I was immediately smitten when sous vide circulators appeared on Food Network’s Iron Chef in 2010 because I had never seen one before. At that time, home-use circulators weren’t on the market … that took a few years. Even the first ones were around $500 and definitely out of my budget.

As with any new gadget, just wait a bit and as competition hits the market, prices come down. This past summer, I purchased the Anova Culinary Sous Vide Precision Cooker with app and have had a lot of fun experimenting with it.

Anova Sous Vide Circulator

I really like the app that Anova uses. It is easy to save cooking times and temperatures for things that I cook and it comes with recipes to try. It also keeps track of preheating and cooking times. Simply set things up, insert food once preheating is done, and walk away.

The circulator itself is user friendly. It clamps to the side of your container and stays put. I’ve never had any issues using it. The digital face is easy to read and you can start it manually or through the app.

The first few times I used this circulator, I paired it with my 7-quart cast iron stock pot. I very quickly decided that was not ideal because I needed something clear to see through and deeper to hold more water.

I switched to a food-safe Rubbermaid Food Storage Container and purchased a lid that fit the Anova circulator. The container in the above photo is 12 quarts. Anything that holds 8-12 quarts will be enough to get you started. Larger containers will likely require more than one sous vide circulator to keep the water at the correct temperature.

Steak Salad

Steak is one of the first foods I cooked because it was the one thing everyone was raving about. Admittedly, it took a couple tries to get it right, but even the “fails” were good! I use thick-cut strip steak – usually about 2 inches because the results are better.

Read more about cooking steak using the sous vide method in my article “Plunge into sous vide: Tips for using immersion circulators”.

This recipe calls for marinated mushroom but you can use plain button mushrooms. The marinated mushroom recipe came from my “Taste of Home What Can I Cook in my Instant Pot, Air Fryer, Waffle Iron & More” cookbook. They were cooked in my Instant Pot and are absolutely fabulous!

I whipped up a creamy balsamic dressing for this salad, too. The Balsamic flavor is one of my favorites to pair with steak and mushrooms, so it was a perfect accompaniment.

A container of Artisan Lettuce is the perfect size and combination for this recipe, too, but any combination of leafy greens will work.