Over the past year, the phrase Sousvideque (which isn’t new) has been making it’s way into more mainstream bbq cooking among the hobby bbq community.  No such thing in BBQ restaurants as it’s a process that for the average person can be scheduled but for restaurants that need food rapidly for service every day, this process is not for them typically.

There are many restaurants that do use Sous Vide and many Michelin Star restaurants utilize this technique to create amazing dishes.  But when it comes to integrating sous vide with BBQ, it’s a world most bbq enthusiasts have not used.

Over the past two years of be posting a lot of sousvideque videos and posts on social media, dozens of people have contacted me asking me about the sous vide and how I use it with bbq.

WHAT IS SOUS VIDE:

Sous vide is a method of cooking food, especially meat or fish (any protein and even vegetables), by vacuum-sealing and immersing in warm water. The sous vide machine keeps the food at an EXACT temperature of +/- .1 degree fahrenheit. That is one tenth of one degree farenheit.  In order to do this you need a sous vide machine

TWO RECOMMENDATIONS:

There are numerous sous vide machines on the market.  The two I use and highly recommend are the Anova Pro by Anova, and the Joule by Breville.  The Anova has a front display for control but also has a fully functional app on your cell phone to control the Anova Pro. The Joule is only accessible by an app on your cell phone and both work over bluetooth or wifi to connect to your phone or over your home network.

WHY TWO?

I do private events which recently I had to do 16 tri-tips at once to heat up and after smoking them, I heated them up in my BLUE cooler with the Anova pro as it’s very powerful and can heat up water in a 100cu in large cooler. It is louder than the Joule and requires more water depth to operate compared to the Joule.  It’s a real workhorse that’s extremely portable.

For most of my sous vide cooking I use the Joule as it’s smaller and nearly silent when operating. It heats my usual 12 quart container of water (which holds a lot of contents) quickly and like the Anova Pro has always maintained a perfect temperature with no fluctuation beyond a +/- tolerance of .1ºF. 

To get into sous vide, Anova makes a non-pro line which is great for a starter sous vide machine but there are so many on the market, you will probably be fine with anything that is a reputable brand.

WHAT DOES SOUS VIDE DO?

Sous vide cooks everything to a precise temperature you control, meaning you can cook a protein to the perfect temperature or perfect texture every time.  Infusing flavor is another big reason sous vide is used as you are keeping your food under vacuum with spices, butter or other herbs in a anaerobic environment so all the flavor is concentrated in the protein.

SOUSVIDEQUE

Any time you are incorporating sous vide before or after smoking or grilling your meat, you are doing sousvideque.  There is a big debate on whether to smoke your meat before or after sous vide, and I’ll cover that in a future blog post.

For now, get yourself a sous vide machine and check out my latest video on YouTube at  where you will find various sousvideque recipes.