30 DAYS OPEN PURCHASESous vide is a cooking method where the ingredient is sealed in a bag and cooked in a water bath with precise temperature control. The principle is simple: the food can never get hotter than the temperature you've set, and stays at that temperature until you take it out. A chicken fillet cooks at exactly 64 degrees until it's done, not until you happen to take it out in time. It's a method that makes it almost impossible to get things wrong, which is a bigger deal than it sounds.
Take steak as an example. The difference between rare and medium rare is roughly three degrees. In a frying pan, you handle that difference with touch, experience, and luck. In a sous vide bath, you just set the temperature and wait. The meat then goes straight into a hot pan for thirty seconds to get a crust, and it's done. It works just as well for fish, pork, and vegetables, and the fact that the ingredient cooks in its sealed bag means that juices and flavour stay in rather than steaming away or running out into the pan.
Another advantage that's rarely mentioned is timing. With sous vide, a piece of meat can sit in the water bath for two hours instead of exactly one and a half, and nothing happens. The temperature is the same and the food is still perfect. It's a relaxed way to cook for guests.
The Anova Precision Cooker Nano is the brand's more compact model. It is 32.5 cm long and weighs 630 grams, small enough to store in a kitchen drawer alongside the whisk and ladle. The circulator clips onto the edge of a regular saucepan and circulates the water at a flow rate of 8 litres per minute. No special equipment is needed, which is part of the point of the Nano. You don't need a dedicated sous vide vessel or anywhere to store one. A saucepan you already own is enough.
The temperature range is 0 to 92 degrees with an accuracy of plus or minus 0.1 degrees. It is controlled either directly on the unit or via the Anova app on your phone, which includes recipes and timer controls. Connection is via Bluetooth, not WiFi, which means the phone needs to be within Bluetooth range for the app to communicate with the circulator. Those who want to control the cooking from another room or another floor will find other models in the Anova range with WiFi functionality. The Nano is designed for those who want reliable sous vide at home without unnecessary features.
Model AN400-EU00. Power 1000W. Temperature 0 to 92 degrees. Flow 8 litres per minute. Dimensions 78 x 105 x 325 mm, weight 630 grams. Two-year warranty.
