Hey everyone, I’m thinking of buying a sous vide machine for my husband, but I don’t know much about it. I found this Inkbird WiFi Sous Vide Cooker (ISV-300W) and was wondering if this brand is any good?
Also, do I need to buy a vacuum sealer as well? I’m sure if it’s necessary. Any tips for would be super helpful! Thanks!
by noura42
6 Comments
you wouldn’t need a thermometer. A vacumm sealer is a good choice, I use a resuable vacuum sealer bag to cut costs even tho it a hassle to clean afterwords. If you don’t have a sizable pot like around 16qts you’ll have a hard time using the sous vide. The cooked meat will also need to be seared to make it look more appetizing. I use a cast iron skillet, some people use a blow torch or a broiler.
Vac sealer and cooker should do the trick for most meals. I went with an 1100 watt model for faster/larger meals. Check the specs to see how large of a bath it can keep hot and meets your needs. Unless you need to do larger cooks, 1000 watts is fine.
Not sure you really need the meat thermometer, though. I’ve never temped my food as the point of sous vide makes it unnecessary IMO. I might swap that out for a thermal laser gun. With one of those, your husband can check the temp of the skillet to sear meat after the cook. It’s critical to make sure the pan and oil are at the right temp. You don’t want to ruin a perfect steak because you seared it at too low or too high a temp.
Also, a decent tub with lid is super handy. I went with this one:
[https://a.co/d/2K3Ykqx](https://a.co/d/2K3Ykqx)
I’ve gotten pretty good with it over the last year or so, but maybe some other commenters have have different opinions as I’m no expert. Hope that helps, and I hope you and your husband enjoy cooking with sous vide!
Wow, 300W will take forever to heat up.
I personally wouldn’t buy one below about 800W.
Thermapen if you just have to have a thermometer but it’s really not needed for SV.
300W for 120 bucks seems like a pretty bad deal.
I’m 100% Anova, I bought a buddy an Inkbird as a gift, he’s happier than I am.
I have the 1000 wat Inkbird, it’s been a good machine. It is my second SV. I don’t remember off the top of my head what the first one is but it was ok also. Both units have clear plastic caps of the bottom that have eventually broken. In fact the broken cap on the first one was why I bought the Inkbird. The Inkbird call did also eventually break but I was able to find a replacement cap for it and in fact found caps for both. And I still use both once in a while. I have a vacuum sealer but mostly just use freezer ziplock bags with the water displacement method. The vacuum sealer is much more a pain in the butt to use and the Ziploc bags are cheaper. Though I have been looking at the chamber vacs a bit lately. They may get me eventually 🤠