I received the sous-vide as a gift and was hesitant to use it for a long time. Kept thinking, do I have time to learn another way of cooking. Set up has to be complicated. If I ever use it I’ll never do it again so what’s the point. Well I have to say I was wrong on all accounts. The setup is so easy. If you can download an app on your phone you’re through the hardest part. I’ve used it 4 times in the past 2 weeks and everything has come out juicy, flavorful, and cooked to perfection. I made chicken breasts, tenderloin steak, and burgers twice. Once you prep the food you put it in a ziplock bag (or vacuum sealed bag) and submerge it in the water once it reaches target temp. Generally I’ve been choosing meals that take 2 hrs to cook but the only active cooking is the prep. Once it is done I will put it on a pan to sear it but that only takes 2 minutes. Highly recommend it for anybody that is looking to elevate their cooking. Time commitment is minimal but you should prep your meals about 2hrs prior to when you want to eat.

Update: So, Anova is not only dropping support for my older cooker for no good reason (couldn’t just let it keep working as is?) they now want people to pay a SUBSCRIPTION FEE?! Get lost, Anova! No chance I’ll EVER buy one of your products again. Just opened the app to start a cook and I’m welcomed by a lovely little message that Anova is ARBITRARILY REMOVING THE ABILITY TO CONNECT MY COOKER TO THE APP?! Why? There is no reason for this other than greed. You just lost a fan of your brand. Bad look, Anova. Seriously. I don’t buy things that are meant to be thrown away before their useful life is over. I’ve ditched SONOS and LL Bean for doing exactly what you’re doing now. THERE IS NO GOOD REASON TO NOT ALLOW THE CURRENT APP TO CONTINUE WORKING AS IT IS - ASIDE FROM A MONEY GRAB. I will DEFINITELY be looking at another brand of cooker when this one fails, but I’ll have to see how long I’m willing to deal without having the app to set things up or reference recipes. So sick of companies deciding when I’m done being able to use a perfectly functional item through planned obsolescence. We’re already dealing with far too much waste in our society and companies that do this sort of thing ought to be ashamed of causing further damage. BUYER BEWARE: ANOVA IS NOT A TRUSTWORTHY BRAND AND WILL DECIDE FOR YOU WHEN YOU’RE DONE USING A PERFECTLY GOOD PRODUCT JUST BECAUSE THEY WANT TO MAKE AN EXTRA DOLLAR OFF OF YOU. THERE’S PLENTY OF OTHER FISH IN THE SOUS VIDE SEA.

As others have pointed out, sous vide cooking is a game changer and Anova’s wand works well enough. However, Anova also wants to encourage users to enter and share their own recipes with other users. Here, the app is frustrating beyond belief. On the mobile app, you can enter and edit steps but you can’t edit make a private recipe public. Also, you can reorder steps — but only if there aren’t so many of them that they fill one screen on your device. Because if they do, you can’t actually scroll to it to select and reorder it. On the other hand, you CAN change a private recipe to public by logging in to Anova online, where you can also enter and edit steps. But at the online site you CAN’T reorder steps. Since any time you want to enter a new step they get entered as the last step, not being able to do this easily is a major oversight. All in all, creating and managing recipes is an exercise in frustration. It’s a shame because a bit of attention to the UI could fix these issues and encourage a more social and useful platform. And as far as I can see, there’s no way to make a recipe “public” if it starts out “private”. Who would want to share a recipe before you test it yourself? Stupid.

Anova intends this to be the directions for using their sous vide machines. As such it fails. There simply are not enough clear directions provided. Very many of the user-contributed recipes are poorly and unclear written as to technique. Those need to be much better-curated. Some examples of issues Anova leaves unanswered: Is there a limit to the amount of product you can cook at one time? When cooking animal flesh, can you put more than one cut (e.g., one pork chop or steak) into a single bag? If so, would you “stack” them one on top of another, or lay them side by side? Do you put the product in the water before it has come to temperature, or after? Many recipes give very large ranges for cooking times, what gives? Do those relate to the thickness of the cut? When the product is done cooking, can/should it be removed immediately, or can it be left in the (gradually cooling) water to keep warm until ready to sear/serve? Is it dangerous if a small amount of air is left in the bag (because it leaves product out of contact with hot water), or is it ok so long as the bag is fully submerged? It is very unfortunate Anova leaves so many basic questions unanswered. Sous vide is a unique technique; I am a skillful home chef but the skills used in other cooking techniques do not directly transfer to sous vide cooking.