, milk, etc. in the sauces.
You still need to sear your food at some point in the cooking process. The Maillard reaction is essential to the great taste of most proteins, and if you just "sous vide" without creating this reaction, food is often bland. You can also sear the raw proteins before you bag them, and this get flavor throughout the entire food. You just don't get the crisp skin or crust that I prefer. I'm a big fan of the reverse sear, where you sous vide the food first and finish with a sear. There are a number of ways to do it:
Broiler/grill/propane torch (yes, a push torch head works! Bernzomatic TS3000T Quickfire Self-Igniting Torch! Fire is fun!) I do it this way, as I prefer a crisp skin or crust. If you sear after, you need to be careful not to overcook the meat in the searing process. It should be for a short time at a very high temperature.
You can get a more elaborate torch - I love my Searzall!
Cast iron is amazing too. I like to start the sear with a neutral oil like an olive oil, and than add butter right at the end to add flavor and color. Butter's smoking point tends to be too high to just use butter for the entire sear though. (Thanks to Serious Eats' The Food Lab for the tip!)
In many cases, you need to overseason your food. Sous Vide is different than roasting, where with roasting the flavoring stays on the outside of the meat. With sous vide, the meat will release some liquid in the cooking process into the bag, which can turn the seasoning more into a marinade than a surface seasoning. I found that in many cases I had to use 2-3 times the seasoning to get a similar effect.
You should put some fat in every bag. Duck fat is the best, but butter works great too (especially Ghee/clarified butter.) Here is what I use: More Than Gourmet Graisse De Canard Gold Rendered Duck Fat, 12-Ounce Package
Some other notes:
Brining still is amazing.
Sous vide isn't a substitute for properly preparing and trimming your proteins.
Pectin (in veggies and fruits) doesn't break down until 183 degrees, so if you don't get veggies that hot, you aren't going to get the result you expect. You have to cook veggies at higher temps then meats, so they usually have to be cooked separately.
Don't forget to use the sous vide system to REHEAT! You made a beautiful medium rare roast last night, and want some for lunch the next day? Slice the meat, bag it in a single layer, and put it back in whatever temperature water you cooked it in originally. Since its sliced thin, it will come back up to temperature quickly. And its in its own moisture and can't overcook! And remember, this doesn't have to be only for stuff you sous vide. Made a beautiful brisket in the smoker? Ham? This will work for pretty much any protein you need to reheat.
Food safety MATTERS a lot, and you can AMAZING things with a sous vide machine. Read the next section!
Food safety is one of the things that scares most people away from sous vide, and it absolutely shouldn't. Its incredibly safe. You could argue its safer than pretty much every other cooking method because you have amazing temperature control. You just need to understand how it works.
What confounds people is the cooking at lower temperatures than the UDSA "minimum internal temperature." It turns out that food safety is much more complex (in a good way!) than "If chicken is 165 degrees, its not safe!" Well, the USDA temperatures you are familiar with are for “immediate” exposure (one minute or less.) You can SAFELY cook foods at much lower temperatures, because prolonged exposure at lower temperatures has the same effect. Food safety is actually a Log7 function (for the math nerds) or in simple terms means that you can safely cook food at lower temperatures if you have guaranteed prolonged exposure which sous vide brings you. But the question is "How do I know what to do?" Below are the resources that taught me. Even if you don't like chicken, read the Low-Temperature Chicken link for an excellent explanation.
You always have to be aware of the "danger zone." Food cannot be in the 40°F and 140°F as the bacterial "danger zone" for longer than four to six hours (depending who you ask) without having achieved pasteurization.
140 degree chicken is amazing, and yes, perfectly safe. I marinade, freeze, and vacuum seal boneless skinless chicken breasts (though I have found I like 145 or 150 degrees F slightly more.) I then cook then at 145 degrees for 90 minutes and finish them quickly under the broiler or on the grill. This article is what gave me the confidence to do this. Sous-Vide 101: Low-Temperature Chicken
The Polyscience Sous Vide Toolbox™ iPhone/iPad App is a MUST OWN (or an equivalent). The UI isn't the sexiest, but it lets you dial in exactly what is safe and when food has pathogens eliminated. (And, yes, you can use this with any sous vide system, not just Polyscience.) You can easily do if/then analysis too by altering water temperature or the size of the food.
Beyond cooking two things at once, part of the reason I added the Anova to my kitchen was to be able to start a cook remotely. How do you do this? You pack your vessel with icy water, remotely monitor the temperature, and start the food from the app when you want your cook to start. For food safety, you need to start the cook if the water temperature gets over 40 degrees (the "danger zone" mentioned above.)
I found this great article on thetastingbuds.com about vessels for sous vide, and it included an insulated bag for my Rubbermaid container! I've found that if I fill the 50/50 with ice and water, and put it in the insulated bag, I can pack it around 7:30 AM and still have it below 40 degrees until around lunch time.
Anova has an Ice Bath option in the app for their wi-fi versions, where you can tell it to alert you when the water hit 40 degrees, which paired with ice and the insulated bag makes for a great solution!
My Cooking Sous Vide board on Pinterest
If you like eggs, sous vide is amazing (even if they aren't technically "under vacuum"):
Good recipe sites:
Citizen Sous Vide - strange web navigation (at the time of the posting you have to hover "Times and Temperatures" to get the recipe links), but they show links to a number of different other blogs to compare how to cook the same food. Great way to learn.