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The Morning After: Samsung's clamshell folding phone
If I was going to start my own tech site or media vertical, with no intention of turning a profit or even being all that knowledgeable, I'd do food gadgets. I won't shut up about the Instant Pot, I own a sous vide machine (that I now have a guide for) and the contents of my kitchen drawers are the equivalent of the crying face joy emoji. The festive season and the epic-scale meals that accompany it make it a peak opportunity for simplifying your established cooking norms, but it's also a gamble. My mum has an Instant Pot, sure. Will she use it for sauces or sides for this year's Christmas dinner? Probably not. It's about consistency. She's cooked more Christmas meals than I've had... Christmas meals. I'm not going to suggest she shake things up. The best kitchen tech is simple. I own a Nespresso Barista milk frother. It can heat and whip up milk, making at-home flat whites a possibility. Is it smart, though? It has Bluetooth connectivity and a companion app, but besides downloading new recipes (more or less milk; hotter or colder) that's not remotely necessary. It makes silky milk for my latte nonsense, though, so it keeps its place on the kitchen worktop. Crucially, the metal jug and magnetic stirrer are both incredibly easy to clean -- something all kitchen gadgets could benefit from. - Mat
The best sous vide machine and gear
By Tim Barribeau and Nick Guy This post was done in partnership with Wirecutter. When readers choose to buy Wirecutter's independently chosen editorial picks, Wirecutter and Engadget may earn affiliate commission. Read the full guide to sous vide machine and gear. After testing dozens of sous vide cookers over the past six years, we think the Anova Precision Cooker Nano is the best immersion circulator for home cooks. It's the smallest, most affordable model from a company that's consistently made some of the best-performing cookers we've tested. And its precise temperature control and quick heating are on a par with that of much more expensive machines. The Anova Nano's Bluetooth connection allows you to set and control the cooker from your phone, and use Anova's app to set the time and temperature from preset recipes onto the circulator. The cooker also has controls on it though, meaning you don't need to use your phone if you'd prefer not to. Like just about every sous vide circulator we've tested, the Anova cooker is accurate enough for even the most exacting of cooking techniques. This is crucial because even minor variations can foil your attempt at perfectly runny egg yolks with just-set whites. The ChefSteps Joule relies exclusively on a smartphone for all controls adjustments; it doesn't have onboard controls. If you're okay with that, this cooker is in many ways equal or superior to the Anova Precision Cooker Nano. It's physically smaller, it's just as accurate, it heats water faster, and it can cook with less water in a pot thanks to a magnetic base and a unique pump system. We love the app, which works over either Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. Monoprice's Strata Home Sous Vide Immersion Cooker 800W is louder than other cookers we tested, but it is inexpensive and reliable, making it a great entry-level option for someone just getting started with sous vide cooking. It's not as advanced as the circulators from Anova or ChefSteps, because it lacks any sort of wireless connection. But in our tests, it got to temperature quickly and held the setting properly. At around $70, its typical street price is less than half that of our other picks. Sous vide cooking is only the first step when it comes to meat. After you've cooked the protein through, searing creates a delicious, crispy brown exterior. Although you can finish your food in a pan, we found Bernzomatic's TS8000 to be the fastest tool for searing. It attaches to a standard camping propane tank and is easy to use.
Get a fridge that helps you sous vide
Sharp's newest fridge freezer doesn't have a water fountain or a voice assistant. Instead it houses a vacuum-packing slot that will help keep produce fresh for longer, reduce food waste (leftovers!) and, yes, even prep food for that millennial cooking style of choice -- sous vide. The VacPac Pro fridge-freezer had its debut at IFA 2018, and doesn't require proprietary bags. You can use any sealer bag, and the slot will suck out the air at the touch of a button -- which we proceeded to do on some plastic fruit.
Nomiku Sous Chef essentially offers TV dinners for foodies
Nomiku debuted nearly five years ago with an innovative idea: affordable sous vide cooking in your own home. Back then, machines that did sous vide -- a way of cooking vacuum-packed foods in a temperature-controlled water bath -- was still a fairly new concept. In 2012, Nomiku launched a successful Kickstarter for its first immersion circulator (raising $586,061 in 30 days) and has since made a WiFi version that you control with your smartphone. Today the company is ready to announce yet another sous vide machine, but with a twist: It comes with a food program that sends you precooked frozen meals.
Anova acquisition could mean a sous vide chicken in every pot
You might see even more smart cooking gadgets at your favorite retail outlet soon thanks to industry giant Electrolux's purchase of popular sous vide maker Anova.The $250 million acquisition allows the smaller company to continue as a brand with Electrolux's resources and reach.
A connected cooktop could keep you from burning breakfast
The world needs an app-connected hotplate like ... well, I'm not sure if we need one, but we're getting one, regardless. FirstBuild, the company responsible for a $250-to-$500 coffeemaker, is back at it with the Paragon setup. Promising precision cooking via an array of built-in sensors that automatically adjust the induction cooktop's heat output automatically, FirstBuild hopes you'll think the granular temperature adjustment settings are worth the price of admission.
Joule proves sous vide cooking doesn't have to be intimidating
Despite the recent rise of affordable sous vide machines, the cooking concept has always skewed a little nerdy. Preparing food in vacuum-sealed bags in a temperature-controlled water bath sounds like something only culinary geeks would do, even if it results in perfectly cooked meats. By and large, these devices look and feel like scientific equipment: They're bulky with large dials. They look like they belong in a lab, not a kitchen.
Does your sous vide gear really need WiFi?
If you spend a considerable amount of time reading J. Kenji Lopez-Alt's writings on better cooking through science, you'll come across his sous vide steak guide. I've read what Lopez-Alt and others have to say about the culinary method for preparing a slab of beef, or, more specifically, that cooking a thick steak in a low-temperature water bath before searing produces stellar results. But that process can take a couple of hours for a thicker ribeye or New York strip. Also, keeping watch for that long sounds like an awful way to spend an evening.
Valve's Gabe Newell is backing a smart sous vide cooking tool
Valve founder Gabe Newell isn't just interested in gaming technology, like living room computers and virtual reality -- he also appreciates the science behind a well-prepared meal, too. The legendary game developer has poured money into ChefSteps to help them make Joule, a smart immersion circulator for sous vide cooking. Instead of fiddling with buttons on the wand to heat your water bath, you use a mobile app to set and monitor temperatures. It has presets for particular food types, and you can even have it change temperatures at different times -- if one guest prefers rare steak while another likes it well-done, you can make that happen. The hardware is small yet powerful, too, packing a 1100W heater into an 11-inch cylinder that can fit into your kitchen drawers.
Cooking with Watson: Austrian asparagus and pigs' feet croquettes
'Cognitive Cooking with Chef Watson' is a collaboration between IBM and the Institute of Culinary Education in New York City. Once a week, as part of an ongoing series, we'll be preparing one recipe from the book until we've made all of them. Wish us luck. "Austrian grilled asparagus." That should be simple. Let's see... Pigs' feet? Sous vide? Croquettes? Mustard "foam"? Damn it Watson! Well, if the carrot pearls from last week weren't sufficiently weird for you, fear not. This week's recipe is the sort of thing that would send most casual cooks running for the hills. And to make matters worse, the title lulls you into a false sense of security. The first two steps in this recipe, that's theoretically for grilled asparagus, are to brine two pigs' feet overnight, then to cook them in a 162-degree water bath (sous vide) for 24 hours. Yes, 24 hours. Between the eight-plus-hour brine and the 24-hour cook, this is already the most time-intensive dish I've ever made.
This smart knob upgrades your stove with automatic temperature controls
From old-fashioned slow cookers to newfangled sous vide machines, there seems to be a never ending array of appliances aimed to take the guesswork out of cooking. But they're often limited in functionality -- you can't really deep fry something in a sous vide machine, for example -- and they take up valuable storage space. The Meld, which launches on Kickstarter today, aims to change that. It's a cooking solution that aims to bring precise cooking controls to a multi-purpose appliance you already have -- your stove.
GE's touch-savvy induction cooktops double as griddles and sous vides
If you want to get elaborate with your cooking and try a griddle or a sous vide, you normally need either a dedicated machine or a bulky add-on to get things right. You won't have that hassle with GE's 2015 Cafe, Monogram and Profile cooktops, though. They're already pretty high-tech between their safer induction cooking pads and touch-sensitive controls, but the real stars of the show are their abilities to switch to other cooking methods with little effort. The Cafe and Monogram models have an integrated griddle (the first for induction), and all three can use a $150 smartphone-controlled sous vide accessory (also a first) that lets you get just the right water temperature without having to watch like a hawk. Just be prepared to pony up if you're hoping for the latest in culinary tech. GE's cooktops will start at $1,500 for a 30-inch Profile, and they scale all the way to $3,100 for the 36-inch Monogram.
New Nomiku is a WiFi-connected immersion circulator that makes sous vide meals easier
I stood in front of a nondescript iron gate in the heart of San Francisco's Mission District and rang the doorbell. The scent of bacon-wrapped hot dogs and grilled corn on the cob from sidewalk food carts filled the air, seducing my senses as I waited patiently for someone to let me through. Soon, the door behind the gate opened, and Abe Fetterman, Nomiku's co-founder, escorted me in. We walked down a narrow hallway and up a skinny flight of stairs, making pleasantries and exchanging small talk to relieve the awkwardness. When I emerged from the steps, I was welcomed to the office by Nomiku's other co-founder, Lisa Q. Fetterman. There, in a small modest office surrounded by boxes, laptops and wires, she introduced me to one of the most recognized food science writers in the country: acclaimed author of On Food and Cooking, Harold McGee.
Codlo turns your rice cooker into a sous-vide slow cooking system
Even avid cooks might have a tough time swallowing the price of a quality sous-vide cooker, but a new Kickstarter hopeful dubbed Codlo could drastically lower the bar to entry by turning one of your existing kitchen appliances into one. While the technique boils down to sealing food in a plastic bag and dropping it in water, it's essential to keep cooking temperatures exact. Codlo connects to a rice cooker or a similar appliance with a mechanical switch, maintaining the temperature you set and shutting things off once the timer's done. The idea's similar to another gadget called Nomiku -- both devices' creators aim to make the technique more budget-friendly and usable at home, as professional sous-vide appliances are usually expensive. You can't get Codlo from retail stores just yet, but you can pre-order one via Kickstarter, where its developers are currently raising funds to put it into production. Who knows -- it might make a Giada De Laurentiis out of a mediocre cook, or at least spare you the pain of having to eat another overcooked steak.
Nomiku's immersion circulator makes low temperature cooking available to the masses, we go hands-on
If you've ever spent time watching Iron Chef or other cooking shows, odds are you've heard of the term sous-vide and know the wonders of cooking with immersion circulators. For those not in the know, an immersion circulator cooks food in a water bath at a precise (to the degree) temperature to ensure perfect doneness of dishes. Nomiku's an immersion circulator that clips onto any pot of water, giving home cooks the ability to sous vide to their heart's content at temperatures up to 100 degrees Celsius. The device is a machined aluminum tube and heat sink, with a 1.3-inch touchscreen OLED display on top surrounded by a plastic knob. Inside is an impeller and 750W PTC heating element that circulates water at up to 10 liters per minute and heat it to within .2 degrees Celsius of the temperature you choose. Just tap the touchscreen to turn it on, stick it in a pot with up to 5 gallons of water, turn the knob to set your temperature, tap the screen again to get it going and, presto, you (or your sous chef bot) will be cooking succulent meats like Bobby Flay in no time.%Gallery-158650% For now, Nomiku exists only in prototype form, but the folks behind it have launched a Kickstarter page to get the funding needed to ramp up production. We got to see the prototype in person, and as a casual dabbler in the culinary arts, the appeal was easy for us to see. It's dead simple to use, and is about the same size as a hand blender, so most folks won't have a problem finding a place for it in their kitchen. In speaking with its creators, we discovered that they created Nomiku to make low temperature cooking easy and (relatively) affordable. You see, existing immersion circulators cost between $500-$2000, which puts them out of reach for most home cooks, but Nomiku (should the project get funded) will retail for $299. Itchin' to get one in your kitchen? Well, head on down to the source link to help make it happen, and feel free to peruse our gallery of photos while you wait for its arrival.
