Anova Precision Oven: Features, Accessories, Troubleshooting, and "Should I Buy One?"

[palo]

Yes and yes - imho

 

p

[SherryCobySam]

I took the plunge Inspired by both the fact that I have moved and have a better place for the oven, and the Mother’s Day sale. It is on my counter chugging away but I’m a little worried because I don’t see steam on the sous vide mode

 

I usually use bagged sous vide To make cat food that is sterilized But not raw. I want to keep using the bags because it’s An incredibly simple way to cook the chicken without mess and only open the bags when it’s time to grind the chicken bones liver and hearts

 

I’m cooking at 140°F for an hour and a half. How do I know the steam function is working?

 

Also how important is distilled water. We live in New York City where the water Is pillow soft. Until the move, I kept an aquarium and Had to boost GH hardness to keep the plants happy. This is Catskill mountain water and doesn’t have much in it.

 

 

[SherryCobySam]

Now that I look it is getting a little foggy in there

[weinoo]

I don't think, but am not an Anova owner, that you need to worry about using distilled water here in the city.

Edited May 1, 2022 by weinoo (log)

[rotuts]

what's  useful to know is the calcium level , ppm

 

If its City water , they publish that somewhere .

 

Done.

[palo]

1 hour ago, rotuts said:

what's  useful to know is the calcium level , ppm

Yes it's important to know what's in the water rather than just its softness/hardness level - I know they're related but basically distilled water has nothing in it.

 

p

[weinoo]

Here you go...

 

https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/dep/downloads/pdf/water/drinking-water/drinking-water-supply-quality-report/2021-drinking-water-supply-quality-report.pdf

[TdeV]

 

@SherryCobySam, if the food in the APO is inside a sealed bag, I would expect the APO steam function to make no difference to the bag contents. I understand that with the APO one can cook sous vide without plastic, but I've only cooked fish a few times that way, so not much to report.

 

After a period of time, the APO will warn that it wants you to run a descale cycle. This has occurred twice or thrice for me, once it launched automatically (unfortunately) when I was in the middle of cooking something. Someone convinced me about using distilled water, by saying "Do you really want to replace the whole oven because you didn't use distilled water?"

 

@EatingBen asks about our satisfaction with the Anova Precision Oven. I have no other experience with a steam oven, but I'm enjoying what I've learned with this machine. I've closely followed the discussions about Cuisinart Steam Oven for years. I knew that many folks thought the CSO too small. Recently I heated up a 7 quart enamelled cast iron oval brasing pot in the APO at 220°F. Fit fine.

 

 

 

Edited May 3, 2022 by TdeV
Editorial comments (log)

[KennethT]

For what it's worth, in my neighborhood of Manhattan, my tap water measures about 30ppm of total dissolved solids.  Most municipal tap water is in the 200-300ppm range and well water can be upwards of 600ppm

[SherryCobySam]

So basically, what I'm hearing is, yes Manhattan is very low, but it doesn't hurt to play it safe and pick up some distilled water.

The sous vide bagged chicken came out great. I'm going to figure out an actual meal to cook tonight. 

My kid in College just laid claim to our toaster oven and Blue Tooth Anova cooker

[weinoo]

3 hours ago, SherryCobySam said:

So basically, what I'm hearing is, yes Manhattan is very low, but it doesn't hurt to play it safe and pick up some distilled water.

 

I'm not a betting man, but I'd bet something else fucks up in/on the Anova before any descaling is necessary using NYC tap.

 

I've been using the same Hario kettle for years, and a Silvia for over a decade...neither ever needed to be descaled, and they're both still going strong.

[SherryCobySam]

I was moved by the post that somebody found a little bit of Flora growing in their tank. I think it’s two bucks a gallon for distilled water around here so in an over abundance of caution I think I’ll use it. But I agree I’ve never had to descale a coffee maker

 

Tonight I use their recipe for French onion soup etc. used for homemade chicken stock I had in my freezer instead of beef stock

 

It was so good it was almost reason enough to have the oven

[JoNorvelleWalker]

1 hour ago, weinoo said:

 

I'm not a betting man, but I'd bet something else fucks up in/on the Anova before any descaling is necessary using NYC tap.

 

I've been using the same Hario kettle for years, and a Silvia for over a decade...neither ever needed to be descaled, and they're both still going strong.

 

I've used only distilled water in my APO's.  In my CSO's I would use double filtered and measured low hardness water.

https://forums.egullet.org/topic/136349-do-brita-type-filters-work/?do=findComment&comment=2162319

 

The problem, at least in my kitchen, is not water hardness.  My CSO's would clog up with organic matter*.  Now that I use distilled water I have not been troubled by fauna and flora in the tanks.  (That the APO tanks crack is a whole different issue.)

 

 

*green algae and white floccular contaminate

 

[weinoo]

56 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

*green algae and white floccular contaminate

 

I enjoy the extra flavor from the green algae.

[weinoo]

1 hour ago, SherryCobySam said:

I was moved by the post that somebody found a little bit of Flora growing in their tank. I think it’s two bucks a gallon for distilled water around here so in an over abundance of caution I think I’ll use it.

I’m not moved by much, but I just find so many other things so much more important….in the abundance of caution realm, this is.

Edited May 2, 2022 by weinoo (log)

[JoNorvelleWalker]

26 minutes ago, weinoo said:

I enjoy the extra flavor from the green algae.

 

And you probably like kale.

 

[SherryCobySam]

53 minutes ago, JoNorvelleWalker said:

 

And you probably like kale.

 

Oh I hate kale! Maybe that’s why I’m willing to drag home gallons of distilled water!

[SherryCobySam]

Has anyone put together a list of the best accessories? 
What about the Anova branded steel and perforated pan?

[palo]

 

 

If cheaper elsewhere, why not

Regarding the pan, consider a rac with the Anova pan below

 

See: 

 

 p

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

if

[weinoo]

7 hours ago, SherryCobySam said:

Has anyone put together a list of the best accessories? 
What about the Anova branded steel and perforated pan?

 

I hear they're bottling distilled water.

[palo]

3 hours ago, weinoo said:

 

I hear they're bottling distilled water.

 

I hear bottled distilled water isn't available in your neck of the woods 

 

p

 

[weinoo]

18 minutes ago, palo said:

 

I hear bottled distilled water isn't available in your neck of the woods 

 

p

 

 

It's not necessarily easy to find, that's for sure.

[SherryCobySam]

19 hours ago, palo said:

 

 

If cheaper elsewhere, why not

Regarding the pan, consider a rac with the Anova pan below

 

See: 

 

Are these preferred over the anova perforated pans? I think they also fit in the oven grooves.

 

 

 

 

[TdeV]

 

@SherryCobySam said "Are these preferred over the anova perforated pans?"

 

I didn't know Anova had perforated pans! Where?

 

 

[TdeV]

On 5/1/2022 at 7:52 AM, weinoo said:

That sounded like some sort of high school algebra question!

 

What I can say is that medium rare is not 124℉ - it's more in the range of 130℉ to 135℉ - so a probe set to 128℉ or so should work nicely.

 

I don't like pork cooked that low - prefer it in the range of 140 - 145 for chops/steaks.

 

I set the probe to 128°F but it didn't work out so well. I found out that it is not possible to do these two things at once: put the pan on the top shelf, and use the probe*. The oven was pretty darn hot (>425°F), so what I did was move the pan down one notch. When the pork was up to temperature, I removed the probe and put the pan on the top rack. Turned out that was another 4 or 6 minutes. Too long and I should have reheated the oven first.

 

The result was a bit too chewy. The charred fat was tasty though.

 

* I've tested this with the oven cold and it truly can't be done. Perhaps this is an accidental byproduct of Anova's improvement to the cooking pan.

 

 

As you can see, there is no way that probe is fitting in there.