This is a kind of cooking I find sketchy, but author Jeff Potter had it working.




  1. Floyd says:

    From Wikipedia:
    “Clostridium botulinum bacteria can grow in food in the absence of oxygen and produce the deadly botulinum toxin, so sous-vide cooking must be performed under carefully controlled conditions to avoid botulism poisoning.”

    I’m really not going there.

    Crock pots for instance are safe, because they heat food to a temperature that kills botulism bacteria. Pressure cookers are also safe.

  2. RTaylor says:

    The food is vacuumed packed to draw the air out first. Just a retail vac sealer will do, if you get a good seal.

  3. pcsmith says:

    I’ll pass this on to my sister. She got an slow cooker as a gift and has never found a use for it.

    If you know any mushroom spots in DC, let me know and I will also pass it on to her.

  4. ECA says:

    Dave,
    THIS is the weird, new tech show you need to do…
    ALL TECH..not just computers.
    \
    Get the hackers/crackers/modders together and Show them off.

  5. ECA says:

    Dave find a mod to convert a regular Oven, into a convection..
    Insted of paying 200-500 EXTRA for the feature.

  6. bobbo, int'l pastry chef and bloated gourmand says:

    Any slow cooker “should” be able to do this but the temp settings don’t go this low and the temp controller usually has too wide a range for activation. Same deal with the newer multi-tasking units = those that go from slow cooker to deep fat fryer. They have “settings” for all the different heat ranges, but not the more finely tuned controls.

    I love my $3000 convection oven but when I wanted a rotisserie to play with, I had to buy a table top George Foreman. Rather than designed obsolescence, we have designed “not everything everyone wants-so buy another thing.”

  7. gmknobl says:

    Very nice. I wonder how they drilled the whole to get the thermocouple (or whatever probe) in? That couldn’t be too easy.

    Yes, I’d worry about botulism too. Or how about those chefs that do oysters? Can you say Vibrio vulnific or better yet, Vibrio cholerae? Cook shellfish thoroughly always.

    Anyway, I do like what they did. That’s nice and you should do a show with stuff like this on it as an above poster mentioned.

    And yes, I still want a ZDTV coffee mug that I never got after submitting questions to Silicon Spin but never getting them read. Got one available, even used?

  8. I refuse to cook this way. Slow smoking makes more sense for an infinite number or reasons. None of the chefs and techies into sous vide seem to like smoking. It’s not techie enough. While Jeff and other swear by this technique, I do not think it is worth the risk (as cited by the comments).

  9. bobbo, int'l pastry chef and bloated gourmand says:

    refuse – infinite – never? Strong opinions indeed. I don’t see a big tech difference at all, in fact, more geek in smoking than set and walk away.

    The issue here is “taste.” Safety concerns only highlight the recognition that hoomans are very poor at risk assessment and substitute fear for judgment and balance.

    No raw seafood? = really????
    No raw eggs? = really?????
    No raw meat? = really????

    Ok. But do it on taste, or fear, or inability to read a thermometer = all as you wish.

  10. Likes2LOL says:

    I prefer my salmon cooked to 132 degrees…

  11. Rider says:

    People really should at least learn basics of food safty before they freak out about stuff.

  12. deowll says:

    I took parasitology in college.

    I want my food cooked. Scraping the edge of cooked is how some people die or get very, very seriously ill.

    I slow cook beans.

  13. laxdude says:

    #7 gmknobl
    I think they drilled out a hole that already existed for attaching the handle to the lid – probably one of the reasons they picked that model. The lid is probably tempered glass making drilling a hole a no-go.

  14. spsffan says:

    Slow cooking is for tough cuts of meat, to make them more tender. Things that are already tender should be cooked at higher heat. Saves time, tastes better.

    I don’t have the patience for slow cookers. And they don’t brown. I DO love my pressure cooker for certain things.

    Now, sure, you might want your salmon cooked to 131 F, but how long does it take for that temperature to penetrate to the center of the fish?? It takes 2 days in the fridge to defrost frozen meat the thickness of salmon.

    Oh well. More foodie nonsense.

  15. Universal says:

    kewl a potential divider and a comparator could replace that thermal timer thing.

  16. John E. Quantum says:

    Some call it cooking- I call it warming

  17. nunyac says:

    Can’t you just buy this stuff at the local army surplus store? Weren’t they called “K-rations”?

  18. FRAGaLOT says:

    I never heard of Sous-Vide cooking, is that french? So it’s just temperature regulated slow cooker? Why not have that built into old crockpots?

  19. Animby - just phoning it in says:

    In general, I’m with deowll (#12). For a long time after I studied these things, I wouldn’t eat any animal protein that wasn’t cooked to a crisp.

    But, I’m feeling much better now.

    Still, sous-vide cooking worries me. Too easy to make a mistake. Though I did try it. I had a steak that was cooked this way. Interesting to see it was medium rare all the way through instead of just in the center. It was amazingly tender. In fact, maybe too tender. And the texture was … well, different and not appealing.

    I would try it again but I would have to know and trust the cook.

  20. bobbo, int'l pastry chef and major power tool user says:

    Well, from Animby’s first hand account, it does make food taste different. That means some will like it and others won’t. EXCELLENT!

    Seems to me the final step should be 3 seconds in the radiation chamber? Great taste and 3 year shelf life.

    The future is so bright, I gotta wear shades.

  21. Animby - just phoning it in says:

    Bobbo! I am shocked, shocked, I tell you, that you should suggest radiating our food!

    Just think, if they radiated all the ground beef produced, Jack-in-the-Box would never face a meat recall again!

    Nope. Far better to play pathogen roulette at the drive through.

  22. Eddie DaRoza says:

    It was a fun project at the least. Glad Jeff came by to show us.


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