General Oven FAQs
I've noticed that the oven temperature drops when I open the door to add the food. Should the recipe timer start immediately or after the oven returns back to its set temperature?
Unless the recipe specifies otherwise, you should start the cooking timer when the food is added. All of the recipes in the Anova Oven App have been developed to account for the natural drop in temperature when the oven door is opened.
What range of temperature fluctuation is normal for the oven?
- When sous vide mode is turned on, the oven can fluctuate up to ± 0.7°F (0.3°C).
- When sous vide mode is turned on and the set temperature is at or below 212°F (100°C), the oven can fluctuate ± 1.8°F (1°C).
- When sous vide mode is turned off and the set temperature is above 212°F (100°C), the oven can fluctuate ± 10°F (5°C).
Steam FAQs
I'm cooking a recipe that doesn't use steam. However, I'm seeing a lot of steam billowing out of the oven. Is this normal?
Yes, this is normal! All foods contain water (some vegetables contain A LOT of water!). Especially if you’re cooking without steam, this moisture needs a way to escape in order to prevent pressure from building up inside the oven. You’ll see steam coming out of the front of the Precision™ Oven 1.0, and will feel moisture escaping (but likely won’t see much steam) from the Precision™ Oven 2.0.
If you’re cooking with sous vide mode and full steam, you likely won’t see much steam escaping. At these low temperatures, we’re not worried about pressure building up, so we don’t need to vent the oven.
Is it okay to use steam with the Baking Steel? What about a cast iron skillet?
Yes! At the high temperatures you’d use for the baking steel, the steam will not affect the quality of the steel. If you’re especially concerned, be sure to run the steel through a high temperature dry heat cook afterwards to ensure it doesn’t retain any moisture.
We recommend using only well-seasoned cast iron skillets for lower temperature steamy cooks.
Sous Vide FAQs
GENERAL
Is Sous Vide Mode the same as sous vide?
The words “sous vide” literally translate to “under vacuum”, but it's the meaning behind the words that matters. For instance, sauté is from the French, “to jump,” but the technique doesn't strictly require aerobics, fun as they are. So, the question we must answer is, “If your food isn't 'under vacuum', is it still being cooked sous vide?” Yes.
Sous vide cooking is defined first and foremost by cooking at a precisely controlled temperature, typically at or slightly above the temperature you want the core of your food to reach. Although cooking in a sealed bag in a water bath is a common way to cook sous vide, it's not the only way.
There are lots of accepted sous vide scenarios that don't involve a bag at all. A favorite technique among sous vide enthusiasts is to cook whole eggs right in their shell, where nature has done the packaging for us. American chef Thomas Keller famously poaches lobster tails directly in a bath of circulating butter. Neither scenario involves vacuum bagging, but the results are unmistakably sous vide.
Because we're using the oven to cook foods using precise temperature and humidity control for edge-to-edge even doneness, we are going to go ahead and call it sous vide. Precision is, after all, the hallmark of this style of cooking.
如果我將普通烤箱設置為低溫,可以用真空低溫烹調嗎?
Generally, no. That’s because traditional ovens only measure and control dry-bulb temperature. The Anova Precision™ Oven directly controls wet bulb temperature — the temperature your food actually experiences — and maintains the temperature you set very precisely.
Can I use the same times and temps in Sous Vide Mode as I would using traditional sous vide techniques?
Yep! You can also use the food probe to monitor doneness if you want to double check your cooking times.
Is vacuum sealing necessary for Sous Vide Mode to work?
No, vacuum sealing is not necessary for sous vide. In fact — and this is very counterintuitive — foods inside a sealed vacuum bag aren't under vacuum at all! A vacuum is defined as a space that contains little to no air (or matter, generally speaking). Because vacuum bags are flexible, they bend around the food inside them, making tight contact. This doesn't leave any empty space for a vacuum to form, so food inside a vacuum bag actually experiences normal atmospheric pressure.
So when is my food “under vacuum”?
If you’re using a chamber vacuum sealer — where the entire bag goes inside a rigid chamber — then your food does experience a vacuum when the machine reduces the atmospheric pressure inside the chamber before sealing the end of the bag.
例如,您可能會注意到,在這個過程中,含有大量水的食物開始沸騰。這是因為水的沸點取決於大氣壓:壓力越低,沸點越低(對於給定溫度)。但是,一旦袋子被密封並且機器將空氣釋放回腔室,沸騰就會停止。食物不再處於真空狀態,因為大氣壓力會推動袋子,袋子會推動您的食物。
然而,有一種情況是你的食物保持在真空下——密封在一個剛性容器中。如果您使用的是剛性真空罐,或者您將剛性容器放入真空袋內,那麼食物在密封后確實處於真空狀態。回想一下,真空需要空間,裡面幾乎沒有空氣。罐子的剛性壁是維持這個空間的原因,與外面的大氣壓力作鬥爭。
BAGS IN SOUS VIDE MODE
What's the difference between cooking in a bag versus cooked unbagged in the Anova Precision™ Oven?
The inside of a sous vide bag quickly rises to 100% relative humidity during cooking — in a water bath, or in the Precision™ Oven. As the food in the bag heats up, some of the food's water evaporates, quickly saturating any air remaining in the bag. So all bagged food experiences 100% relative humidity.
In the Anova Precision™ Oven, you can replicate this environment by using Sous Vide Mode and setting the steam to 100%. The Precision™ Oven will fill the cavity with humid air, replicating the 100% relative humidity conditions in the bag.
Should I always skip the bag? Or are there good times to use one?
We like to use bags in Sous Vide Mode if the cook is longer than four hours and we want to make sure the surface of the food does not dry out. Sometimes a dry surface can be beneficial, such as when you want to get a really hearty crust on the exterior of a roast.
It can also be beneficial to bag your food if you want a marinade or other flavor-packed sauce to have close contact with the food. Sure, you can cook the food in a pot filled with sauce, but by using a bag, you can use less marinade and you ensure that the sauce is touching all surfaces of your food.
We do not recommend using bags in Dry Sous Vide Mode.
如果我在真空低溫烹調溫度下烹飪而不將食物裝袋,是否會造成食品安全風險?
The food safety rules for sous vide time and temperature that you’re accustomed to for water bath cooking apply just the same in the Anova Precision™ Oven. However, if you’re practicing cook-chill sous vide and plan to store your food long term, we do recommend vacuum bagging your food before cooking. Combined with proper time and temperature, this ensures that the contents of the bag are pasteurized and remain protected from outside contamination.
在長時間烹飪期間,我的食物會暴露在氧氣中怎麼辦?
Vacuum sealing your food creates an anaerobic environment — an environment that lacks oxygen. This inhibits the growth of certain spoilage bacteria, which is why we always recommend sealing your food before doing cook-chill sous vide. However, the spoilage bacteria of interest operate on longer time scales than you’ll experience for the vast majority of Precision™ Oven cooking. So sous vide recipes can be safely translated into their bag-free variants in the Precision™ Oven. However, if you are concerned about oxidation, or are doing very long cook times, following hygienic practices and pre-sealing your food before cooking in the oven will minimize risk.
肉類在烹飪過程中會釋放出汁液,袋子將這些汁液與肉一起保存。我不會在敞開的烤箱裡丟失它嗎?
Foods cooked sous vide in vacuum bags lose juices as well — your sous vide steak typically sheds some juice into the bag during bath time. The same is true in the Precision™ Oven. But with the Precision™ Oven set to 100% relative humidity, those juices will collect in a pan, so you’re free to retain them for use in a sauce or gravy. However, if you want to keep your food immersed during cooking in a marinade, sauce, or a fat, sealing your foods in a bag will help maximize surface contact.