Although the sous vide cooking method is a breeze with the proper cooking devices, you cannot go wrong with extra sous vide accessories. To get the absolute best experience and results with ease from your sous vide experience, consider some of the great accessories that are often paired with sous vide cooking devices. From cookbooks to add on racks and sous vide vacuum sealers, there are spare parts and accessories that will add highlight to your culinary experience.
Vacuum Sealers and Vacuum Pouchs/Bags and Rolls
You can easily get by without a Vacuum Sealer by using “food grade” zip lock bags. Note the emphasis on “food grade”. Please check your zip lock bags before you use them to sous vide. Remember you will be adding this plastic to heated water, so if you are using the wrong plastic you could end up with food that has become a little toxic.
Why I use a Vacuum Sealer!
Other than the problems of getting food grade zip lock bags, it is a lot harder to get all the air out of the zip lock bags. If you don’t get all the air out your food tends to float to the surface and then doesn’t cook evenly. The Vacuum Sealers remove all of the air. This allows the food to sit on the bottom of the container. If you are using zip lock bags you might need to weigh down the bags with a spoon or something similar to get them to stay on the bottom of the container.
When you purchase a Vacuum Sealer, try and get one where the roll sits in the machine, so much better for storage and use. Most Vacuum sealers come with a start pack of bags and a roll. Often there is a couple of different widths of rolls. As a home cook I find the narrower of the rolls is more than sufficient for what I do. You only need the wider roll when cooking much larger cuts of meat.
These purpose manufactured rolls and bags are all food grade and suitable to be used with high cooking temperatures and still be safe. I look for BPA free rolls that are also free of lead and phthalates
Food Saver Vacuum Sealer
Pros:
- Relatively inexpensive
- Does a great job
- Reasonably small so doesn’t take up a lot of space
- Simple to Use
Cons:
- Is only 120V so can only be used in the US, Canadian and South American market unless you buy an actual transformer. An international plug isn’t sufficient
- Doesn’t have a place to store a roll.
Sous Vide Cook Books
If you are needing a bit of guidance consider some of the amazing cookbooks that are available for purchase.
The Food Saver Sous Vide Cookbook
Packed with the best recipes from the world’s best sous vide chefs, food bloggers, and food writers is Sous Vide: The Cookbook. Recipes include eclectic recipes and sous vide instructions for vegetables, seafood, meats, poultry, starters, and even cocktails! This book is a great basic guide for anyone from the complete beginner to more experienced cooks. Pick this book up at many bookstores around the globe or on Amazon.com. This cookbook is filled with excitement and innovation that will not disappoint you.
Sous Vide Cocktails Cookbook
If the thought of making cocktails via the sous vide method excited you, perhaps you will benefit on an entire cookbook of sous vide cocktail recipes. Although the Sous Vide: The Cookbook contains a few cocktail recipes, this book goes further in depth with the process of making your very own cocktails with the sous vide method. This book goes through methods that the world’s top chefs use to delicately infuse wine and spirits. Learn to make your very own apple infused vodka or pineapple infused rum in the matter of a few hours or less. Keep the infused cocktails flowing with this awesome cookbook!
Sansaire Searing Kit
Are you looking to have a stunning and crisp seared finish on your already perfectly cooked sous vide meat and vegetables? The Sansaire Searing Kit will do just that! This searing kit works similarly to a blow torch but is customized for home kitchen perfection.
The Sansaire Searing Kit includes a handheld propane cylinder along with a Sansaire torch head. What is also included in this kit is a searing rack and a tray to protect your countertop from any flames or juices if you are searing meat.
To use the kit, slide the included tray into the searing rack and screw the torch head onto the propane cylinder. There is a feature on the torch head that locks and unlocks the torch for safety purposes. Ensure that it is unlocked prior to use. There is also another lock button that can be very useful if you are torching for an extended period of time. If you are using this feature, use it with extreme caution.
Take your freshly sous vide produce and cut it out of its vacuum pouch and place it onto the searing rack. Pat your cooked food item dry and ensure that you are searing away from anything that could possibly catch flame. Press the “on” button to light the torch: Do this away from the food. Once the torch is lit, in a slow, sweeping motion, evenly hover over the food item until it is seared to your desire. If you are cooking meats, do not forget to hover over the sides to get an all around delightful sear. Flip the food over and repeat these steps for the other side: Pat dry, light your torch, and sear!
This awesome home kitchen appliance is easy to use. The cylinder is easily replaceable if your propane runs out and the torch head will fit on most standard gas cylinders. Be sure to add the searing torch to your sous vide starter pack if you really want an impressive culinary finish on all of your sous vide meals.
Sous Vide Supreme Sealer SVV-0030
The Sous Vide Sealer VS3000 is designed specifically with sous vide cooking in mind. It is simple to use and very sleek in design. Plug the device in, bag your sous vide food item, press the top of the sealer down, and let the sealer do its magic. Most people purchase a bundle pack of boxes of vacuum pouches and a Vacuum Roll so that when their Sealer arrives they have everything they need. Although both the sealer and pouches are designed to suit sous vide cooks, they both can be used for other cooking needs as well. Even if you are not cooking sous vide, this bundle can be used to vacuum seal just about any food items to ensure their freshness and then pop into the fridge. The entire pack is enough to really get you started.
Sunyao Sous Vide Bags Kit
If you are looking for a much more cost effective addition to your sous vide start up kit, consider Sunyao’s Sous Vide Bag kit This kit comes with a hand vacuum pump and re-usable and sealer bags. The bags are FDA and LFGB approved and BPA free. This is a very inexpensive way to get started. It is just as effective as the costly ones, only it is a fraction of the size and the cost of the larger sealers. This is probably the cheapest option for a sealer. It can also be used to remove air from food you wish to store in your fridge or freezer
Sealing Bags
Various companies manufacture different type of sous vide sealing bags. The 2 most popular sealing bags for sous vide cooking are vacuum pouches and zip pouches. The vacuum pouches are used in combination with a sealer, similar to the ones previously described. The zip bags can evacuate all air that has been captured in the bag without the aid of a vacuum sealer. If you are not looking into purchasing a vacuum sealer, consider zip bags.These bags can be picked up and many culinary wholesalers or even from popular sous vide manufacturers, such as SousVide Supreme, and Anova. Both styles of bags range in both size and price.
Lipavi Sous Vide Container 3.0 Gallon with Rack. Suits A Wide Variety of Tailored Lids For Various Immersion Circulators (Lids Sold Separately)
This container is a great option to go with any Immersion Circulator that you buy. It comes with the rack that fits perfectly in the tub. It can be used with the
- Anova Precision Wifi Bluetooth
- Nomiku
- Sansaire
- Poly Science
The container is the perfect height (8 inches) for all of the above Sous Vide Circulators. It is made from clear polycarbonate and has a high temperature tolerance form -40 to 210F.
You can also buy a tailored lid for all the above sous vide. It is a great idea to have a lid if you are going to be cooking something that is going to take a long time to cook. Helps stop the evaporation and keeps the heat in the water. You can pick up your lid here:
Lid with cut-out for the Anova Precision Wifi
Lid with cut-out for the Sansaire Immersion Circulator
Lid with cut-out for the Nomiku immersion circulator
Lid cut-out for the PolyScience Professional Chef Immersion Circulator
Racks
A rack is a great idea to assist with more even cooking. It separates the food allowing the water to circulate easier. The rack can be adjusted depending on the size of your pouches. It will also fit in large containers that you already have at home.
Time to Start Cooking!
WIth so many sous vide machinery and accessory products on the market, chef quality results are becoming more and more realistic for home cooks. The next time that you are considering paying hundreds of dollars at a 4-star dining establishment, remember that you can have the same juicy, tender, effortless, and flavorful results in the comfort of your own kitchen with sous vide cooking.
