Chefs on Amazon Say You Can Do 'Restaurant Quality Food at Home' with This Sous Vide

Grilling, frying, and even sautéing can often result in tough, overcooked food, even if you're working with cast iron griddles or ceramic cookware. Even the most experienced home cooks can sear a steak too long or forget to pull out a roasting chicken from the oven. If you're tired of botching poached eggs or feasting on leathery meat, there's one cooking appliance that is sure to change that: a sous vide precision cooker.

For the uninitiated, sous vide is French for "under vacuum," which lends itself well to the process: It's a method of cooking where food is tightly sealed in a plastic pouch, submerged in a bath of temperature-controlled water, and cooked for a longer than normal time. The result is wonderfully tender protein that's nearly impossible to overcook.

If you've never used one yourself, test out this Sous Vide Cooker Immersion Circulator from Amazon, which is a great starter kit. The package comes with 15 sous vide bags, a vacuum pump, the immersion circulator, and sealing clips to get you going, giving you the opportunity to sous vide everything from meat and poultry to vegetables and fish. All you've got to do is vacuum seal the protein of your choice, place the immersion cooker into a pot of water, set the temperature, and then submerge the bag into the water.

To buy: Sous Vide Art Sous Vide Cooker Immersion Circulator, $99 (originally $110) at amazon.com

Shoppers rave about the ease of this sous vide cooker, with over 1,000 reviewers giving it a five-star rating. Many say their "food comes out so tender" and the appliance is the "best bang for your buck." Others call the sous vide cooker the "coolest new kitchen gadget."

"I'd never done any sous vide cooking before and was introduced to it this summer," one five-star shopper says. "Tri tip turns out amazing, and I'm experimenting with other items. I was even able to use it to can some pickles. If you're curious about cooking with sous vide and don't want to spend too much, this is a really good kit to start off with."

"I'm a chef in a private club. We use a commercial sous vide to do big batch items for function. This guy will do everything like the one I use at work and more," another user shares. "The thermostat is right on the money and it performs perfectly. I recommend getting a container and lid made to fit this unit and you can do restaurant quality food at home."

Whether you're new to sous vide cooking or want to stop overcooking meat, shop the Sous Vide Cooker Immersion Circulator for $99 on Amazon.