+1 for Under Pressure. I've done recipes with liquid in the bag, and I don't have a chamber packer (I wish). I don't have a FoodSaver, either. I just use ziploc bags; if there's liquid in the bag, it conveniently fills most/all of what would be air pockets without a liquid. Rendered or melted fat is the best for that; I've gotten ziploc bags that looked a hell of a lot like they were vacuum-sealed when doing duck confit this way. Everything I've tried from Under Pressure ("pastrami" duck breast (60 C, 20 min), duck legs and tongues confit (85 C, 8 hours), vanilla ice cream (85 C down to 82 C over 20 min)) came out exactly perfectly as specified. I don't have an immersion circulator, either; I have an Auber PID and an industrial food warmer. I've also gotten good results with the Auber plugged into an electric griddle with a pot of water on top. Compression is a pretty small portion of the book. The problem is that the vegetable section is first, and most fruits and vegetables are compressed to flash-marinate them, so when you leaf through the book at the bookstore, you say WTF, what the hell does that do, and run screaming. I did this, and regret it. Under Pressure is a lot closer to The French Laundry Cookbook Part 2 than to a study of specifically sous vide. A fair amount of the stuff in it is sous vide, but that's just because that's what they do there, which in turn is just because it tastes better and is more consistent for a fair amount of stuff. There's also a huge amount of traditional stuff, too: all the old standby veal stock, "quick" sauces, etc are still there, and you'll find that you spend more of your time and attention in each recipe on those things (since sous vide by nature doesn't require tending the pot). The only problem with it is the previously mentioned danger zone crap, so no recipes with cooking temperatures below 60 C, even though the introduction mentions medium-rare short ribs, which are fundamentally less than 60 C for 25-50 hours. There is some medium-rare stuff in the book, but it's tender cuts cooked at 60 C for short enough of a time that most of it doesn't get above 55 C.