The Best Sous Vide Water Baths [2017 Edition] | The Tool Shed

The Best Sous Vide Water Baths [2017 Edition]

Water baths give you a complete, all in one package for cooking sous vide, acting as a container and circulator in one.

They’re commonly used in professional kitchens because they take up more space than a clip on immersion circulator, but as we’ll see, there are also plenty of models which are suitable for home use too.

We’re going to take a quick look through some of the best sous vide water baths available, based on how popular they are with our customers, as well as our own experiences.

The Pro Range

SousVideTools® Compact 14 Litre & 28 Litre Water Baths – £323.99 & £431.99

One of our most popular water baths amongst professional chefs is the Compact, which comes in both 14 Litre and 28 Litre variations.

As the name suggests, the Compact baths are ideal for saving space in a busy kitchen, but they can also fit a good amount of food in at once too.

With a bright touchscreen display, the machine is easy to use and can easily be seen from across the kitchen, and is a favourite with chefs due to its solid, contemporary design.

Accuracy and consistency are key when working in a professional environment, and the Compact can control temperature to within 0.1˚C with its PID controller, giving you consistent results, time after time.

Another great advantage of the compact is that it comes with moveable stainless steel partitions (four for the 14L and six for the 28L), which allow for greater portion control, and easy identification during the cooking process.

Products which have just been placed in the bath can also easily be separated from those which have been fully cooked and are ready to be served.

Finally, the Compact baths contain low water level protection, optical and acoustic alarms for time and temperature and a stainless steel lid too.

The Domestic Range

SousVide Supreme® SVS-09L Demi and SVS-10LS Water Ovens – £250.00 & £349.99

For the home market, the SousVide Supreme is one of the market leaders, and one of the first water baths to be designed specifically for the home market.

The SousVide Supreme can hold food for as long as 99 hours, with precise temperature control to within 0.5˚C, and it’s also a very economical appliance, costing less to run than a 60w light bulb.

Other features include a digital LED display, audible beeping once you reach the end of a cycle, a non-stick anodised aluminium interior and a lid which doubles as a drip tray for pouch transport.

The 9L Demi model offers all of the benefits of the original SousVide Supreme, but in a much smaller appliance, which is a great advantage to home chefs who perhaps don’t have as much room in their kitchen.

However, despite its relatively compact nature, the Demi can hold between eight and twelve 115g servings of food.

While these are our favourite water baths here at SousVideTools.com, be sure to check out our full professional and domestic ranges to see our other products, as well as our sous vide packages and bundles.

Post by Chris Holland

Our Chef Director Chris Holland worked as Head Chef at the prestigious Alderley Edge hotel before joining us. He has a passion for using the best produce and never compromises on quality. Author of our best selling book Sous Vide The Art of Precision Cooking, Chris is a expert on the sous vide technique.During the later part of my school days at Wardle High School Rochdale I always wanted to be a chef . I knew from the very start that my path to work was never going to be academic it was always going to be something practical and hands on.

As a young boy growing up I was inspired to cook with my Grandma who was and still is an inspiration to me . I have memories of helping make the cakes that she always had made for visitors and family alike . She made the most amazing cakes and I loved nothing more than eating the sweet raw cake batter straight from the bowl . We used to fight over who got to lick the bowl/spoon after the cakes were made. My grandma’s philosophy for cooking even on a shoe string budget was always to use fresh and seasonal ingredients either home grown or bought from the market.

School was somewhat of a drag for me as I was itching to learn to become a chef.

I started at Hopwood Hall college as a chef and instantly fell in love with it .To me it was the only real time I excelled in something and this inspired me to really get my head down and put in the hard work. College was the first time I really excelled in something and gave me the opportunity to laugh at the teachers who said I would never make something of my life!!!!

During the three years at college I also took on a part time position in a local hotel working the bar and restaurant first and then the kitchen. These were great days and gave me the opportunity to see how the industry ticks. I learnt a lot from those days both good and bad !! But I have to say I was itching to work only in the kitchen but it was a good insight into the catering world .

After completing college I moved away from Rochdale for a full time roll at one of Cheshire’s most talked about Hotel restaurants The Stanneylands Hotel. This was the school of hard knocks for me as I quickly realised that although excelling at college meant nothing in “The Real World”.

I loved every minute of the 18 hour days 6 days a week on minimum wage . Although difficult I feel that without this grounding I wouldn’t have achieved what I have today. After 18 months of hard graft I left Stanneylands and went with the Head chef to open a fine dining restaurant at Mere Golf and Country Club. The opportunity to work alongside Matthew Barrett was too good to turn down. I learnt so much from the ex-Ritz chef and working in a much slower paced role helped me develop a much better understanding of how to organise and run a kitchen. We were a very small team and teamwork was and still is the only way to go for me.

After 2 years at Mere I got the opportunity to go into The Alderley Edge Hotel as Junior Souschef. The Early days at the Edge were all about learning new styles of cuising which is invaluable in any role as a chef. I got the opportunity to grow and learn all aspects of every section which was inspiring . I was offered the opportunity at the age of 29 (2004) to take the role of head chef. For me this was when I really started to develop my own style of food.

After 9 years at the top winning Cheshire restaurant of the year , Chef of the Year and appearing on GBM amongst many highlights including cooking for many celebrities and famous people I decided to move on into development with Sousvidetools.

The main inspiration for this was to train and educate people . I always had a great passion for education but could never really see myself at a college . The job is super rewarding and I am proud to say we have become the leading light in sous-vide education in the UK . This is something I am very proud of . Food is my biggest passion and this is what keeps me interested the most . I love to travel and try out other countries cuisines. I am constantly inspired by ingredients and the pursuit of getting the best out of them without destroying their natural flavour .It is super important to me to continue to try and be at the forefront of the food scene this is what inspire me and the team to keep driving forward .

Technology is now widely used in the industry and I am super proud to say we have been a big part of spreading that message.

I am very lucky to be in the position I am and the drive to constantly improve our training and links to the next generation of young budding hospitality chefs.

TI feel that my experience over the last 25 years really enables me to get close and educate the “next generation” of chefs .

The industry which I love is really struggling to bring through new recruits and if I can help that process I will be immensely proud.

The food seen in the Uk has improved dramatically over the last ten years and I feel this will continue with the correct education. What happens next only fate will tell us...

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