With all the efforts at cutting back on expensive restaurant meals and being better grocery shoppers, it is only fitting that everything that has been available to the restaurant chef has slowly worked its way into the home kitchen. With the preponderance of chef supplies, cookbooks, and specialty novelties at kitchen stores, it is no wonder that cooks look at the television chef and fantasize about their own creative talents.

We’ve already purchased the special accouterments such as immersion blenders, poultry thermometers, mandolines, and specialty knives. Restaurant quality pots and pans were a natural addition to complement white dinnerware of all shapes and sizes to showcase the specialty preparations. Appliances have not suffered from lack of attention with Viking Ranges making major inroads into the home kitchen, and barista-style coffee makers comfortably supporting the caffeine habit that lends itself nicely to the creativity high.

Now we can do better planning with the first sous vide appliance designed for the home chef. Let’s backtrack a little. Sous vide has been around for a long time, especially in France, and in the US it has gone under the microscopic lens of fears of health and food safety. The water-bath, vacuum-sealed method of steady, low cooking maintains flavors and textures.

After it received passing marks, many chefs joined its original US superstars such as Thomas Keller (French Laundry, Per Se, Bouchon) who has even written a book on the subject with what are fairly technical recipes.  Now it is our turn to use the water bath method of cooking and lock in flavors naturally and emulate the masters. With the new piece of equipment, many of these recipes are now within reach!

It just gets easier and more fun to be the creative home chef.

Happy cooking.