Review of Joule: Sous Vide by ChefSteps

This is the promised review of the Joule:  Sous Vide by ChefSteps.  I pre-ordered it from ChefSteps early last year and it was due in June/July time frame.  Due to some issues, mostly outside the control of ChefSteps, delivery got pushed back to September.  To their credit, ChefSteps kept those of us who had pre-ordered informed of delays and new delivery dates.  Since delays are common to new products I wasn't concerned since they did keep the flow of information going.  Once the government-caused issues were solved, an email came saying deliveries would go out in the order that people had purchased their Joule.  I got a final email telling me it was coming and I had it in just a couple of days.  If you want to get into sous vide cooking, you can click here to order your Joule.

Poaching eggs in the shell.  Joule is in an 8 quart stock pot.

One of the things that had kept me from trying sous vide was the size of the sous vide units.  Even a small one required a substantial amount of counter space.  Frankly, not many average folks have that much counter space to give up.  Even if you wanted to store it between uses, it would take lots of space.  Over the past few years, heating and circulating units have come into the sous vide world and the price has come down.  Joule is smaller than any others I've looked at.  It is smaller than my immersion blender.  Joule's small size makes it easy to store in a kitchen drawer.

KitchenAid immersion blender and Joule

Another advantage of the Joule is the fact that it is operated via your smart phone.  It is compatible with both Android phones and iPhones.  Using smart phones to operate means that ChefSteps can push software improvements and new recipe guides out as needed.  There has already been a couple of recipe guide updates and I'm sure more will follow.  The Joule app has visual doneness pictures for every type of meat you want to cook.  All you have to do is select the degree of doneness you want and it gives you the time to cook.  Some, like steaks, ask the thickness of what you are cooking and that affects the cook time.  If you want to cook something by a sous vide recipe you found online or you want to experiment you can set the time and temperature manually.  Some people complain that there is no display on the Joule but even I have a smart phone these days.  I don't see the lack of a display as a problem.

Joule app opening on my phone and Joule guides showing on the tablet

The Joule is quiet.  It is so quiet that if the water level is over the discharge hole I can't hear it if anything else is going and barely a hum if all else is turned off.  You can't beat a quiet appliance.

Since the Joule is a heater and circulator you need something to hold the water.  I primarily use one of my stock pots.  When I did a 24 hour cook for confit turkey legs I used a small cooler to help hold its heat.  For a long cook you probably should cover the container to help retain heat and stop evaporation.

The first thing I cooked with the Joule was a pair of strip steaks.  I think I went with medium-rare.  It was good but to suit us I should have gone with rare.  Since the time is also determined by steak thickness I would round down.  I wet age the strip loins prior to cutting into steaks and packaging so they are already tender and tasty.  Done with Joule they were even better.

Strip Steak, sous vide then seared

The good wife likes poached eggs almost to the exclusion of any other cooking method.  Joule has a poach in the shell program for eggs.  I do six every Saturday after breakfast so she'll have a poached egg available each morning for breakfast.  Just gently tap around the middle of the egg with a knife and slide the egg out of the shell.  The good wife will let the egg sit on the counter warming up while the coffee perks.  She'll then crack it into a small bowl and put it in the microwave for about 10 seconds.  I've also poached eggs to top Udon noodle dishes.  This is so much easier and neater than cracking the egg into a pot of simmering water.

Poached egg after the break out

The absolute best thing I've cooked with the Joule was turkey legs.  Under their poultry guide is a recipe for sous vide confit turkey legs.  I followed their instructions fairly close only changing the herbs that were added.  It was a 24 hour cook so I used a small cooler for the insulation to help retain heat and covered the top with plastic wrap and then draped a towel over it to reduce evaporation.  The cook I chose yielded turkey that was so tender I could have made pulled turkey and the flavor was great.  The good wife said to definitely do this again.

Fresh from the bag, ready to sear

Crispy skin after 5 minutes under the broiler

The latest cook was a nice thick sirloin steak.  I followed the guide for ultimate steak which involved a quick sear before bagging and adding some crushed garlic, fresh herbs, and olive oil.  The sous vide time for the doneness I chose and the thickness of the steak was an hour.  This ended up being an extremely tender flavorful sirloin steak.  This is the one I talked about in the previous post.

Starting the sear with herbs and garlic from the bag

Tender, tasty, and perfectly cooked

I've also done pork belly, hamburgers, salmon, and squirrel using the Joule and the results have been very good.  I still need to tweak the time and temperature for the squirrel or any other small game but I was pleased with my inaugural small game cook.

Sous vide pork belly with Udon noodles topped with a Joule poached egg

Hamburger sous vide and seared.  Pink, juicy, and flavorful.

There are still some recipes in the Joule guides that I am looking forward to trying.  The top two are Heavenly Honey-glazed Ham made with a pork butt and the collection of custards.  Ok, I guess that should be top four since there are three sous vide custard recipes to include a creme brulee.  I'm also interested to see what recipes they add to the guides next. 

All in all, I would highly recommend the Joule as your entry into sous vide cooking.  The small size and ease of operation are strong points in its favor.  Part of the ease of use is due to the cooking guides with visual doneness pictures contained in the app.  The only negatives I can think of are not negatives to me but may be to others.  First is the lack of a display panel to check your settings.  I've seen this complaint online but it makes no sense to me.  Using your phone, you don't have to walk to the kitchen to check the display.  It sounds like someone looking for something to complain about to me.  The other potential negative is the fact that it is only available in the US and is only designed to work with US electricity.  So, someone from overseas or a military person stationed overseas would have to find a different sous vide unit.  Lastly, sous vide is slow so it takes planning to use properly.  Like I said, I don't see this as a negative because the results are worth the time.


There you have it, a long drawn out review of the Joule.  If you want to up your kitchen game then get a Joule and get into the world of sous vide cookery.  If I didn't answer a question let me know.

Uncle T

Sous Vide Sirloin Steak and Brussels Sprout Salad

I've been interested in Sous Vide cooking for some time now.  Until fairly recently, sous vide cookery was priced beyond most home cooks.  Even if someone wanted to spend the money for a sous vide cooker, you ended up with a huge appliance taking up space on your counter.  Over the past few years sous vide circulators have come on the scene reducing both the cost and kitchen foot print of sous vide cookery.  Last year I ordered a new sous vide circulator that was coming on the market and have used it frequently.  I got the Joule, by ChefSteps, and I'll be doing a review post in a few days.

Our local warehouse store had a sale on Sirloin Butts a couple of weeks ago and I took advantage of the situation.  Sirloin steaks have great flavor and I cut some thick steaks to cook sous vide as a test.  I'm happy to say it turned out quite well.

Starting the post sous vide sear

The Brussels sprout salad was inspired by a guy on Instagram that goes by the name, Bacon Dealer.  He has some awesome pictures of smoked and grilled meats as well as his home made Bacon and Pancetta.  Bacon Dealer developed a broccoli salad and over time got it to taste like he wanted.  Once I found out what he used I told him I'd be adding my own spin to it.  Here is the post with his broccoli salad with the ingredients in comments, Bacon Dealer.

The sirloin steak was cooked according to the program in the Joule.  I seasoned each side with salt and pepper then did a quick sear on each side.  The steak was put into a zip bag with 3 cloves of crushed garlic, and some sprigs of thyme and oregano from our herb garden.  Then a bit of olive oil was splashed all over the steak and it was ready for the cook.  I chose 129F for the cook and with a steak the thickness of this one it cooked an hour.  After the cook, 2 Tbs of butter were melted in a hot skillet and the steak was put into the skillet along with everything in the bag with it.  The steak got a quick sear, about 45 seconds, on each side.  While it was searing, the top side was getting basted with the oil and butter mixture in the skillet.  Once both sides were seared, it was time to slice.

Ready to slice

Before I sliced the steak, I made a quick pan sauce to top the slices.  I added another 2 Tbs of butter to the skillet and let it melt.  Then I added 1/4 cup or so of Brandy and let the alcohol burn off.  A little extra simmering to reduce it a bit and it was ready.

Nicely done

The Brussels sprout salad was mostly prepared while the sous vide cook was taking place.  I waited until the steak was almost done before dressing the salad.  It is a quick salad and easily adjusted to suit your family's tastes.

Brussels Sprout Salad

8 oz Brussels sprouts
4-6 oz Pancetta lardons
2-4 oz Cheddar cheese, 1/4 inch dice
1/2 cup Craisins
1/4 cup Pistachios
1/4 cup Pecans
1/4 cup fermented red peppers, julienned
 Apple cider vinegar
Olive Oil
salt

Thinly slice the Brussels sprouts and place in a bowl.  Dice the Cheddar cheese and add to the sliced spouts.  Put the Pancetta lardons in a skillet and cook until just brown.  You don't want your Pancetta crispy like bacon.  Add the freshly cooked and drained Pancetta to the bowl with the sprouts and cheese and toss to mix.  Do a rough chop on the Craisins, Pistachios, and Pecans and add them to the bowl and toss to mix.  Take a bite and add salt if needed.  When ready to serve, splash vinegar and olive oil over the salad and toss to mix.  Add more of each if the salad is too dry.  Serve and enjoy.   

A fine tasty meal.  The steak is ready for the pan sauce.

Since the salad was all we were having with the sirloin steak we had a larger than usual portion.  If we'd had a potato as part of supper then we'd have gotten 4 servings out of this recipe.  I used fermented red peppers because I still had some and they came from my garden.  You can use either fresh red pepper or pickled pepper as a substitute. 

If you've been thinking about getting into sous vide cooking then I highly recommend the Joule.  Sous vide cooking is not fast but the results are worth the wait.

Give this salad a try the next time you want a salad or just need to add something green to your supper.  I think you'll be pleased.  If you try it, let me know what you think.

Uncle T

Tomato Soup and Grilled Cheese

I'm fairly certain I've mentioned this before but the good wife is a huge fan of soup.  I think if I made enough she would eat it everyday.  On top of this is the fact that a good soup is a great aid in getting better when you are sick.  Making soup out of fresh ingredients or at least home grown and canned ingredients yields a tastier more effective soup.


A few weeks ago, I came down with something.  It was enough to keep me home from work for 2 days which is something that hasn't happened in over 30 years.  Sadly, the good wife caught whatever it was that I had and worse news is that she has a harder time getting over them than I do.  After a couple of days of feeling better she relapsed a bit yesterday.  When I got home I asked if she wanted soup for supper to warm her up since she was complaining of feeling cold.  When asked what kind of soup she wanted she said tomato.

A hot bowl of Tomato Soup

I'll throw this out right now, I'm not a fan of tomato soup.   That said, I set myself to find the best tomato soup recipe to fix for the good wife's supper.  I would eat left over kimchi soup for my supper.  In looking at recipes online I noticed one glaring fault, they all called for adding either sugar or honey.  Ostensibly this is to "cut the acidity of the tomatoes" and I'm guessing make the soup more palatable.  Considering how much sugar goes into commercially produced soups and sauces, I think they are trying to mimic that flavor so people will not know the difference between home made and commercially made.  In light of that, I put down the laptop and went to the kitchen to do my own thing.


Tomato Soup


1 quart canned tomatoes
1 quart chicken broth
1 medium onion, chopped, about 1.5 cups
6 Tbs butter
3-4 Tbs AP flour
1/2 cup heavy cream or half and half
1/2 tsp celery seed
1 tsp ground turmeric
1-2 tsp ground white pepper
salt to taste


Melt the butter in a stock pot then add the onion.  Cook the onion until it is just translucent.  Add the celery seed, turmeric, white pepper and 1.5 tsp salt and stir to combine.  Add the flour to the pot and stir then cook to form a light roux.  Add the tomatoes, juice included, to the pot and stir.  Add the chicken broth and stir.  Let the pot come to a boil and reduce to a simmer for 15-30 minutes.  Using an immersion blender, blend until the soup is smooth.  As an alternative, let cool and puree in a blender in batches.  Once the soup is smooth, stir in the heavy cream.  Taste and add more salt if desired.  Serve with a grilled cheese sandwich.  Makes 4 servings.

Let's eat!

I think it is one of those immutable laws of the universe that tomato soup has to be accompanied by a grilled cheese sandwich.  In this case, the bread was some that I'd made a couple of days before to go with a pasta dish.  I was going to use plain old sandwich bread until the good wife said she wanted it done with the leftover bread.  After seeing it, I was tempted  to make myself one to go with the kimchi soup and rice. 


Now, it's time to stir things up a bit.  I know that there are sandwiches being plastered all over the internet being called grilled cheese sandwiches.  In this, I'm strictly a purist.  A grilled cheese sandwich consists of 2 pieces of buttered bread on a hot griddle with cheese in between them.  I'll allow that some of those other sandwiches sound good, once you put something other than cheese in the middle it is no longer a grilled cheese sandwich.  OK, that was my rant to begin the new year.


It's time for another confession.  After tasting this soup, I think I could eat a bowl of tomato soup with a grilled cheese sandwich and like it.  I guess that was the problem before, trying commercially made soups.  The prime ingredient in this soup was a jar of tomatoes that were grown in my garden and canned by the good wife.  I'm certain though, that this soup would be good using good quality canned tomatoes from the store.

Give this soup a go the next time cold weather hits or someone in the house is feeling ill.  I think you'll like it as a warmer or a medicine.  Let me know how you like it.


Uncle T