# New Anova combi oven



## sudsy9977

Anyone have any thoughts on the new anova oven. Looks pretty cool.


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## drsmp

Looks good - concerns about cleaning it


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## Twigg

Anyone using this thing? Opinions?


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## Chips

Im sure most who are interested in this new oven have already seen Kenji's unboxing video of it, but for those who may have missed it:


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## AFKitchenknivesguy

Hey Ryan 

Just saying hi to an old forum friend. Here and knifeforums.com/In The Kitchen before this site was established.


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## sudsy9977

What’s up. It’s scary to think I’ve been on knife related forums for i don’t even know how long. It’s had to been close to 20 years if not longer. Remember the days of sending money orders to japan. Those were the good old days. Ryan


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## Michi

It appears that there are a number of problems with the oven, from failure to perform a firmware upgrade, to the water leaking into the oven cavity and onto the counter, to flickering lights. Before committing to a purchase, you might want to do your research.





Search results for 'oven' - Anova Community | Food Nerd Forum | Anova Culinary


View conversations and engage in discussions with our Anova food nerd family.




community.anovaculinary.com


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## juice

Michi said:


> It appears that there are a number of problems with the oven,


Having a V2 of their stick, which sits in the drawer while I use the half-the-cost Inkbird off eBay, I can't say I'm all that surprised.


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## Slim278

I work in laboratory environment and don't see the need for the steam injection other than a gimmick. For the price of one of those units you can get a commercial lab grade oven that will last you 30 years.






USABlueBook - Gravity Convection Oven 1.27 ft<sup>3</sup>


Gravity Convection Oven 1.27 ft<sup>3</sup>



www.usabluebook.com


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## btbyrd

Having read up on CVAP and combi ovens and talked to many professionals who work in commercial kitchens and bakeries, I can say with confidence that there are plenty of valid culinary reasons for an oven to feature steam, forced air convection, and extreme temperature stability. And while I'm not opposed to using lab equipment in the kitchen, I can't imagine that thing having any significant benefits over the offering from Anova. It's less accurate, isn't a proper convection oven, cannot control humidity, and has a narrower operating range of temperatures. It's also ugly, has an inferior control system, and requires 18" of overhead clearance, so good luck setting it under your kitchen cabinets (not that anyone would want to).


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## Slim278

btbyrd said:


> Having read up on CVAP and combi ovens and talked to many professionals who work in commercial kitchens and bakeries, I can say with confidence that there are plenty of valid culinary reasons for an oven to feature steam, forced air convection, and extreme temperature stability. And while I'm not opposed to using lab equipment in the kitchen, I can't imagine that thing having any significant benefits over the offering from Anova. It's less accurate, isn't a proper convection oven, cannot control humidity, and has a narrower operating range of temperatures. It's also ugly, has an inferior control system, and requires 18" of overhead clearance, so good luck setting it under your kitchen cabinets (not that anyone would want to).




I don't mean to be negative, I just am not into gadgets and gizmos that have little benefit. I understand bread ovens benefit from the steam but bread aside, what would be the advantages of using one of these ovens vs cooking in a heavy walled dutch oven that will offset the temp swings in your existing oven?


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## juice

Loved my steam oven when I had one - awesome for things like chicken curries and so on. Was really getting into it and then we moved...


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## btbyrd

Slim278 said:


> I don't mean to be negative, I just am not into gadgets and gizmos that have little benefit. I understand bread ovens benefit from the steam but bread aside, what would be the advantages of using one of these ovens vs cooking in a heavy walled dutch oven that will offset the temp swings in your existing oven?



The accuracy of a combi oven opens up a range of techniques not available in standard ovens, especially when combined with humidity control. Cooking in an environment with 100% humidity means that moisture will not evaporate from the surface of the meat, so you'll have minimal juice loss (comparable to sous vide). Ovens with humidity control are also useful for holding foods for extended periods of time with minimal loss of quality. This includes things like conventionally cooked proteins, but also harder-to-hold items like fried chicken or tortilla chips. You can, for example, cook a rib roast to a core temperature of 135F and hold it there for several hours to tenderize it before doing a final "oven sear" with drier convection heat. As another example, Kenji's restaurant Wursthall cooks all of their sausages in a CVAP oven at 140 degrees and hold them there during service, pulling them as needed before a final sear on the griddle. (And CVAPs were originally developed for Col. Sanders to help him hold fried chicken without losing quality.) The right combination of temperature and humidity can effectively reverse staling in breads and chips, which is pretty cool. And the ANOVA oven is accurate down to basically room temperature, opening up functionality as a dehydrator, though that has nothing to do with steam. At any rate, I've wanted a combi oven ever since I read about them in Modernist Cuisine, but there hasn't been anything available in a countertop consumer model until now. I really want to try one of these ANOVA ovens, but I've since filled up my kitchen with other gear and there's no way I could hide this thing from my significant other. But one day, it will be mine.... oh yes, it will be mine.


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## Brian Weekley

I took delivery of an Anova Prevision Oven about a week ago. I was alerted to it by marc4pt0 some months ago and placed my order as soon as it was available. Now I’m a home chef and, like most of us, like a well equipped kitchen. My thought was that there’s no arguing the merits of a Combi oven. Commercial kitchens proved that years ago. Steam ovens are plentiful but more than a little expensive. Not for me! One thing that drives me nuts about my traditional oven is the temperature swings ... as much as 75F. The idea of precision temperature control was very attractive to me.

I have done six sessions with the oven ... no large joints of meat. With my limited experience here are my thoughts. First impression is that the oven is attractive, well engineered, and easy to use. It sits easily on my countertop and in fact sits on my microwave so that the oven window is close to eye level. The control panel is controlled by touch and is mounted in the handle. The controls are easy to use and understand. I’m sure that if you are the sort that doesn’t read manuals you could fumble your way through using the oven, although reading the manual is better. The oven will connect via your home wifi and your smart phone or iPad utilizing a downloadable app. Like most people I spent a couple of hours failing to get my iPhone to talk to the oven through my wifi network. I called it a night and thought it through when I woke fussing about it in the middle of the night. The answer to connecting is that you must make it through the connection setup for procedures without looping back on any step. I erased the app from my iPhone and unplugged the oven. I went straight through the setup procedure and it worked like a charm. The app is very slick. I find it very easy to use and to date without bugs. I’m sure I’ll find some but the app really puts you in control of the cook from your iPhone. There are lots of features that I won’t go into.

I never succumbed to sous vide cooking. I don’t argue with the advantages of sous vide, I just didn’t like all the stuff associated with sous vide that I would have to find a place for in my kitchen. So the most immediate revelation is that it is a sous vide cooker. The idea is that you set the humidity level to 100% and your cook is sous vide. Temperature control is very accurate and limited to a maximum of the boiling point of water. I’ve cooked in sous vide mode a couple of times and look forward to using and learning about it. No vacuum bags or containers of water sitting on my counter.

Of course the most used mode will be as a convection oven with the ability to add steam to the cook. Anova offers a number of recipe’s on their website which introduce you to mixed convection/steam cooking which gives you an idea of how to work with steam in your cooking. Generally I don’t see that any big changes will be required in my recipe’s. There will be adjustments in times and temperatures but learning is part of the fun. The biggest effect may well be on the amount of time I spend on my grills and smokers.

The biggest surprise to me was how little water was consumed in the steam cook. I expected billows of steam everywhere and was happily surprised at how little water was used and how little steam was actually produced. The next biggest surprise was how well the oven reheats. I love leftovers and the ham dinner leftovers from Canadian Thanksgiving reheated perfectly, albeit much more slowly than I could accomplish with the microwave. If there is a downside to the Anova Precision Oven is that cooks take longer. A tray of vegetables takes 40 minutes while my mother could boil the veges to death in the length of time it took to smoke a cigarette. I may find ways to work around the length of time it takes to cook a meal but the quality results are worth it as compared to the mush that I ate as a child.

In summary I have absolutely no complaints with the Anova Precision Oven. To me it is a quality product that will definitely improve my home chef skills and cooking enjoyment. It may not be for you but I find it good value for the money I spent.


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## juice

Brian Weekley said:


> So the most immediate revelation is that it is a sous vide cooker.


How does it go with 100-hour cooks?


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## Brian Weekley

No idea ... what do you cook for 100hrs?


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## juice

Brian Weekley said:


> No idea ... what do you cook for 100hrs?


It's not particularly unusual in SV.


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## Brian Weekley

Definitely post some pictures when you do your next 100 hour cook. Must be quite a joint of meat.


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## juice

Brian Weekley said:


> Definitely post some pictures when you do your next 100 hour cook. Must be quite a joint of meat.


Last time I did it, it was just hanger steak.


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## idemhj

Slim278 said:


> I don't mean to be negative, I just am not into gadgets and gizmos that have little benefit. I understand bread ovens benefit from the steam but bread aside, what would be the advantages of using one of these ovens vs cooking in a heavy walled dutch oven that will offset the temp swings in your existing oven?


Steam ovens are defenitely not gadgets or gizmos. An airfryer could perhaps be characterized as such but a steam oven, no way.


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## boomchakabowwow

hate to go against "the juice", but there is no way i would do any cooking of one single dish for 100 hours. not including pickles and kimchee.

i never got on the SV train either. my short trips, found that temp is ONE factor, and TIME is another important factor. 100 hours boggles my mind..


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## juice

boomchakabowwow said:


> hate to go against "the juice"


It just means you're in the majority, that's all


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## btbyrd

I'll go against the juice. 100 hours for hanger steak is way too long, and 100 hours _is _a particularly long cook time for SV. The only thing frequently suggested to be cooked for that length of time are oxtails. 72 hour cooks are much more common, but still much longer than the average SV cooktime. That said, I've cooked for 100 hours (and not infrequently cook for 72) and it's not especially difficult or labor intensive. It very much is a "set it and forget it" sort of thing, and not something to rule out for no good reason.


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## juice

btbyrd said:


> That said, I've cooked for 100 hours (and not infrequently cook for 72) and it's not especially difficult or labor intensive. It very much is a "set it and forget it" sort of thing, and not something to rule out for no good reason.


Exactly, it's not like you have to stand around and watch it


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## Brian Weekley

In looking at the Anova recipe’s they have a recipe with a 28hr cook. I suppose that your could do a 72hr or 100hr cook but you might need to add water. The longest cook I’ve done is 18hrs on my smoky mountain cooker for a brisket. Smoked salmon tales 12hrs or less on my Bradley smoker. A big clod of beef would probably run over 24 hours but I can’t imagine what I would cook that would take three days (72hrs) or four days plus (100hrs). Right now I’m doing a four hour sous vide cook on some beef ribs. For the last 2 1/2 hrs the rack has been solid at 140F as my target temperature. The Anova oven internal probe is very convenient and reads the same as my Thermapen. Here’s a pic of my iPhone screen when I started my cook.


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## btbyrd

Things that get cooked for days typically have a lot of connective tissue that needs to be broken down to become tender. That's the primary reason for cooking longer than, say, 8 hours. The other alternative is to cook these items to higher internal temperatures, which is what is traditionally done with tough cuts of protein. But only with SV/Combi techniques can you achieve tender, medium rare short ribs or beef cheeks or brisket.

And thanks for sharing your Precision Oven experiences so far.


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## Michi

I've done 48 hour brisket at fairly low temperature (57 ºC), which turned out just fine.


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## Brian Weekley

Sooooooo .... I dug a small rack (3 ribs) of prime rib roast beef bones out of the freezer. Perfect for my first longer cook sous vide on my Anova Precision Oven. Normally I would smoke these on my Big Green Egg at 250F for 1- 2 hours. I prepped them exactly the same as I would for an Egg smoke. Garlic powder, salt, pepper and my own dry rub. I put it into the Anova under a 4hr sous vide cook at 200F, 100% steam and a 130F target on the probe. I thought ... that will be good for a start. Within 45 minutes the ribs were passing the 130F target so I reset things to a 150F target, 80% steam and left the cooking time at 4 hours. Within 90 minutes total cooking time I had hit the target temperature but the ribs were a bit tough to the Thermapen probe. I left things alone and to my amazement the internal temperature stayed constant at 150F. After 4 hours total cooking time the cook timed out and I let the ribs rest for about an hour. They were at least as tender as would be a slow cook on the Egg. Just before dinner I brought the oven temperature to 375F and used the top burner in the oven to give some crust to the ribs. 

Here’s a pic. of the results.










By my standards a complete success. The ribs were much more moist than I would expect from my Egg. Were I more experienced Chef I probably wouldn’t have to go through this learning curve. I would say that the learning curve has been easier than I expected. Early results have been better than I expected. Next up ... a roast of some sort ... maybe a chicken.

Stay tuned!


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## Michi

Brian Weekley said:


> By my standards a complete success. The ribs were much more moist than I would expect from my Egg.


Nice one, definitely looks good!


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## Uncle Mike

Brian Weekley said:


> Sooooooo .... I dug a small rack (3 ribs) of prime rib roast beef bones out of the freezer. Perfect for my first longer cook sous vide on my Anova Precision Oven. Normally I would smoke these on my Big Green Egg at 250F for 1- 2 hours. I prepped them exactly the same as I would for an Egg smoke. Garlic powder, salt, pepper and my own dry rub. I put it into the Anova under a 4hr sous vide cook at 200F, 100% steam and a 130F target on the probe. I thought ... that will be good for a start. Within 45 minutes the ribs were passing the 130F target so I reset things to a 150F target, 80% steam and left the cooking time at 4 hours. Within 90 minutes total cooking time I had hit the target temperature but the ribs were a bit tough to the Thermapen probe. I left things alone and to my amazement the internal temperature stayed constant at 150F. After 4 hours total cooking time the cook timed out and I let the ribs rest for about an hour. They were at least as tender as would be a slow cook on the Egg. Just before dinner I brought the oven temperature to 375F and used the top burner in the oven to give some crust to the ribs.
> 
> Here’s a pic. of the results.
> 
> 
> View attachment 98897
> View attachment 98898
> 
> 
> By my standards a complete success. The ribs were much more moist than I would expect from my Egg. Were I more experienced Chef I probably wouldn’t have to go through this learning curve. I would say that the learning curve has been easier than I expected. Early results have been better than I expected. Next up ... a roast of some sort ... maybe a chicken.
> 
> Stay tuned!


Just wondering why you didn’t set the oven temp for your target temp like soups vide? I’m going back and forth on the oven. Looks really interesting but I don’t usually like to get the 1.0 version of something. Are you a bread baker? Interested in using steam for baking bread. Also, how much heat does it give off. It gets really hot where I live so want something that doesn’t heat up the house like the big oven does.


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## Brian Weekley

From the top ... I didn’t set a proper target temperature mostly because I have no experience with sous vide. Sad but true! Doing the cook on the green egg I Would normally cook to 180F or thereabouts. I knew that with sous vide I could cook to a lower temperature and still gain the tenderness I wanted by extending the cook time. Initially I thought I would cook to 130F and have a look. That took 32 minutes cooking at 200F and 100% humidity to get to 130. From that point I figured I would reduce both the cooking temperature and humidity to 150F and 80% And let the cook run a scheduled four hours. That worked perfectly. Next ime I think I’ll add a stage to the cook. The target temperature will be 140F. Stage 1 will cook at 200F and 100% for 20 minutes. Stage 2 will run at 140F and 80% for 3:40. I’ll see how that works.

I haven’t baked bread for 40 years but I’ll give it a try at some point. Michi has set some pretty awesome baking standards around here so don’t expect any reports on that from this amateur!

I understand not wanting to buy version 1.0. I like being first off on new things. FWIW I’ve found no “Version 1.0” defects with the oven. I read the supposed deficiencies on the Anova Forum link that Michi provided. My oven shows none of those deficiencies or any other defects for that matter. The only thing that will likely catch people up is connecting the oven to your smart phone and your home wifi. It works fine if you simply follow the instructions. If you don’t by skipping or adding a step you disappear down a rabbit hole and have to erase everything and start over.

The oven runs cooler than I expected. Much cooler than my Breville toaster oven. I have a very small kitchen and I haven’t noticed heat from the oven being an issue.

I hope this answers your questions.


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## Michi

Brian Weekley said:


> I read the supposed deficiencies on the Anova Forum link that Michi provided. My oven shows none of those deficiencies or any other defects for that matter.


Glad to hear it! It is difficult to judge from forum posts about defects how serious a problem is. After all, you don't often get people posting "I just bought the oven and it works flawlessly." Instead, they are much more likely to speak up when something doesn't work as expected.

I'd love to have a steam oven in my kitchen (Anova or otherwise), but space limitations just don't allow it


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## Brian Weekley

With your bread baking skills and the apparent benefits from baking bread in steam, I doubt that you will be able to hold off for long Michi.


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## Uncle Mike

Thanks for the feedback! Now I’m leaning toward getting one before next summer.


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## Brian Weekley

I sure like mine ... I just wish we had a “New Ovens” forum. Today I’m going to try a small thick strip loin steak. I will sous vide it to target then reverse sear in a carbon pan. Hmmmm .... target temperature? That’s going to take some thinking. Normally I’ll like my steaks at 124F on the Thermapen. So, I’m thinking a target temp of 110F, 100% steam and 180F cooking temperature. Dry and fry for colour. Stay tuned!


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## Brian Weekley

First steak ...

2hrs @ 110F, 100%Steam ... sear on my favourite cast iron frying pan.










Tasted great ... chicken next time.


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## daveb

I jumped on the SV train early, a friend and I were working on temp sensors, cut offs and high end crock pots when Anova announced their first kickstarter for the Anova One. We figured it would cost almost as much to make our own (and we still hadn't containerized the electronics) so we signed up. 

Since then I've owned and used the bluetooth models (3), the Nano and the Pro. I use them both at home and at work. I like em.

But like Mike above I'm normally not on the front end of new product development. I like the idea of the Oven and will probably get one once the initial bugs (and there seem to be many) are worked out. A Rationale on my kitchen counter - that makes toast!


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## Brian Weekley

Hmmmm, .... I use the Anova Combi Oven every day. Have yet to find a bug. What are the ”many bugs” that I’m missing?


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## daveb

Water leaking out. Pans ill fitting. 5 pan racks but only 2 pans supplied - additional not available. Others that I don't recall.

I hope most, including you, are having positive experiences. I'm going to sit on my hands for awhile.


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## Brian Weekley

Well ... it’s been over a month since my last report on my Anova Precision Oven. The length of time isn’t reflective of lack of use. I cook with my anova several times each week to the extent that I’ve virtually replaced my conventional oven. The reason for this report ... Christmas dinner. C-19 reduced the numbers around my kitchen table to three this year. Big change ... usually there is nine to twelve seated around the table. We made the decision months ago to do up a prime rib for Christmas dinner rather than the normal turkey. When the Anova Precision Oven arrived I had absolutely no thought that I would trust my Christmas dinner to this untested steam oven. Over the weeks I gained more and more confidence with the oven to the point that I said “here goes ... the Christmas main goes in the steam oven”. Here is a pic of the Christmas prime rib before the cook start.






Wait ... you say ... that doesn’t look like a fresh prime rib ready to go in the oven. You’re right, that’s the prime rib roast after 2 1/2 days sitting uncovered in the refrigerator dry brining. I’m a recent convert to dry brining and I love it. Note that the kosher salt didn’t penetrate the fat cap. After much thought I decided to basically follow the Prime Rib 101 cooking instructions from the Anova site. It called for 100% steam, a 132F cooking temperature using the rear of oven heat, hi convection fan, and a target finishing temperature of 132F for a med rare finish. The cook took 101/2 hours. The final 1.9F took two hours and at that I had to pop up the cooking temperature to 155F to finish the final .9F. I didn’t use the recommended egg white trick to brown the roast as recommended. I simply vented the steam and let the roast sit for 10 minutes at 350F dry while I finished the rest of the sides. Here’s what came out of the oven.











Judge for yourself but the three around the table loved it. A perfect medium rare. A little blood on the carving board, but no blood on the plate. The roast was uniformly cooked and exquisitely tender. The dry brining in the refrigerator created a faux crust which was the preference of those at the dinner table. Next time I’ll try the egg white method.

The conclusion and verdict from the table ... not what you would think. Here’s a couple more pics and an explanation.











A few weeks earlier I dId up a blade roast in the Anova in a 14 hour cook. It was cooked to the medium side of medium rare where I had let the roast cook at the target temperature for about four hours to tenderize. It was just as tender as the prime rib at 1/7 the cost. One at the table preferred the “meaty taste” of the blade roast over the prime rib. The other two of us agreed that the flavour of the blade roast was wonderful but loved the unique taste of the prime rib roast.

Go figure ... at 1/7th the cost it’s going to be cheap blade roasts from here on in at a fraction of the cost.

Thanks Anova!


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## DT74

You can always rig up A Dutch oven with a grate on the inside and steam in there


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## YumYumSauce

Brian Weekley said:


> Well ... it’s been over a month since my last report on my Anova Precision Oven. The length of time isn’t reflective of lack of use. I cook with my anova several times each week to the extent that I’ve virtually replaced my conventional oven. The reason for this report ... Christmas dinner. C-19 reduced the numbers around my kitchen table to three this year. Big change ... usually there is nine to twelve seated around the table. We made the decision months ago to do up a prime rib for Christmas dinner rather than the normal turkey. When the Anova Precision Oven arrived I had absolutely no thought that I would trust my Christmas dinner to this untested steam oven. Over the weeks I gained more and more confidence with the oven to the point that I said “here goes ... the Christmas main goes in the steam oven”. Here is a pic of the Christmas prime rib before the cook start.
> 
> View attachment 107610
> 
> 
> Wait ... you say ... that doesn’t look like a fresh prime rib ready to go in the oven. You’re right, that’s the prime rib roast after 2 1/2 days sitting uncovered in the refrigerator dry brining. I’m a recent convert to dry brining and I love it. Note that the kosher salt didn’t penetrate the fat cap. After much thought I decided to basically follow the Prime Rib 101 cooking instructions from the Anova site. It called for 100% steam, a 132F cooking temperature using the rear of oven heat, hi convection fan, and a target finishing temperature of 132F for a med rare finish. The cook took 101/2 hours. The final 1.9F took two hours and at that I had to pop up the cooking temperature to 155F to finish the final .9F. I didn’t use the recommended egg white trick to brown the roast as recommended. I simply vented the steam and let the roast sit for 10 minutes at 350F dry while I finished the rest of the sides. Here’s what came out of the oven.
> 
> View attachment 107611
> 
> 
> View attachment 107612
> 
> 
> Judge for yourself but the three around the table loved it. A perfect medium rare. A little blood on the carving board, but no blood on the plate. The roast was uniformly cooked and exquisitely tender. The dry brining in the refrigerator created a faux crust which was the preference of those at the dinner table. Next time I’ll try the egg white method.
> 
> The conclusion and verdict from the table ... not what you would think. Here’s a couple more pics and an explanation.
> 
> View attachment 107614
> 
> 
> View attachment 107615
> 
> 
> A few weeks earlier I dId up a blade roast in the Anova in a 14 hour cook. It was cooked to the medium side of medium rare where I had let the roast cook at the target temperature for about four hours to tenderize. It was just as tender as the prime rib at 1/7 the cost. One at the table preferred the “meaty taste” of the blade roast over the prime rib. The other two of us agreed that the flavour of the blade roast was wonderful but loved the unique taste of the prime rib roast.
> 
> Go figure ... at 1/7th the cost it’s going to be cheap blade roasts from here on in at a fraction of the cost.
> 
> Thanks Anova!




Any updates on how its holding up? My sister wanted to get me something nice for my bday. I might just get her to pitch in


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## Brian Weekley

I’m even happier with the oven now than I was at first. Lately I have been smoking (brisket, pork shoulder and poultry). I run the smoke on my Green Egg then wrap (in the case of pork and beef) and finish in the Anova Precision Oven. The temperature control is excellent. I generally re-heat food at 185F to a target temp of 145F using sous vide mode and 100% steam. Works much better than either my regular oven or microwave. The software allows me to control and monitor the cook from my iPhone. Software updates … and there has been a couple, take place automatically without issue. I’ve literally stopped using my gas and charcoal grills for steaks. It’s just much more convenient to do a cook using the precision oven followed by a quick sear in a steel pan. I haven’t started baking with it yet but I believe this is where the Precision Oven will really shine. I especially like dry brining and precision cooking small roasts. The results are always tasty, inexpensive and predictable. YMMV, but I’m sold on it.


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## YumYumSauce

Brian Weekley said:


> I’m even happier with the oven now than I was at first. Lately I have been smoking (brisket, pork shoulder and poultry). I run the smoke on my Green Egg then wrap (in the case of pork and beef) and finish in the Anova Precision Oven. The temperature control is excellent. I generally re-heat food at 185F to a target temp of 145F using sous vide mode and 100% steam. Works much better than either my regular oven or microwave. The software allows me to control and monitor the cook from my iPhone. Software updates … and there has been a couple, take place automatically without issue. I’ve literally stopped using my gas and charcoal grills for steaks. It’s just much more convenient to do a cook using the precision oven followed by a quick sear in a steel pan. I haven’t started baking with it yet but I believe this is where the Precision Oven will really shine. I especially like dry brining and precision cooking small roasts. The results are always tasty, inexpensive and predictable. YMMV, but I’m sold on it.



Great to hear, thanks for the super quick reply! Glad to hear theres no issues. Im not much of a baker either but this will make me want to dabble more into it too. Ive used the rationales in the kitchen and really like the precision.

Does it use standard sheet trays or does it have its own weird sizing?


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## Brian Weekley

Can’t really say … my sheets work fine … but they may be “non standard” themselves.


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## YumYumSauce

Brian Weekley said:


> Can’t really say … my sheets work fine … but they may be “non standard” themselves.



I'm pretty convinced. Guess I'll find out ha


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## YumYumSauce

Well, that was fast. Came in 2 days regular shipping. Does not fit standard half pans. Might not have a chance to properly set it up for a couple days.


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## Brian Weekley

Ran into a problem with my precision oven when it refused to connect to my wifi. The oven worked fine but I couldn’t control or monitor it from my iPhone. After exhausting everything I could think of I contacted Anova support. They responded quickly … on a Saturday, no less! We spent a few days going back and forth with no luck. The oven simply couldn’t connect to my home wifi. Strangely, it went from working perfectly to not working at all. Anova agreed to send out a replacement oven. When it arrived, you guessed it ,,. It wouldn’t connect to my home wifi either. Same symptoms, same result. Obviously the oven wasn’t the cause of the problem. I called my internet provider for help. Their answer … “oh yes sir, we’ve encountered quite a few problems since we remotely changed our modem/routers from 2.4ghz to 5ghz”! WHAT … you changed the functioning of my (and everybody else’s) equipment without telling anybody? No problem they said … we can set up a dual network … one on 2.4ghz and another on 5ghz. They did and my oven connected to my wifi easily and resumed working perfectly.

I have to hand out Top Marks to Anova support. They worked on the problem tirelessly and when the problems couldn’t be resolved sent out a new oven … and in the end it wasn’t their problem. 

So now all is back to normal.


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## Brian Weekley

Having installed my replacement Anova Precision Oven, I looked forward to giving it a first test cook. My local meat emporium had top sirloin tip roasts on sale. The top sirloin tip roasts don’t have the following of Tri Tips but in my experience can give excellent results. I used salt and a basic rub to dry brine the roasts in the refrigerator for a little over a day. Here’s a pic of them ready to go into the oven. 






I set the oven to cook in Sous vide mode … 100%steam, at a cooking temperature of 131F and a target temperature of 124F. The cook took about 2 1/2 hours during which time I made up my version of a “Zip sauce”. At the 124F mark the roast was still a bit too rare for my tastes so I reset the target temperature to 129F and cooked for about another hour to achieve that temperature. I finished up the cook by searing the roast at 375F for three or four minutes. After slicing I put the slices into a simmering zip sauce hot tub to reheat the meat before assembling my sandwich. My object to keep the final result as rare as I was still happy with knowing that I would have left overs to reheat. Here is some pics of the final result. 





















The results were excellent. The sliced meat was velvety smooth and the sauce completely complemented the beefy taste of my roast. To me it’s amazing at what a difference just a few degrees of temperature can make to the final result. Thanks to the Anova, I’ve got it locked in now.

I’m also very happy to have my Precision Oven back working perfectly.


----------



## Michi

Brian Weekley said:


> “oh yes sir, we’ve encountered quite a few problems since we remotely changed our modem/routers from 2.4ghz to 5ghz”


Your ISP needs their head looked at…


----------



## Brian Weekley

Michi said:


> Your ISP needs their head looked at…


No kidding …. And it’s one of the largest ISP’s in Canada. The accumulated grief that they have caused could have been avoided by a simple email notification to their customers. I would never have dreamed that they would be so irresponsible … but I guess that’s the character of modern business.


----------



## Michi

Brian Weekley said:


> No kidding …. And it’s one of the largest ISP’s in Canada. The accumulated grief that they have caused could have been avoided by a simple email notification to their customers. I would never have dreamed that they would be so irresponsible … but I guess that’s the character of modern business.


I have devices on my network that won't do 5 GHz. What on earth were they thinking?


----------



## Brian Weekley

Beats me but no doubt it involves charging customers more money presumably for higher speeds supported by 5G. There was relatively little difficulty in setting up a parallel 2.4ghz capability which co-exists with the 5ghz network. That’s what I’ve ended up with. A lot of grief would have been avoided had the ISP been up front with the changes rather than proceeding in the dark without notification to their customers. Unfortunately this type of behaviour seems to becoming the norm.


----------



## MontezumaBoy

Sorry if you already talked to this - but what is "cleaning" like after use ... any big issues with moisture / is there a repository in the center for H2O? 

Thx,

TjA


----------



## Brian Weekley

MontezumaBoy said:


> Sorry if you already talked to this - but what is "cleaning" like after use ... any big issues with moisture / is there a repository in the center for H2O?
> 
> Thx,
> 
> TjA



The presence of steam means the cleanup is relatively easy … (a conventional oven cleaned by someone else is easier yet)! No water issues. I was surprised by how little water the sous vide setting uses. Yes, there is a center repository which collects the water.

Hope that helps.


----------



## MontezumaBoy

Thx Brian - FWIW / I am in the final stages of a new kitchen layout and have been going back and forth regarding 2X convection double ovens or having one combi/steam ... when I looked into cleaning them several folks spoke about the water and wiping down after each use ... I'm pretty anal when it comes to cleaning but remembering to clean an oven after each/every cook (especially if cooking for guests at the time) was not something I had really considered. Certainly not liking the idea of "forgetting" to clean a wet oven for 24+ hours ... 

Sorry for the segue - thx for you reply / much appreciated.


----------



## Brian Weekley

MontezumaBoy said:


> Thx Brian - FWIW / I am in the final stages of a new kitchen layout and have been going back and forth regarding 2X convection double ovens or having one combi/steam ... when I looked into cleaning them several folks spoke about the water and wiping down after each use ... I'm pretty anal when it comes to cleaning but remembering to clean an oven after each/every cook (especially if cooking for guests at the time) was not something I had really considered. Certainly not liking the idea of "forgetting" to clean a wet oven for 24+ hours ...
> 
> Sorry for the segue - thx for you reply / much appreciated.


I’m no expert on Combi ovens. The Anova Precision Oven was recommended to me by a KKF member Chef. I never stepped up to sous vide cooking because honestly I didn’t want to deal with all the paraphernalia that would reside on my kitchen counter. I find cleaning the Anova a breeze … much easier than my conventional oven. The water is not an issue and the oven wipes out easily with the exception of the back wall which has discoloured some. For some the biggest drawback of the Anova will be that it does not take full size trays. For me that’s not an issue. Since acquiring my Precision Oven my conventional oven sits unused. One of my biggest complaints with my conventional ovens was the temperature swings … up to 75F. With the Precision Oven the swings seem to be between 1-3F. Cooking sous vide style has been a revelation to me … without the vacuum bags, water baths and gear associated with the process. Want sous vide … dial in 100% steam and let the oven do the work. Want to cook at 131F to an internal temperature of 131F … just set the temperatures and wait. The supplied temperature probe is, by my testing, as accurate as my Thermapen. Performance as a conventional oven is great. And I’m generally adding steam to most of my cooking. 20% for general roasting, 80% for re-heat. The ability to control the oven from my iPhone is liberating. Initial setup as well as changes to the cook are easy from the iPhone. Multi stage cooks are easy. I also like that the oven sits at countertop. Obviously nothing will suit everybody and YMMV with the Precision Oven, but I know what my choice would be were I laying out a new kitchen. Oh yeah … the price is right too!


----------



## Honerabi

Brian Weekley said:


> Beats me but no doubt it involves charging customers more money presumably for higher speeds supported by 5G. There was relatively little difficulty in setting up a parallel 2.4ghz capability which co-exists with the 5ghz network. That’s what I’ve ended up with. A lot of grief would have been avoided had the ISP been up front with the changes rather than proceeding in the dark without notification to their customers. Unfortunately this type of behaviour seems to becoming the norm.


 Most of the quality routers here in the US have been dual frequency, 2.4 & 5 GHz for a very long time. I try to use the 5GHz whenever possible as it seems to be more reliable. Sounds like it was a management decision to get rid of the 2.4GHz frequency. That sort of logic really put it to Boeing with the 737 Max. 
5G and 5Ghz are two completely different things. 5GHz is a frequency that is used by some WIFI systems and 5G simply means fifth generation. A good discussion is @:





Is 5G & 5Ghz The Same?


If you wanted to know whether 5G and 5Ghz are the same and/or what the difference between these are. Read this for all you need to know.




www.smartaerials.co.uk


----------



## M1k3

Honerabi said:


> I try to use the 5GHz whenever possible as it seems to be more reliable.


Generally speaking, less congestion on the 5GHz band VS 2.4GHz. 5GHz also has less range than 2.4GHz.


----------



## rickbern

Bit the bullet and bought one today, stay tuned!

I found this website from oz:









Home - Steam & Bake


Steam Oven Cooking with Confidence! The very best steam oven recipes to help you learn and understand cooking with convection steam. Approachable, delicious and family friendly food.




steamandbake.com





That looks okay. Anybody know of any others?


----------



## Andrew Deranger

Kenji did an unboxing but never did a review. other than ISP issues, how has your experience been? may replace my air fryer.


----------



## rickbern

Yeah, that kanji unboxing came across as a sponsorship pitch to anova, at least to me. 

I found this extremely interesting, this is the deepest dive I’ve found. Highly recommended 






The Intersection of Quality and Laziness (feat. Scott Heimendinger) | Heritage Radio Network


On today's episode of Combi Issues, Dave, technically joined by Nastassia and The Rest, goes deep on Combi Ovens with special Guest Scott Heimendinger. Scott works at Anova (previously at Sansaire) and deftly fields a variety of questions from Dave and the CI listeners. They cover how the...




heritageradionetwork.org


----------



## Andrew Deranger

thanks!


----------



## btbyrd

There's a big thread about it over at eGullet.


----------



## luuogle

I wonder if there have been any issues with the water tank and leaks.


----------



## Andrew Deranger

btbyrd said:


> There's a big thread about it over at eGullet.


thanks!


----------



## Brian Weekley

I’ve been using mine several times a week since about March. No water leak problems at all.


----------



## Ochazuke

Necro-ing this thread! Anybody have any experience using theirs for natto? I saw this and it screamed "mold ferments!" right at me. Of course I want to use it for regular combi oven purposes too, but if it can also do all of my weird koji projects instead of my crazy MacGyver-esque insulated cooler box hack job, then I'll totally spring for it.


----------



## rickbern

I'm not a dairy guy at all, can't reliably spell natto, but maybe this recipe for yogurt offers some clues?









Yogurt 101


This homemade yogurt is perfect for breakfast, snacking, or adding to smoothies. Since the yogurt is incubated in the Anova Precision Oven, it always sets at a precise temperature and there’s no guesswork involved. Notes: I use milk powder for a thicker final texture. You can leave it out if...




oven.anovaculinary.com


----------



## rickbern

Ochazuke said:


> Necro-ing this thread! Anybody have any experience using theirs for natto? I saw this and it screamed "mold ferments!" right at me. Of course I want to use it for regular combi oven purposes too, but if it can also do all of my weird koji projects instead of my crazy MacGyver-esque insulated cooler box hack job, then I'll totally spring for it.


Ochazuke, if you want me to rig up some sort of experiment for you let me know. I'd be happy to help, especially after all your generosity with koji knowledge.


----------



## rickbern

Ochazuke said:


> Necro-ing this thread! Anybody have any experience using theirs for natto? I saw this and it screamed "mold ferments!" right at me. Of course I want to use it for regular combi oven purposes too, but if it can also do all of my weird koji projects instead of my crazy MacGyver-esque insulated cooler box hack job, then I'll totally spring for it.



This is from the PC Mag review:
Anova Precision Cooker
The oven has an overall range of *77 to 482 degrees Fahrenheit*, with an accuracy within six degrees. In Sous Vide mode, it has a temperature range of 77 to 212 degrees Fahrenheit, with an accuracy within half a degree. 









Anova Precision Oven Review


The Anova Precision Oven lets you bake, roast, slow cook, sous vide, and steam food to perfection, making it one the smartest countertop ovens you can buy.




www.pcmag.com




.


----------



## Ochazuke

rickbern said:


> This is from the PC Mag review:
> Anova Precision Cooker
> The oven has an overall range of *77 to 482 degrees Fahrenheit*, with an accuracy within six degrees. In Sous Vide mode, it has a temperature range of 77 to 212 degrees Fahrenheit, with an accuracy within half a degree.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Anova Precision Oven Review
> 
> 
> The Anova Precision Oven lets you bake, roast, slow cook, sous vide, and steam food to perfection, making it one the smartest countertop ovens you can buy.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.pcmag.com
> 
> 
> 
> 
> .


Actually just this info is super helpful! I appreciate the offer for the experiments, but home ferments can be smelly and I don't want to subject others to that unless they're really in to that kind of funkiness.


----------



## rickbern

Ochazuke said:


> Actually just this info is super helpful! I appreciate the offer for the experiments, but home ferments can be smelly and I don't want to subject others to that unless they're really in to that kind of funkiness.


Appreciate the thoughtfulness! I live in a loft with no walls. I was thinking more like I’d take a picture of a thermometer for you. I think in your range it’s probably more precise than a rational, the smaller box means less variation


----------



## Andrew Deranger

Chips said:


> Im sure most who are interested in this new oven have already seen Kenji's unboxing video of it, but for those who may have missed it:



But he never reviewed it!


----------



## rickbern

Andrew Deranger said:


> But he never reviewed it!


Andrew, if you haven't already, devote some time to listening to this. Yes, it's from an acknowledged employee of the company, but I think it really speaks to the strengths and weaknesses, probably in a less biased fashion than Serious Eats would cover it. Link is to another message, which then contains the link






New Anova combi oven


Kenji did an unboxing but never did a review. other than ISP issues, how has your experience been? may replace my air fryer.




www.kitchenknifeforums.com


----------



## Brian Weekley

Still using mine daily. Has revolutionized how I use my oven. Listen to the blog … it’s pretty good. Here’s a pic of a roast I did up last week. 





Cooked at 132F to 127F sous vide with 100% steam, then 15 minutes at 400F to sear (no steam). Was a $10 top sirloin roast that I bought on sale. Served a meal and made sandwiches all week. As outlined in the blog reheat (or ”retherm” as they call it in the blog) performance is fabulous.


----------



## Brian Weekley

Oh yeah … the other gold star the blog gave the oven is “heat and hold”. I would have thought that was obvious, but the point is to bring the contents to a temperature and hold for up to several hours before serving without deterioration in quality. Works great.


----------



## Andrew Deranger

rickbern said:


> Andrew, if you haven't already, devote some time to listening to this. Yes, it's from an acknowledged employee of the company, but I think it really speaks to the strengths and weaknesses, probably in a less biased fashion than Serious Eats would cover it. Link is to another message, which then contains the link
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> New Anova combi oven
> 
> 
> Kenji did an unboxing but never did a review. other than ISP issues, how has your experience been? may replace my air fryer.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.kitchenknifeforums.com



Thanks much, very informative. Just don't know if I want to spring for $600.


----------



## Brian Weekley

I totally get that … new knife … new oven … new wife … new knife … new oven??? The possibilities are endless.


----------



## YumYumSauce

Ochazuke said:


> Necro-ing this thread! Anybody have any experience using theirs for natto? I saw this and it screamed "mold ferments!" right at me. Of course I want to use it for regular combi oven purposes too, but if it can also do all of my weird koji projects instead of my crazy MacGyver-esque insulated cooler box hack job, then I'll totally spring for it.




I love natto but I never thought to make it on my own. I wouldn't know where to start


----------



## Ochazuke

YumYumSauce said:


> I love natto but I never thought to make it on my own. I wouldn't know where to start


It's not super hard. Cook soybeans, add natto starter, let nature take it's course. My issue is that I live in New England where it's cold and dry and therefore not great for fermenting. 

I have so many good ideas: chawanmushi, natto, amazake, regular sake, japanese style purin, etc. I think they'd all adapt fairly well, but it's really hard to drudge up that $600.


----------



## YumYumSauce

Ochazuke said:


> It's not super hard. Cook soybeans, add natto starter, let nature take it's course. My issue is that I live in New England where it's cold and dry and therefore not great for fermenting.
> 
> I have so many good ideas: chawanmushi, natto, amazake, regular sake, japanese style purin, etc. I think they'd all adapt fairly well, but it's really hard to drudge up that $600.



Nice. How long does natto take? I live in the southwest where its hot and dry, not sure how that affects things. All those other projects sound super interesting too. 

That $600 was a pretty penny. If it helps I was able to get 10% off as a 1st time customer which basically covered shipping and taxes, and 3 months interest free payments with affirm.


----------



## Brian Weekley

Just got an email that Anova is running a 15% off pre-Black Friday sale on their Precision Oven. I might just buy another one.


----------



## drsmp

@Brian Weekley “I totally get that … new knife … new oven … new wife …”
From my experience new wives ultimately end up costing the equivalent of 800 Anova ovens


----------



## Brian Weekley

Let’s see … 3 wives, 2400 Anova Ovens @$700 ea … that’s $1,680,000! Nope you’re short by at least a factor of 2.

I loved them all though.


----------



## cooktocut

Michi said:


> I've done 48 hour brisket at fairly low temperature (57 ºC), which turned out just fine.


Curious about this. I have a brisket I was toying with smoking for a few hours and then finishing in sous vide for 2 days. I’m used to smoking for a day and a half and having a thick bark that’s difficult to get through, so I’m not sure if I’d prefer it or not. Did you decide that temp was a good decision, or would a higher temp have made a difference do you think?


----------



## Michi

cooktocut said:


> Did you decide that temp was a good decision, or would a higher temp have made a difference do you think?


It worked fine for me. There was still some structure in the meat, so it didn't just fall apart. If you prefer a more fall-apart texture, you could increase the temp by a few degrees. Kenji did a good write-up here:









Sous Vide Smoked Brisket Recipe


Here's how to get a moist and tender brisket without a smoker, using sous vide cooking.




www.seriouseats.com


----------



## rickbern

We recently had a discussion about underrated food, I proposed hanger steak so I thought I’d make a pair last night. Figured I’d shade it a bit more medium rare than a conventional steak. They were 1.5 lbs each. 

I put it in a 145 oven with a probe set to 135. After it got to temperature I added a 135 sous vide stage for ninety minutes. All at 100% humidity. Seared it stove top for 30 seconds a side.

Good steaks!

by the way, not sure how universal this term is. This is the diaphragm, what the French call onglet.


----------



## KO88

Is there any built in version or alternative to Anova? We have really small kitchen and dont have space on countertop for the Anova...


----------



## rickbern

KO88 said:


> Is there any built in version or alternative to Anova? We have really small kitchen and dont have space on countertop for the Anova...


Google convection steam oven. Wolf, thermador and Bosch make them. 

I think Anova had pretty good tech, but it’s honestly the only one I’ve ever seen.


----------



## M1k3

Commercial grade there's Rational and Alto Shaam (which has a combination+smoker model, FYI).


----------



## sumis

for 'regular' home use (at a 'regular' price point), electrolux, smeg, bosch, siemens, et al, all offer convection ovens with steam function, and some with sous vide function as well. don't know what sets the anova apart, but would like to know …

i only have a convection oven and would love to have steam as well – and i have the opportunity to buy an anova for a pretty good price.
but i could also shell out a bit more and replace my stationary convection oven with a new electrolux (for instance) with what seems to be almost identical specs as the anova. (i need the bench work area i got.)

so my question is, what sets the anova apart – apart from (in)convenience of bench top use, and a reasonable price?

.


----------



## M1k3

sumis said:


> for 'regular' home use (at a 'regular' price point), electrolux, smeg, bosch, siemens, et al, all offer convection ovens with steam function, and some with sous vide function as well. don't know what sets the anova apart, but would like to know …
> 
> i only have a convection oven and would love to have steam as well – and i have the opportunity to buy an anova for a pretty good price.
> but i could also shell out a bit more and replace my stationary convection oven with a new electrolux (for instance) with what seems to be almost identical specs as the anova. (i need the bench work area i got.)
> 
> so my question is, what sets the anova apart – apart from (in)convenience of bench top use, and a reasonable price?
> 
> .


The "I live in an apartment and don't own it" factor?


----------



## KO88

rickbern said:


> Google convection steam oven. Wolf, thermador and Bosch make them.
> 
> I think Anova had pretty good tech, but it’s honestly the only one I’ve ever seen.



I ve checked on the Wolf but it s over 3k€... I was looking something around the price of Anova which is now 524€.

And I m from EU...


----------



## rickbern

As noted, I only know about the Anova but the integration between the oven and the app is a signal feature to me. I’m not sure if any of the built in models are that well integrated.


----------



## Brian Weekley

rickbern said:


> As noted, I only know about the Anova but the integration between the oven and the app is a signal feature to me. I’m not sure if any of the built in models are that well integrated.



+1 for me!

It is very convenient to be able to setup/change/check the settings on your oven while sitting in bed checking BST.

Word of warning, though … the current version of the Anova Precision Oven ONLY supports WIFI on 2.4ghz. The modem/router world seems to be moving to 5ghz broadcasts, though many can do both.

It is an issue worth considering because it can be affected by how your home network is set up. Hopefully Anova will introduce a 5ghz compatible version at some point.


----------



## Jovidah

rickbern said:


> We recently had a discussion about underrated food, I proposed hanger steak so I thought I’d make a pair last night. Figured I’d shade it a bit more medium rare than a conventional steak. They were 1.5 lbs each.
> 
> I put it in a 145 oven with a probe set to 135. After it got to temperature I added a 135 sous vide stage for ninety minutes. All at 100% humidity. Seared it stove top for 30 seconds a side.
> 
> Good steaks!
> 
> by the way, not sure how universal this term is. This is the diaphragm, what the French call onglet.


The common English names I've seen are 'hanger steak' and 'butcher steak'. French name is indeed onglet... Dutch name is 'longhaas' which would directly translate to 'lung-fillet'... which might be part of the reason it's so underrated here, since people associate the name with organ meat (which is highly disliked here).

The best thing is indeed to keep the temperature on the low side. While it's one of the most flavorful cuts in the cow, it's not exactly the most tender. Go too high on the temp and it'll get even tougher. Cutting it on the thinner side across the grain is crucial; IMO this isn't the kind of thing you can just give to people in a big slab and let them go to town. 
I've made poor man's beef wellington with it in the past and while it technically works - and the shape is great - it's far from ideal for this reason. The flavor is awesome, but you either cut the slices so thick that the meat gets chewy, or you get them so thin that it all falls apart easily.

What really sets the Anova apart is indeed price. Yeah you can get a profesional Rational oven that does the same thing, for 10x as much. All those fancy 'consumer' level steam ovens still tend to be twice the cost, and I'm not sure if their temperature precision is even remotely in the same ballpark.


----------



## sumis

M1k3 said:


> The "I live in an apartment and don't own it" factor?



indeed!



Jovidah said:


> All those fancy 'consumer' level steam ovens still tend to be twice the cost, and I'm not sure if their temperature precision is even remotely in the same ballpark.



yeah. i suspect so.

.


----------



## rickbern

Jovidah said:


> The common English names I've seen are 'hanger steak' and 'butcher steak'. French name is indeed onglet... Dutch name is 'longhaas' which would directly translate to 'lung-fillet'... which might be part of the reason it's so underrated here, since people associate the name with organ meat (which is highly disliked here).
> 
> The best thing is indeed to keep the temperature on the low side. While it's one of the most flavorful cuts in the cow, it's not exactly the most tender. Go too high on the temp and it'll get even tougher. Cutting it on the thinner side across the grain is crucial; IMO this isn't the kind of thing you can just give to people in a big slab and let them go to town.
> I've made poor man's beef wellington with it in the past and while it technically works - and the shape is great - it's far from ideal for this reason. The flavor is awesome, but you either cut the slices so thick that the meat gets chewy, or you get them so thin that it all falls apart easily.
> 
> What really sets the Anova apart is indeed price. Yeah you can get a profesional Rational oven that does the same thing, for 10x as much. All those fancy 'consumer' level steam ovens still tend to be twice the cost, and I'm not sure if their temperature precision is even remotely in the same ballpark.


I knew I’d get in trouble for not knowing the Dutch name; good thing Jovidah got my back!


----------



## KO88

So today I got Anova home... Couldnt find anything with all the functions for at least similar price...


----------



## Andrew Deranger

Please keep us apprised. not ready to spend that much.....yet!


----------



## sansho

well, i got an APO because it was on sale. haven't used it yet aside from initial burn in to cook off the residues.

what i like:

build quality seems acceptable
although i haven't put it to the test, the app seems ok. multiple clients connected to the oven at once, and it didn't seem buggy.
i was worried about lack of usability with the on-device (non-app) interface, but you can actually get to most of the useful stuff. seems like the main thing missing is multi-stage cooking, and i'd want to do that from the app anyways.
the fw (OTA) update process is pretty good. and fast.
neutral:

no exposed bottom element for powerful radiation from below. maybe this isn't a big deal though.
the on-device interface is capacitive touch. i don't really like the look or UX, but as far as capacitive interfaces go, this one is pretty good. NOT great, but it is at least acceptable. capacitive interfaces are usually complete sһit.

what i don't like:

*there is no way to have the oven turn off when the timer finishes.* this is a major WΤF. if they want to have a mode where the timer just beeps at you and does nothing, that's fine. but it needs to be configurable in the timer menu (do X when timer finishes). CRITICAL feature imo. afaik, the closest thing to a workaround is to set up multi stage cooking and have the final stage set the oven to the minimum temp (75°F?). that kind of works, but it's a pain the ass. every other oven i use (including toaster oven) shuts off by default when the timer's done. this potentially totally breaks my experience with the APO. idk if i can use this as a convenience device. i'm used to being able to put in food, quickly press a couple of buttons, walk away, and come back whenever i want without worrying about burning. and you know what happens to devices that aren't convenient, right? they don't get used 
no on-device oven light button. app-only.
the baking pan is ridged. ew. i know they did it because it's a cheap way to get a rigid pan, but ew.
no desktop/web app. i guess i can probably run it in bluestacks or something (android emulator). assuming this is the case, it's no big deal


----------



## rickbern

sansho said:


> there is no way to have the oven turn off when the timer finishes.



Put in a stage to hold it at a safe temperature. 75 is dicey

In its heart of hearts, it’s a sous vide machine, not a toaster oven. I think the more you equate it with an alto sham or a rational the easier you’ll get on with it


----------



## sansho

rickbern said:


> Put in a stage to hold it at a safe temperature. 75 is dicey
> 
> In its heart of hearts, it’s a sous vide machine, not a toaster oven. I think the more you equate it with an alto sham or a rational the easier you’ll get on with it



i know. it's just that i want *so desperately* to get rid of my toaster oven. running out of counter space. hnnngggggggg 
this thing is so close to replacing it, but idk if it can. what gives? lol


----------



## sansho

i forgot to mention one of the things i like the most about it so far. there's no bullsһit mystery modes! the theory of operation is pretty transparent. idk if i've ever used an appliance this complex and just immediately felt like i knew ᎳTF it was actually doing. a real treat, wow.

one exception is what steam % actually signifies above 100°C. the manual hints that this temp is a cutoff in the control logic but doesn't actually explain it well. fortunately, i listened to some podcast about it, so i know the % is kind of like a duty cycle, and it just 'continuously' emits steam. at 100°C and below, % steam is the RH.

but compare that to my breville toaster oven or miele M Touch ovens that don't explain jack. they only give you application advice / usage suggestions. many of the operation modes are totally opaque 'magic' bs. the APO is so much better in this regard.


----------



## Brian Weekley

You make some very good points. In practice I didn’t find them to be a show stopper.

Oven doesn’t turn off at end of cook. That’s true but the more I use the oven the more (almost exclusively) I use sous vide mode for proteins. This weekend I cooked a blade (chuck roast) which is an example of how I use the oven. I cooked Sous Vide, 100% steam, to 124F on the probe at 129F oven temperature. The roast reached the target temperature (124F) in a little less than 2hrs. I didn’t want the oven to turn off … I wanted to continue the cook for tenderness. That worked out to about 4 1/2 hrs at oven temperature 129F. The internal temp of the roast slowly rose to 127.5F when the rest of the dinner was almost ready. I then removed the roast, went to conventional cook w/fan at 400F, no steam. The oven hit 400F very quickly and I gave the roast a sear at 400F, 10 minutes max, then carve and serve. No resting necessary. Here’s a couple of pics …













First Pic … roast out of the oven. Second … roast after 10 minute sear. Third … Carved at final internal temp of 131F.

So what I do generally is to cook to a desired temperature for doneness, then cook for a time for tenderness, and finally cook at high temperature for a sear. I generally have my iPhone with me and it clearly shows cooking time, temperature and alarms when the target temperature is reached. In practice I dont find that the oven doesnt turn off after a set time to be an issue.

No light switch. Good point.

No desktop app … I’m generally closer to my iPhone than I am to my desktop. It’s not a problem for me.

Just my experience.


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## sansho

good stuff!

i think i can work around it. at least i can turn the oven off remotely from my phone, so if the phone manages to get my attention, i can turn it off before my sandwich burns or whatever. for added safety, i'd probably set a timer on my phone's clock app, too.

it just kills me that this thing can almost be like my toaster oven but is just less convenient for no discernible reason.

idk why they don't have more complex triggering options, especially in the app. i see absolutely no downside to giving the user options for what happens when a probe temp is reached or a timer finishes. good news is.. maybe they'll add it eventually?


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## Brian Weekley

I kept my Breville toaster oven too. Basically the only thing I use it for is potato Pattie’s. Sandwiches get done in my panini press. One thing you will LOVE about your APO … pan and casserole dish cleanup is a breeze. No baked on cheese!


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## btbyrd

I want one bad to replace my low-end toaster oven, but our toaster oven actually gets used for toast and the ANOVA is suboptimal. When I suggested to my wife that we could get an APO *and* a toaster, she stared at me blankly. Denied.

She's right, you know. It'd take up too much space. Anyway, I have 3 circulators and I don't bake much, so there aren't a ton of applications I'm missing out on. But having a small(ish), full-featured, second oven is always nice -- especially if it's a combi. I think I'd mostly use it to reheat leftovers. The APO is the supreme re-heater-upper.


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## justaute

KO88 said:


> I ve checked on the Wolf but it s over 3k€... I was looking something around the price of Anova which is now 524€.
> 
> And I m from EU...



I have a built-in Miele combi oven, but it's also not inexpensive.


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## rickbern

Brian Weekley said:


> You make some very good points. In practice I didn’t find them to be a show stopper.
> 
> Oven doesn’t turn off at end of cook. That’s true but the more I use the oven the more (almost exclusively) I use sous vide mode for proteins. This weekend I cooked a blade (chuck roast) which is an example of how I use the oven. I cooked Sous Vide, 100% steam, to 124F on the probe at 129F oven temperature. The roast reached the target temperature (124F) in a little less than 2hrs. I didn’t want the oven to turn off … I wanted to continue the cook for tenderness. That worked out to about 4 1/2 hrs at oven temperature 129F. The internal temp of the roast slowly rose to 127.5F when the rest of the dinner was almost ready. I then removed the roast, went to conventional cook w/fan at 400F, no steam. The oven hit 400F very quickly and I gave the roast a sear at 400F, 10 minutes max, then carve and serve. No resting necessary. Here’s a couple of pics …
> 
> View attachment 153180
> View attachment 153181
> View attachment 153182
> 
> 
> First Pic … roast out of the oven. Second … roast after 10 minute sear. Third … Carved at final internal temp of 131F.
> 
> So what I do generally is to cook to a desired temperature for doneness, then cook for a time for tenderness, and finally cook at high temperature for a sear. I generally have my iPhone with me and it clearly shows cooking time, temperature and alarms when the target temperature is reached. In practice I dont find that the oven doesnt turn off after a set time to be an issue.
> 
> No light switch. Good point.
> 
> No desktop app … I’m generally closer to my iPhone than I am to my desktop. It’s not a problem for me.
> 
> Just my experience.


Brian

Don’t overlook the plant kingdom! Last night I made a little meatless Monday dinner, used the apo for sweet potato fondant and steamed asparagus. Both came out shockingly well.


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## KO88

justaute said:


> I have a built-in Miele combi oven, but it's also not inexpensive.


Yeah those Miele home convectomats are awesome but the price is weeeeeeee


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## KO88

Hey guys,

after some time using Anova regularly I'm pretty happy. Qucik overview below.

*Whats great:*
Works perfect, sous vide is a joy to use, steam is a powerful tool, love the connection with my iPhone and also I like pre-programmedthe recipes with the stages...
*
What could be better:*
It's hell to clean it. I made some pork belly at a high temperature it sputtered all over inside. The steam cleaning doesn't work for it.
Would appreciate it if there would be a child safety lock.
There could be much more recipes in the app.


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## KO88

btw I have a large piece of the beef neck. It's tied up for the roast with some rosemary.

How would you rost it in Anova? Any ideas?


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## rickbern

KO88 said:


> btw I have a large piece of the beef neck. It's tied up for the roast with some rosemary.
> 
> How would you rost it in Anova? Any ideas?


Something like this:








Chuck Roast


Upgrade budget-friendly chuck roast by cooking it using sous vide mode in the Anova Precision Oven. The long, slow cook helps to break down the connective tissue in the roast, turning it ultra tender and juicy while still maintaining a medium doneness.




oven.anovaculinary.com


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## rickbern

KO88 said:


> Hey guys,
> 
> after some time using Anova regularly I'm pretty happy. Qucik overview below.
> 
> *Whats great:*
> Works perfect, sous vide is a joy to use, steam is a powerful tool, love the connection with my iPhone and also I like pre-programmedthe recipes with the stages...
> 
> *What could be better:*
> It's hell to clean it. I made some pork belly at a high temperature it sputtered all over inside. The steam cleaning doesn't work for it.
> Would appreciate it if there would be a child safety lock.
> There could be much more recipes in the app.


Plus one on the cleaning!

I often google my ingredient and steam oven to get other manufacturers recipes as well. Expands the options

heres a subzero recipe I could have pointed @KO88 at






Pot Roast Recipe | Convection Steam Oven | Wolf Appliance


The Wolf Steam Oven prefects this ultimate comfort food with steam keeping the meat oh-so tender, while convection crisps the outside just right.




www.subzero-wolf.com


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## sansho

KO88 said:


> Would appreciate it if there would be a child safety lock.
> There could be much more recipes in the app.



not a perfect solution by any means, but the child safety lock is probably the power cord. unplug it and hide the cord behind the machine, lol.

edit: maybe that's a dumb idea. you might teach the kid to play with power cords if he sees you doing it.


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## sansho

i have access to a miele CSO (the plumbed-in, xxl-sized one) for the next few days. i've cooked with it a few times (incl a pork butt) and would be happy to try to answer questions about it if anyone's curious.

i'll also be able to play with it more in a few months probably.

i've noticed that it's like impossible to find useful information about high-end appliances. all you can do is look at them in a showroom, read the manual online, or watch some stupid 3-minute marketing clip on youtube. no one does real reviews of them. so that's why i'm offering.


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## sumis

sansho said:


> i have access to a miele CSO (the plumbed-in, xxl-sized one) for the next few days. i've cooked with it a few times (incl a pork butt) and would be happy to try to answer questions about it if anyone's curious.
> 
> i'll also be able to play with it more in a few months probably.
> 
> i've noticed that it's like impossible to find useful information about high-end appliances. all you can do is look at them in a showroom, read the manual online, or watch some stupid 3-minute marketing clip on youtube. no one does real reviews of them. so that's why i'm offering.



would be cool to hear what 6000$ can do that 600$ can't, and vice versa.

thanks.

.


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## DitmasPork

Good, informative thread. After reading the pros/cons, decided to put an Anova high onto my 'wish list'—needing to problem solve where to squeeze it into my cozy, space-starved, Brooklyn kitchen; price is reasonable, in the region of a mid-range gyuto.


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## rickbern

DitmasPork said:


> Good, informative thread. After reading the pros/cons, decided to put an Anova high onto my 'wish list'—needing to problem solve where to squeeze it into my cozy, space-starved, Brooklyn kitchen; price is reasonable, in the region of a mid-range gyuto.


It won’t fit under most cabinets and it vents steam to the bottom right. You have to add water in the top right. I put mine on a cart, I’d think about putting it lower and leave the maple top above it





ps, went to eataly in flatiron today, they had some beautiful sardines!


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## rickbern

Sardines 
425 top and bottom, 25pc humidity 
12 minutes 

Banging!!
best oven ever!


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## MontezumaBoy

rickbern said:


> Plus one on the cleaning!
> 
> I often google my ingredient and steam oven to get other manufacturers recipes as well. Expands the options
> 
> heres a subzero recipe I could have pointed @KO88 at
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Pot Roast Recipe | Convection Steam Oven | Wolf Appliance
> 
> 
> The Wolf Steam Oven prefects this ultimate comfort food with steam keeping the meat oh-so tender, while convection crisps the outside just right.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> www.subzero-wolf.com



I purchased this to get a better feel for combi cooking/cleaning/etc. and have to agree with the cleaning aspect. This is not a knock on the oven - just more an observation of if you confine something at high temp that 'pops' with oil/etc. sh$t happens ... I was considering getting a combi oven as a built-in but I think having used it a bit I prefer it solo/seperate in the pantry next to the main kitchen ... just my $0.02 ... 

I do LOVE the unit and all things (IMO) ANOVA ... just some reality checks of H2O with Oil + temp ... all good though ... feel very lucky to even be able to buy something like this at the price point (from a historical perspective).


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## Jeff

sumis said:


> would be cool to hear what 6000$ can do that 600$ can't, and vice versa.
> 
> thanks.
> 
> .


following to learn!!!


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## KO88

So this is the beef. Tender yet holds when cutting. Prety nice I must say! Served with mashed potatos and gravy (sry no pics of that )…


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## KO88

Ok and now how would you guys roast pork belly with skin? Would love to do it easy just salt and caraway seeds. Juicy with cranchy skin… thx in advance for any idea…


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## rickbern

I went to the app and followed the recipe for porchetta. Kept the timing at 27 hours, lowered the target temperature to 158.5. Finished as they did. If, err, when I do it again I’d put the seam side down.

edit: for the casual readers, the app calls for 165 as the target temperature.


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## WildBoar

rickbern said:


> I went to the app and followed the recipe for porchetta. Kept the timing at 27 hours, lowered the target temperature to 158.5. Finished as they did. If, err, when I do it again I’d put the seam side down.
> 
> View attachment 161281


That looks horrible. Please send it to me and I will give it a proper disposal.

You are welcome.


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## rickbern

WildBoar said:


> That looks horrible. Please send it to me and I will give it a proper disposal.
> 
> You are welcome.


What are friends for?


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## SilverSwarfer

Added the APO to my kitchen just after Thanksgiving. Hit my 1st 'descale' alert this past weekend, so I have been using the appliance frequently and enjoying it very much (especially vegetables!!). I generally cook for 2, and am quite pleased with the purchase (Black Friday "sale") so far. I also most generally agree with the consensus set of owners who also report they are enjoying the oven (i.e. the reports/reviews online are generally fair IME).

I specifically was challenged with firmware update given my home network config (firmware would not completely dl/install). I tried several obvious troubleshooting fixes and finally solved with an iPhone Hot Spot. To be able to properly download firmware, I deleted my original wifi network connection (in app) and then connected the Hot Spot for firmware dl (in app). Once successful, I then reset the connection again (in app), and was finally able to connect local wifi for seamless app usage. To be fair, this challenge is most likely due to my specific home network preferences, and my unwillingness to compromise for the oven.

I did my 1st deep-clean this past weekend, right after the de-scaling cycle. For cleaning after descaling: I used a 10% Sodium Hydroxide solution and about 20min to soak. This was a far less difficult than anticipated. Except for the roof, which is tedious between the curves of the heating element and the light fixture. The sides/bottom were a breeze with the NaOH. Note- if considering using NaOH, be prepared and educated; it is 'caustic lye' after all.


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## rickbern

rickbern said:


> I went to the app and followed the recipe for porchetta. Kept the timing at 27 hours, lowered the target temperature to 158.5. Finished as they did. If, err, when I do it again I’d put the seam side down.
> 
> edit: for the casual readers, the app calls for 165 as the target temperature.
> 
> View attachment 161281


@KO88 , I forgot a step. After 8-12 hours I drained the liquid. I sv’d it in a deeper pan, this one shown was only for the final heat blast. The liquid in the other pan would have overflowed this one.


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## DitmasPork

rickbern said:


> It won’t fit under most cabinets and it vents steam to the bottom right. You have to add water in the top right. I put mine on a cart, I’d think about putting it lower and leave the maple top above itView attachment 160369
> 
> 
> ps, went to eataly in flatiron today, they had some beautiful sardines!


Chers. I do have a very similar cart next to the kitchen window, no cabinets above, that could work!


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## sumis

rickbern said:


> It won’t fit under most cabinets and it vents steam to the bottom right. You have to add water in the top right. I put mine on a cart, I’d think about putting it lower and leave the maple top above itView attachment 160369



is there a specific reason you placed it closer to the toilet than the stove?

.


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## rickbern

sumis said:


> is there a specific reason you placed it closer to the toilet than the stove?
> 
> .


Efficiency


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## Brian Weekley

With meat approaching stratospheric pricing in Canada … picture please …






I took advantage of a rare sale of 1/2 strip loin packers. Knowing that this cut would be far from choice I took advantage of the Anova Precision Oven to produce a tender result from a less than premium cut. First step was a 48 hour dry brine using kosher salt, garlic powder, pepper and a bit of my favourite dry rub. After 48 hours this is what went into the oven.






I used a sous vide cook with 100% steam at 127F to a target internal temperature of the roast of 124F which took about 4 1/2 hours. I pulled the roast and when the steam had cleared and temperature reached, I returned it to the oven for 10 minutes at 425F, no steam. After 10 minutes the roast had reached an internal temperature of 132F. A couple of pics of the result …









\






A tender medium rare result with enough drippings to make a zip sauce gravy. I couldn’t have done it without the Anova Precision Oven.


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## rickbern

Brian Weekley said:


> With meat approaching stratospheric pricing in Canada … picture please …
> 
> View attachment 161692
> 
> 
> I took advantage of a rare sale of 1/2 strip loin packers. Knowing that this cut would be far from choice I took advantage of the Anova Precision Oven to produce a tender result from a less than premium cut. First step was a 48 hour dry brine using kosher salt, garlic powder, pepper and a bit of my favourite dry rub. After 48 hours this is what went into the oven.
> 
> View attachment 161693
> 
> 
> I used a sous vide cook with 100% steam at 127F to a target internal temperature of the roast of 124F which took about 4 1/2 hours. I pulled the roast and when the steam had cleared and temperature reached, I returned it to the oven for 10 minutes at 425F, no steam. After 10 minutes the roast had reached an internal temperature of 132F. A couple of pics of the result …
> 
> View attachment 161694
> 
> 
> View attachment 161696
> \
> 
> View attachment 161695
> 
> 
> A tender medium rare result with enough drippings to make a zip sauce gravy. I couldn’t have done it without the Anova Precision Oven.


Looks great Brian. Hearing about micro-adjustments in temperature that others use is so helpful. I find small adjustments are pretty meaningful with this appliance.


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## rickbern

Brian Weekley said:


> With meat approaching stratospheric pricing in Canada … picture please …
> 
> View attachment 161692
> 
> 
> I took advantage of a rare sale of 1/2 strip loin packers. Knowing that this cut would be far from choice I took advantage of the Anova Precision Oven to produce a tender result from a less than premium cut. First step was a 48 hour dry brine using kosher salt, garlic powder, pepper and a bit of my favourite dry rub. After 48 hours this is what went into the oven.
> 
> View attachment 161693
> 
> 
> I used a sous vide cook with 100% steam at 127F to a target internal temperature of the roast of 124F which took about 4 1/2 hours. I pulled the roast and when the steam had cleared and temperature reached, I returned it to the oven for 10 minutes at 425F, no steam. After 10 minutes the roast had reached an internal temperature of 132F. A couple of pics of the result …
> 
> View attachment 161694
> 
> 
> View attachment 161696
> \
> 
> View attachment 161695
> 
> 
> A tender medium rare result with enough drippings to make a zip sauce gravy. I couldn’t have done it without the Anova Precision Oven.


I do a lot of shopping at pretty high end butcher shops in NYC, the high cost capital of North America. I had to google to see if Canada sold meat by the pound or by the kilo. One place I go, Eataly, those prices would definitely be by the pound

Here's a picture I found online:


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## Brian Weekley

A year ago premium 58 day dry aged strip loin was about $25 a lb. Two weeks ago nothing special 14 day wet aged grain finished strip loin was $30 a lb. Today it’s $32 a lb. One of the nicest aspects of the Anova Precision Oven is that it can be used to get excellent results through slow cooking at low temperatures of lesser cuts of meat.


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## rickbern

Brian Weekley said:


> A year ago premium 58 day dry aged strip loin was about $25 a lb. Two weeks ago nothing special 14 day wet aged grain finished strip loin was $30 a lb. Today it’s $32 a lb. One of the nicest aspects of the Anova Precision Oven is that it can be used to get excellent results through slow cooking at low temperatures of lesser cuts of meat.


So those prices are by the pound? I thought Canada was all metric. And yes, I go to high end butchers and hound them for the cheapest cuts. Back a page or two, I had a picture of hanger steak (diaphragm) that I did in the oven, it was great. Probably 15-16 per pound. Might do some short ribs for dinner tonight, but those I like to braise.


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## Brian Weekley

Canada is metric but retailers will display pricing that carries the best price “impression”. Fresh fish is often advertised at a price per 100 grams ($3.99/100grams in the case of salmon, rather than $39.90 per kilogram or $18.11 per lb). Steak at $31.99 a lb rather than $70.38 a kg. Most consumers can’t do the conversion in their head so just follow the price impression as presented. Beef is reaching the point where retailers are going to have to post armed security guards in front of the meat counter.


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## WildBoar

They will have to start pricing per ounce. Similar to what my freshman roommate and his friends would do until they got caught and expelled from on-campus housing. Back in the days when the school would not report stuff like that to the local police.


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## KO88

So after ~24h 74 Celsius 100steam


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## rickbern

KO88 said:


> So after ~24h 74 Celsius 100steam


Blast it for 10 minutes. THat's what makes the skin crackle!

*7. Adjust the Oven for Crisping*
Rack


Sous Vide Mode: Off

Steam: Off

Temp: 482°F

Heat: Rear

*8. Broil Pork Belly *
Rack
Once the oven is hot, return the porchetta to the oven. Cook until the skin is brown, crisp, and crackling, about 10 minutes.

Sous Vide Mode: Off

Steam: Off

Temp: 482°F

Heat: Rear

00:10 Timer


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## KO88

Almost too much 17min on 250 no steam top and rear


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## Andrew Deranger

Looks great!


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## rickbern

KO88 said:


> Almost too much 17min on 250 no steam top and rearView attachment 162009


Ko, what did you think of 74c temperature? I did mine at 70, I like it a little juicy. (That last comment is just low hanging fruit for the peanut gallery)


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## KO88

rickbern said:


> Ko, what did you think of 74c temperature? I did mine at 70, I like it a little juicy. (That last comment is just low hanging fruit for the peanut gallery)



It was juicy as hell - I'm not sure if the difference of 4celsius in temperature makes any difference in juiciness especially with 100% steam...


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## ch_br

After lurking this thread and reading the strong testimonials, and their commitment to CS issues, I was bitten by the Anova Precision Oven bug.

In 5 days, updates will flow...


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## ch_br

rickbern said:


> Sardines
> 425 top and bottom, 25pc humidity
> 12 minutes
> 
> Banging!!
> best oven ever!
> View attachment 160388



Oh im making this tonight!!!


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## rickbern

ch_br said:


> Oh im making this tonight!!!


Try making asparagus in your oven. It comes out perfectly after 13 minutes

The miso salmon recipe they include is excellent as well


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## Brian Weekley

I’ve done asparagus, but no salmon as yet. Picked Up some beef long ribs yesterday. Will dry brine them today and slow cook them in a couple of days. I’m thinking a 36hr cook at 205F, 100% steam. Stay tuned.


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## rickbern

Brian Weekley said:


> I’ve done asparagus, but no salmon as yet. Picked Up some beef long ribs yesterday. Will dry brine them today and slow cook them in a couple of days. I’m thinking a 36hr cook at 205F, 100% steam. Stay tuned.


Sounds hot. Their pomegranate short ribs calls for 170 for 23 hours. I often shade down the odd couple of degrees from them, but unless I’m missing something I’d think stick to that ballpark


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## DitmasPork

rickbern said:


> Try making asparagus in your oven. It comes out perfectly after 13 minutes
> 
> The miso salmon recipe they include is excellent as well


How much of a learning curve is it with all the settings?


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## rickbern

Almost nothing. The app has plenty of tested recipes and you can usually find something similar. If worse comes to worse you can just open the door and poke at the food, just like any other oven. Make adjustments on the fly. 

If I’m in sous vide mode I will just adapt an immersion circulator recipe one to one for the oven. @Brian Weekley may we’ll have something in mind, I’m only commenting based on information I found in the app.


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## Brian Weekley

It is a learning curve … but the process is one that I’ve found enjoyable. Generally I’ve concluded that you cook at or close to the target internal temperature for ”doneness”, and then extend the cook for “tenderness”, as related to joints of meat. Example … a chuck or blade roast. I’ll cook at 130F to an internal target temperature of 130F using 100% steam. Want medium … cook at 132F to an internal target temperature of 132F. Generally I’ve used a 12hr cook followed by 8-10minutes in a dried oven, 400F, no steam. This has given me very satisfactory results with the roast comparing quite satisfactorily to a rib roast but not quite as tender. The final “out of the oven” serving temperature is 132F for a perfect medium rare. Late in the cook … say 2hrs before serving, I’ll add a tray of veges (carrots, parsnips, onions etc. ) for a complete roast dinner and to create some drippings for gravy.

This cook has been perfect for a nice family dinner where the blade or chuck portion is dramatically less expensive than the rib roast it replaces. I’ve done the same cook with leaner choices … sirloin roasts with excellent results.

One of the nice advantages to this cook over a regular oven cook at 325-350F is that left over reheats are quick and easy, but most important to me is that I don’t overcook the meat on reheat. I’ll thinly slice the leftovers and reheat sous vide style at 165-185F to a target temperature of 145F. Perfect temperature for a left over meal.

OK … let’s return to the idea of tenderness. Full immersion sous vide (of which I have no experience) often involves a 24 to 48hr cook. Could it be that a more tender result could be had by a longer than 12 hour cook? That’s worth experimenting with and is on my horizon in future cooks.

My current project is beef long ribs. Like brisket, long beef ribs call for low and slow in a smoker like my Green Egg. In a Green Egg cook, I’ll cook at 225F to a target temperature of 195-205F. My thought is that I’ll just repeat the process in the APO using a cooking temperature of 205F, 100% steam for 24hrs. The brisket I’ve done previously in the APO turned out fine with a 14hr cook … was just missing the smoke flavour. I’ll work it out … stay tuned.

A word about steaks, say strip loins or New York cut. I like my steaks on the rare side of medium rare … say 126-128F internal. Others of my friends and family prefer steaks more fully cooked. My process is to cook however many steaks I need sous vide style at 122-124F for more than an hour … say 1-4 hours. When it’s time to serve they come out of the APO, onto the searing hot grill or into a HOT carbon fry pan for 1-6 minutes total both sides. 1 minute for me, 6 minutes for the medium crowd. Perfect results for me. The advantage is no panic at the cook. I get perfect steaks done exactly the way me and my guests like.

All of this is just my opinion and I readily admit I may be wrong or there may be a better way, but I am enjoying the learning process.


----------

