Hamilton Beach Professional Sous Vide And 6 Qt Slow Cooker

When you're shopping for new kitchen appliances, it's an added bonus when you come across one such as the Hamilton Beach Professional Sous Vide Water Oven & Slow Cooker that can serve a dual purpose. It's designed to be used as a water cooker (or water bath) sous vide unit as well as a slow cooker, as the name implies, and I have to admit, at first I was wondering if this multi-use capability led to a sacrifice in the quality of results with either cooking method. Here is an overview of the Hamilton Beach sous vide unit.

Hamilton Beach Sous Vide and Slow Cooker

The Hamilton Beach Professional Sous Vide Water Oven & Slow Cooker has the size and appearance of a nice higher end slow cooker. The dimensions are approximately 13 x 12 x 18 inches. There is a simple control panel on the front of the unit that allows you to set your desired cooking temperature for either your sous vide water cooker or slow cooker.

Of course, both cooking methods are very desirable options to have available in your kitchen. Both methods give you specialized convenience and results that are difficult, if not impossible, to achieve via other means. This makes this particular item a very worthwhile addition to your kitchen.

And the savings on expense and space is a real advantage. I personally dislike having a lot of "stuff" everywhere, and if you're doing the whole minimalism thing this multi-purpose unit definitely earns its place in your life.

Features

Programmable slow cooking mode
6-quart nonstick metal cooking vessel
Stainless steel exterior
Precise sous vide temperature control (104 degrees F to 210 degrees F)
Glass lid
Large handles
Sous vide rack
5-year warranty

Hamilton Beach Professional Sous Vide Water Oven & Slow Cooker Overview

Reviews are mixed for this Hamilton Beach slow cooker and sous vide machine, although it does have a 3.4 of 5 stars rating right now on Amazon, which is OK.

Some users say it is awesome, keeps great temperature and produces excellent results. A reviewer raved about cooking the best steak they're ever had. Others complain that it has inaccurate temperatures, which would be a deal-breaker for sure when it comes to the sous vide functionality.

One complaint had to do with it taking a long time to heat up. Sous vide units of all types may take a long time to heat up (depending on how you define the word "long"), so my suspicion is that some of these complaints are coming from users who were not familiar with sous vide. Since this is a good entry-level appliance for new sous vide users, or users who just want to dabble and not really learn the method, I have to suspect user inexperience as a source of some of the bad feedback.

Am I just rationalizing because I personally like this handy sous vide water cooker unit? Maybe. I haven't had any trouble. I've found it easy-to-use and accurate. For one very affordable price, you get two really good additions to your cooking capabilities. I would feel comfortable recommending the machine because of Amazon's good return policy.

Buy it directly from Amazon, not a third-party seller. If you try it and don't find the results to be satisfactory, just return it. They're not going to charge you return shipping for a defective item. And if it doesn't heat up properly or keep accurate sous vide temps then it's defective. I would recommend testing the unit's temperature accuracy and performance right away. Another explanation for the mixed reviews is, of course, quality control issues at Hamilton Beach.

Sous vide cooking definitely has its advantages. Here's an overview of the pros and cons of sous vide cooking.

One consideration is the cooking area: it's 11 x 8 x 4 inches, so if you need to sous vide quite a lot of food at one time this unit may not be for you. It does not circulate the water, which can cause slight variances in temperature.