Anova Culinary(ANOVA)ᴿᴱᴰ Precision Cooker, Black, Medium

I like sou vide for cooking. I use it for thawing frozen soup and right now my Rinnia on demand water heater quit. I'm also using it for a hot water tank till I get the water heater replaced.

Great starter sous vide for the average cook

Easy to use, easy to clean, stores away with little space. I've used this item mostly for beef. Less expensive cuts like sirloin come out tender and tasty. Wonderful on chicken. I bone my chicken so I have no fear of blood by the bone. I got most of my tips and cooking times from the Anova cooking site. The unit is a little noisy but a great addition to my cooking toys.

We have discovered sous vide cooking, and love the Anova. Anova’s customer service is the best! Had an issue with our first buy, emailed them, returned the unit (with their prepaid return postage), and within days had a new one.

I've been in IT for 26 years, so I'm patient with this stuff. I tinkered with the Anova app for over an hour and all I succeeded in doing was draining 25% of my phone battery. On top of that, the app caused my iPhone 15 to reach an astonishing temperature (and it never gets hot). I even deleted the app, used my phone normally for a while (it cooled to normal of course) and reinstalled. No success with pairing and my phone overheated again. Just ridiculous nonsense.The hardware itself seems great. I did a sous vide ribeye with it and I swear it was the best flavored steak I've had in my entire life.I watched and read a few reviews online and the app seems to be a source of frustration for a lot of people. Not only pairing, but overall functionality as well.Bottom line is this: If you don't care about the app integration and just want to use the onboard controls, this is a fantastic product and I give it 5 stars. If you want the app functionality, go elsewhere. I'm swapping this out for the Breville Joule in hopes of a better experience.

I never heard of Sous Vide prior to a month or so ago when my buddy Dale mentioned them to me. He said it is an entire new ballgame when it comes to cooking. He was not lying! If you have the patience you will love using a Sous Vide as the meats do not shrink and do not dry out. Even the fat on the steak melts in your mouth as opposed to being chewy. Thus far I made chicken, steak, ribs, asparagus, Brussels sprout, and my favorite... salmon! Great product!

UPDATE 1/2025:I ordered at least one more, a third one, (ANOVA)RED Precision Cooker, but they all arrived broken in the same way. I gave up and tried ordering the regular, non "RED" version, which did arrive in one piece. I've used it quite a few times with no problem, but now I recognize there is definitely a design flaw, and I treat the unit like it's made of glass—I'm a little nervous that I'll drop it, which will definitely kill it.As far as usage goes, it does what it is intended to do, though with a very annoying high-pitched whine. As a new sous vide user, I underestimated how loud these might be. If I could have a do-over, I would try to select a model that has good reviews for quietness. The app works fine, though be warned: Anova seems to have gone to a subscription model of some sort. Pay to cook? No thanks! Disassembly and clean up with a soak in some vinegar (we have hard water) is easy.UPDATE:The second one arrived broken as well. Broken in the same way: top panel loose or cracked completely off.ORIGINAL REVIEW:Arrived broken similar to what other reviewers have posted pictures of, with the top cracked off at the 4 mounting screws. This is a bad design or bad materials choice. If the material is too brittle or fragile, I would expect this to happen quite easily if the unit was accidentally dropped even once, or possibly even if it fell over on a hard surface. This might be bad news for the long-term durability of the item with regular use.I have ordered a replacement. We shall see how #2 goes.

I cooked lamb, salmon, filet! Perfect taste, easy to use, healthy food!