I did this cook for last Christmas, but thought the technique might be interesting to a few of you folks, especially when planning to entertain. Although this is beef, pork and fish can be prepared with equal success.

I like to use sous vide when I have full roasts or thick steaks that I want cooked uniformly all the way through. Of particular benefit - you can keep your meat to a state of perfect doneness all day long, so if your guests arrive late, or people socialize too long, then no problem - the meat is always ready to eat after a quick sear.  This example uses a small 2-bone prime rib.

The machine keeps the water bath to within a degree of set temperature. I like 120 degrees. You set the temperature and come back when you are ready to roast or fast sear. You can keep the meat ready all day if you like and it will absolutely not overcook.     It was too cold outside to use the Traeger, so this is a hot oven roast - 450 degrees until the outside looks good. On the pellet grill I do the same - set a high temperature for a quick sear, or simply use the sear burner on the gas grill.     If you are looking for a way to perfectly cook food to a most precise temperature, then sous vide is hard to beat. I have never ruined anything cooked this way (and I have ruined many a meal in my long and distinguished cooking history).

I have been very interested in one of these.

Looks great, PZ. Do you ever smoke the meat before you bag and sous vide it? That looks like quite a machine. What did that set you back?

There is sous vide and then here at the castle there is "poor vide". ..... A large stock pot full of water,  the "gasser's" outboard burner and my Maverick. Temperature adjusted with ice cubes.

They are becoming more affordable with time. I think I paid $169 several years ago, and they are now down to about $120.

I have not smoked before sealing in the bag, but definitely after when it is cooked, and before searing it. It is easiest to do in the pellet cooker where I can do the low temperature smoke, then crank up the temperature to do the finish roast, but I found the results better if I transfer to a hot oven or sear burner to do the final sear so the meat does not over cook.

Another benefit for me is that this unit is so portable I take it on the road RV-ing.

Clever poor vide unit you have there Queball!  Your innovation has me wondering if you can use an old analog hot plate or crock pot and a PID (like an auber) to control water temperature.

Clever poor vide unit you have there Queball!  Your innovation has me wondering if you can use an old analog hot plate or crock pot and a PID (like an auber) to control water temperature.

Oh! PZ .... I wish I had your knowledge ..... Thou art way, way above my pay grade! "Old analog with a PID(like an auber) ..... Sounds great .... really?

They are becoming more affordable with time. I think I paid $169 several years ago, and they are now down to about $120.

I have not smoked before sealing in the bag, but definitely after when it is cooked, and before searing it. It is easiest to do in the pellet cooker where I can do the low temperature smoke, then crank up the temperature to do the finish roast, but I found the results better if I transfer to a hot oven or sear burner to do the final sear so the meat does not over cook.

Another benefit for me is that this unit is so portable I take it on the road RV-ing.

Clever poor vide unit you have there Queball!  Your innovation has me wondering if you can use an old analog hot plate or crock pot and a PID (like an auber) to control water temperature.

Before getting an Anova I used a crock pot for a few years to sous vide. Works good on smaller cuts and holds stable temperatures very well. One problem is that there is no circulation so you can end up with thermal barriers resulting in poor heat transfer.

there is no circulation so you can end up with thermal barriers resulting in poor heat transfer.[/quote]

Can you explain that more bregent.

Clever poor vide unit you have there Queball!  Your innovation has me wondering if you can use an old analog hot plate or crock pot and a PID (like an auber) to control water temperature.

Oh! PZ .... I wish I had your knowledge ..... Thou art way, way above my pay grade! "Old analog with a PID(like an auber) ..... Sounds great .... really?

You are way too kind Queball - the reverse is actually quite true - I wish I had YOUR experience in cooking. I can do a few things alright, but your skills are way above MY pay grade 

By "analog" I mean the old manual dial kind; the cheapest ones without a digital display. The Auber PID is a stand alone unit that does the same thing as the ones built into many good pellet cookers. Mine has two probes, one for general temperature and another for the food. After your post I was thinking that one could dip the temperature probe into the water, which would allow the Auber to control the power to the crock pot (you plug the crock pot into the Auber, crank the pot to full temperature, and the Auber will vary the current delivered to the crock pot.

However, as bregent mentioned, without a water circulator (built into good sous vide machines), you can get hot spots and cold spots in the water bath when the food bag is large, which leads to uneven cooking.

So, I guess what you are saying is "Buy an Anova!"

Pretty much 

They are well known, and the price is now in line with other machines of it's kind. Long ago when folks were becoming interested in sous vide, but the price was too high a company called Dorkfood produced a small unit that controlled a crock pot. It worked well and was only about a $100 when sous vide machines were $300 or more. Some folks used an aquarium bubbler to keep the water moving.

Now however, with the Dorkfood controller still $100, and a precision machine like Anova is only $120, the latter unit is much more cost effective, and you can let it run all day, or even for days during  a long cook and have no worries.

I've had a SV setup for about 3 years.
A good resource for SV is:
http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html

SV certainly has it's place, however if it has one shortcoming it is reduced flavor.
It's really hard to duplicate the flavor developed by traditional grilling methods with a hot 30 second sear at the end of the SV cook.

In some cases the reduced flavor is a good trade off for the convenience/precision it offers.

there is circulation without the circulator, the changes in the water temp make it circulate, sorry I am a dummy or I would know the name for this. Sous Vide Supreme has no circulation.

There are a lot of Anova types out there look at them all they seem to be different in certain way. The Joule looks to be a nice unit also.

there is circulation without the circulator, the changes in the water temp make it circulate, sorry I am a dummy or I would know the name for this. Sous Vide Supreme has no circulation.

There are a lot of Anova types out there look at them all they seem to be different in certain way. The Joule looks to be a nice unit also.

Convection currents. As mentioned, this is fine for small pieces, but you will get uneven temperature if you rely on convection current alone when using bigger bags.

The Poly Science that I have has a powerful water pump for circulation.
It really promotes even cooking.

So a small fan above the water or 1 egg beater in the water is not going to cut it?