This post is sponsored by Amazon. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
I have a love/hate relationship with cooking. I enjoy the end product, but I don’t like setting aside the time to create it. My eating habits fall somewhere in the instant gratification theme of our time where I want to create great food with the least time and effort possible.
That’s why I love the Joule sous vide. It’s tagline should literally be, “make great food while doing as little as possible.” Oh, and if you somehow forget to take the food out when the app notifies you, “no problem, we’ve got you covered. Leave it in up to an hour too long and your tenderloin or chicken breast is still going to come out better than you could ever do if you tried cooking it on a grill, oven, or stove.”
Unlike any other cooking gimmick you’ve seen, this is really a “set it and forget it” product.
Aside from the microwave, the Joule sous vide is as close to Jetson’s technology as we’ve come. It’s JUST SO SIMPLE!
Amazon Prime Day is today and tomorrow and you can pick up the Joule sous vide for 30% off!
The Joule app has a MASSIVE amount of foods it’s programmed to cook, and for each one it will give you an option for different temperatures to cook them at.
For example, I love making pork tenderloin with my Joule, and it gives 5 different “doneness” levels you can cook it at from “soft and rosy” to “firm and fibrous,” and each level has a little video showing you a tenderloin cooked at that temperature being cut a few times, so you can get a real feeling for which you’ll like best.
I’ve made pork tenderloin on a grill, and in all of my many attempts, I’ve never cooked it so perfectly as the Joule sous vide does.
When grilling, there’s a 3-minute window where you have to take it off the grill or it’s going to be less juicy. It’s a stressful piece of meat to cook. I have to constantly watch the meat and check it’s temperature.
With the sous vide, I throw the tenderloin in a plastic bag; place it in a pot of water with the Joule and wait 90 minutes. Done.
It sends my app alerts when it’s done and if miss the timer by up to 60 minutes, the meat’s still going to come out perfect.
Why Is it Better?
Why is it so much better than traditional cooking methods? It’s all in how the sous vide works.
When a piece of chicken reaches 165 degrees Fahrenheit for any amount of time, it’s considered fully cooked by the USDA, because whatever bacteria was on it can’t survive that temperature for that long.
Image courtesy of https://www.amazingfoodmadeeasy.com
As you can see on the chart above, that also happens when a piece of chicken is at 149 for around 5 minutes.
That’s why meat cooked in sous vide can always be better than one cooked using traditional methods. The meat doesn’t have to hit higher temperatures required by traditional cooking, so you get moister, more tender meat.
So why can’t you just cook meat that way on a grill?
It’s because when you have a piece of chicken sitting over a 500 degree flame it’s incredibly hard to reliably time how long you’re keeping the entire piece of chicken at that lower temperature.
You’re always going to overcook the outside until the inside finally reaches a safe level.
Now with the sous vide, the chicken sits in a bath of water that’s kept at an exact 149 degrees for 45 minutes. The temperature doesn’t change. You’re just waiting for the entire piece of meat to come to that temperature and sit there long enough to be “cooked.”
The Joule’s app adds in enough extra time to make sure the entire piece can come up to the right temperature and stay there for the amount of time it takes to “cook,” but because it’s just keeping it at a consistent 149 degrees, there’s no threat of overcooking it.
That’s also why you can leave it in an extra 60 minutes after it’s cooked and have it still come out great.
How To Cook with It
You’ll see some people using fancy vacuum sealed bags to cook with their sous vide, but I’ve looked into it and you can also use Ziploc freezer bags. They’re made out of a different type of plastic, so they’re safe to cook in.
Once you’re ready to cook:
- Look up a recipe on the Joule app.
- Toss the Joule into a pot of water to preheat.
- Throw the food into a freezer bag.
- Remove the extra air from the bag
- Toss the bag into the water and wait until your phone tells you it’s ready.
- Enjoy foods you never knew could taste so good.
How We Use It
My wife and I work from home with our two kids. We go through A LOT of food. I’d like to cook a different meal every night, but I don’t have time to shop all the ingredients multiple times per week or even get the time each day to make a new meal.
That’s where the Joule comes in. As I’m writing this I have 12 chicken breasts cooking in our sous vide. I have them broken up into 3 different bags, each with a different marinade.
After 45 minutes of cooking, I have 3 full meals plus leftovers – all while I sit here and write this.
😆
Favorite Things to Cook
There are a ton of different recipes to try, but I’m a creature of habit. I find something that’s healthy I like, and I eat it over and over.
Some of our favorites:
1. Chicken Breast and Boneless Chicken Thighs – Because they’re so versatile. You can change up the marinade or add it to other dishes throughout the week
2. Pork Tenderloin – You’ll never have a tenderloin this moist and tender. You can pretty much cut it with a fork. This is another that’s great to eat by itself, incorporate into other dishes, or even make sandwiches.
3. Boiled Eggs – Even if you don’t like boiled eggs, you have to try these. They’re so perfectly cooked. The inside is solid, but not dry. I’ve never had any that tasted close to as good as these.
4. Asparagus – There are a lot of vegetables that are easy to cook with the Joule, but I’m a fan of asparagus. Toss them in a bag, throw them in the water and sprinkle with some salt when they’re done. It’s just so easy.
As I mentioned there are a lot of recipes I’d still like to try – one being the 48 hour bacon.
It’s an awesome gadget and I love it because of all the time it saves cooking. I’d love it even if it didn’t make food better than I’ve ever tasted. That’s just an extra that puts it over the top 🙂
People have described it as the “Apple of Sous Vides” and I’d have to agree. If you want to pick on up, I’ve never seen the Joule for 30% off, so it’s a great time to grab on Amazon’s Prime Day today and tomorrow!
