Gourmia sent us over their popular Sous Vide Pod Immersion Circulator Precision Cooker to try out. How can this method of cooking change how you prepare your meals in the kitchen?
Chances are you’ve heard of the term Sous Vide before. If not, it’s a slow cook method where you put food in a vacuum sealed pouch into a temperature controlled water bath for longer than normal cooking times. Basically, all you really need is your Sous Vide Pod, a container, some water, and a bag to hold your food. I say bag because even though you could purchase a vacuum sealer separately, I’ve had no issues using regular Ziploc bags. As long as you remember to take out as much air as possible, this will work fine for you as well, at a fraction of the price.
Gourami’s GSV150 Sous Vide Precision Cooker Immersion Pod ($249.99) comes complete with an instruction manual as well as a recipe book if you’d like to test out any of their meals, from steaks, seafood, poultry to vegetables. Of course, you can attempt to freestyle and do it yourself, which I did.
The premise is simple; you place the foods that you want into the bag, with the dressings/seasonings that you prefer. I typically refrigerate anything I put in my water bath about 4-6 hours before cooking just to give things a chance to evenly distribute within, especially steaks.
Once you’re ready you fill the container to the minimum fill line indicated on the Sous Vide, then begin cooking you pick the preferred cooking temperature according to your meal. For example for the sirloin steak that I made needed to be “preheated” to a temperature of 131 degrees, which took about 20 minutes which is considered fast in the world of sous vide products.
You can do this via Gourmia’s app which is free on the app store, that allows the user to more closely monitor the time and temperature of their meals, as well as choose recipes from beef, pork, poultry, eggs, seafood and more.
Straight out of the gate I attempted to create a restaurant-like steak for myself using the Gourmia SousVide Pod, so I filled the container to the minimum fill line, turned the Sous Vide Pod on and clamped to mechanism to secure it to the container, and went to Gourmia’s app to check out their steak options in the recipes supplied. There was a recipe I liked labeled “Sous Vide Sirloin Steak with Lime-Ginger Slaw” that said it would take roughly two hours to make at a temperature of 131 degrees, so I opted for this. After the initial “boil” time to get to the proper temperature I took the steak out of the fridge, tossed it in the water, and pressed “set”. It was that simple! Off to the gym, I go. After leaving for the gym, I could continue to check on the steak using the app’s timer that indicates how long your meal has remaining on the bath. It’s not the best-looking app interface, but it gets straight to the point which is much appreciated. For someone who typically grills either stove top or on a personal indoor grill, it was nice knowing that I would no longer be smoking up my apartment to make my meals.
About two hours later, I went to check on the steak, and although it maintained its color, you could visibly see that it had been cooking and the flavors and seasoning had taken to the sealed meat. After cutting open the Ziploc bag, I could see that the steak looked great but needed a bit of searing. Since sous vide only gets you to the halfway mark, you might want some texture that you might get from grilling or on a pan. The steak itself will still be medium-rare on the inside, so I took to my trusty skillet to brown the outside of the steak for 90 seconds on each side. Alternatively, you could purchase a searing kit that won’t diminish the taste, but will enhance not just the appearance but make a meat that’s been sitting in water and could potentially be a bit cool essentially warmer and crustier. The end result was a moist, flavor-filled steak with a slightly pink center that I otherwise would’ve paid $50-60 for.
I took the same practice with salmon which cooked in even less time. A bit weary on cooking fish properly, the sous vide made sure that my salmon was not only evenly cooked, but assured me that I could cook virtually my entire meal in the sous vide. The sous vide is super quiet when cooking, and with its circulation control features allowing even cooking, the Sous Vide Pod by Gourmia is revolutionary and will change the way you prepare your meals, as well as the way they taste going forward, Morton’s eat your heart out.
For more information on Gourmia’s Sous Vide Pod, you can head over to Gourmia’s site today.
Source: Manufacturer supplied review unit
What I Like: Everything – the ability to properly cook meats evenly not only saves me money but time standing over a hot grill
What Needs Improvement: The app looks a bit dated, but it’s still fully functional
