All-in-one Sous Vide Cooker, Waterless, Bagless, with Built-in Probe, Preserved flavor, Shape and Texture, The Space Neovide, NSV100

This is no ordinary sous vide cooker. With this machine, the sous vide process is moved directly into a vacuum chamber. Sous vide cooking is vastly simplified. This is revolutionary, and it just works.I’ve had the machine for about 2 weeks and I’m hooked. No more water immersion bath, no bag, no vacuum, definitely hassle free. Oh there is vacuum, the machine does that for you, automatically – inside the tray/inner pot/chamber. I put food in the machine, mostly right out of the fridge. Touch a few buttons, I can then go out and walk my dog. With the phone app, I can remotely control the machine anywhere there are cell signals. I only need to monitor the temperature progress.The internal temperature probe doesn’t sound very exciting, but it helps get the job done. It allows real-time monitoring of the internal temperature of the food, which is not possible on traditional sous vide.The results have been good, perfect doneness everytime. Meats are juicy and tender, salmon is moist, tender and flaky; shrimp and lobster (yes, lobster in shell, why not?) are tender, slightly springy and succulent.Ribeye and seafood dinner? No problem, I have done it too. Put them both in at the same time, set the lower temperature one first. Take that out when it’s done, then continue on with the other one. You can do the same if Donny came for dinner, and he prefers his well-done instead of bloody red.I was skeptical about the heating at first. But, not to worry. The heating seems even, however it’s done. I have tried 4 NY strips at the same time, 1 1/4 inch cut, double stacked, perfect doneness all around, no problem there. And the same goes for 6 salmon steaks.I swear I’ve read somewhere that the machine is better in retaining moisture of the food, that is, compared to the traditional sous vide. I don’t have a way to test this scientifically, but I can confirm the foods came out of it are always deliciously tasty and juicy.For the last few years, I only cooked sous vide in the weekends. Now it’s sous vide for dinner every day. There’s no going back.If you are new to sous vide cooking, you may or may not realize that sous vide cooking is not limited to steak. Most if not all, are just better at certain temperatures, usually at the lower than boiling point. Think, “overcooked/under-cooked” in terms of internal food center temperature. As it turns out, once you get a hang of it, the possibility is endless. To help get started, there are 20 recipes in the mobile app, which is specifically developed for the device. Most of them can be done in less than an hour.In Neovide Mode on this machine, where you set a target internal food temperature. When the preset temperature is reached, the machine goes into “keep warm” mode and the display shows “Hold” and time. The vacuum is retained at this point by the way, it won’t release the air until you pressed the “Start/Stop” button on the machine, or the “Finish” and “confirm” on the mobile app. I’m not sure “keep warm” is the right term in this mode. The temperature can drop a couple of degrees (f), but it seems to me that the machine is still working hard to maintain the food’s preset internal temperature, which is how it should be at all time.Depending on what you are cooking, the preset temperature can be reached before the required pasteurization time. I leave it on “hold”, or change to manual mode and let it continue. If you change mode, air is released, the machine then vacuums again and restarts in the other mode. I don’t know whichever way is better, but I do make sure it passed the recommended pasteurization time.With sous vide in general, as in all forms of cooking, food safety is very important. It should be emphasized here again. It’s a good thing as it forces me to source my food wisely. That is stored, handled and prepared properly at all times, and I make sure pasteurization is achieved before serving.The machine can do searing, which is nice. I have not gotten to it yet. In this regard, my cast iron is doing a fine job. On the other hand, I like how I can preheat the cast iron before the foods are taken out of the machine.The machine is sturdy and sleek looking, good material, very well built. Again, the machine requires no bag. With the money I save from it, I expect to make it back in no time. Sous vide grade vacuum bags are expensive these days. Furthermore, I understand good quality vacuum bags are capable of handling the intense sous vide cooking. However, questions remain in the back of my head when cooking tougher cuts for extended periods. Now, no bag, no plastic.The volume is a little limited perhaps, if you have a big family. In my case, I rarely need to make more anyway.“Sous vide”, is a French term for “under vacuum”. Here, under vacuum and precise low temperature control is the name of the game. This machine has done it and done it well. As far as I can tell, it is the one and only machine today. But if you are looking for a slow cooker, or an oven for that matter, I’m sure there are better options elsewhere.