Sous Vide Showdown: Anova Vs. Joule
Sous Vide cooking is compelling because it promises restaurant-grade results in the comfort of your own home . By maintaining a constant, precisely controlled temperature, you don’t have to worry about overcooking expensive steaks or delicate seafood. In the past, the esoteric cooking method is gaining popularity and circulation pumps are being developed with the needs of home chefs in mind. Choosing (and paying) such a fancy kitchen toy can be a little tricky, but we’re here to help.
Applicants
We will consider two models of sous vide submersible circulation pumps: the current beloved and the new child. (Full Disclosure: I have Anova, which my mom bought me for Christmas, and I love it. The ChefSteps model I’m testing is a beta the company sent me, and as much as it hurts I’ll make this – I’ll post it back when I’m done testing.)
- Anova Precision Cooker ($ 199 for WiFi included model, $ 179 for Bluetooth included model): ANOVA Precision Cooker has been sous looking device buy for some time now, with many of the best voices in home cooking singing its praises.
- ChefSteps Joule ($ 299, $ 229 with pre-order, $ 205 with Premium ChefSteps account and pre-order. UPDATE: Joule now costs $ 199, $ 149 with pre-order ): Seattle Culinary Site ChefSteps Launches own device in September and looks like a worthy contender for the sous-vide throne.
To compare the two devices, we looked at their design, functionality, ease of use and storage, and of course, the ability to cook.
Hardware: Joule is smaller and more powerful, but an app is absolutely necessary to use
If you’re going to spend hundreds of dollars on a kitchen appliance, it has to be a good kitchen appliance, and size, weight, power and aesthetics come into play here. Let’s take a look at some of the specs (and videos!)
Anova:
- Dimensions: Anova is 14.75 “/ 36.8 cm high and 2.75” / 6.98 cm wide.
- Weight: 2.5 lbs
- Clip: The adjustable clip on the Anova works well with any pot or plastic food container, but may wobble slightly when attached to refrigerators or anything with an irregular edge.
- Display: Unlike Joule, Anova has a digital display that shows the set temperature, current temperature and cooking time. While the cooking time and temperature can be set via the app, you can also manually set the temperature using the small wheel on the Anova, which means you can watch videos even if you don’t have a smartphone.
- Power: 800W
- Maximum temperature: 210F / 99C
- Maximum capacity: Anova can heat up to 19 liters of water.
- Immersion depth: 2.5-7.25 inches
- Wi-Fi: Yes, if you have a Wi-Fi model. This feature allows you to control the circulation pump from anywhere using wireless internet, which I tested by going up to a bar and preheating the water from there. (The future is today.)
Joule
- Dimensions:
- Weight: 1.3 lbs
- Clamp: The Joule features a simple wire-shaped clip that fits almost any kitchen pot or container, but it also features a powerful magnet that attaches to any steel or induction-ready pot, which means you can run the Joule without the clamp.
- Display: There is no real display on the Joule, just a small light that blinks amber when the water is heating up, green when it’s ready to be brewed, and red when there is a problem. Actually, I was missing the digital readers on the device itself, and I didn’t like the fact that I couldn’t control the Joule at all without opening the app, but it could be because I don’t keep my phone charged well.
- Power : 1100 W.
- Max Temperature: 194F / 90C, but ChefSteps is still testing safety features at higher cooking temperatures.
- Maximum volume: 20 liters in an open pot or container, 40 liters in a closed insulated system such as a refrigerant.
- Immersion depth: 1.5-8 inches
- Wi-Fi: yes
The Joule has the advantage of being a newer device and demonstrates this by making the Anova stand out in many categories. It is lighter and smaller, making it easier to use and store, and also looks sleeker and more attractive. (On a scale of 1 to ChefSteps co-founder Grant Crilly, I rate Joule as a solid 7.7.)
Although small, Joule is powerful, and that extra 300 watts means less preheating. To test how much less, I heated two buckets of water (4 liters each) from room temperature (about 72 F) to 132.8 F (the recommended temperature for a medium-rare steak). Joule got there in about 10 minutes, while Anova took twice as long. The Joule also has a slightly higher maximum volume and a slightly wider immersion range, although the Anova can (according to beta testing) heat water up to 16 degrees (F) higher than the Joule.
That being said, I don’t like the fact that you need to control Joule from within the app. I appreciate the technical aspect of it all, the Internet of Things, but I’m a stupid, forgetful person who often loses, drops and forgets to charge my phone. That my sous-video is so dependent on my phone makes me nervous as a damaged phone now means more than a damaged phone; it also means that I cannot use sous vid. (Plus, there’s the fact that there are still people who don’t have a smartphone or tablet, and that should prevent them from enjoying the delicious magic of sous vide cooking.)
Apps: Both apps are well designed and get the job done
Then there are apps for your phone. For Anova, the app (available free for iOS and Android ) is technically optional, and I’ve prepared a lot of things without even opening it. As for Joule, you absolutely can’t work with it without an app (also free for iOS and Android, but not before launching the device), but the app itself is pretty good.
Anova
The Anova app contains many recipes and time and temperature guides, including some that were designed and refined by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt of Serious Eats . For foods that can vary in degree of doneness, such as steaks or eggs, there are options to let you choose how rare you want the steak and how thin you want your eggs.
Aside from guides to serious eating, there are also tons of recipes written by chefs and culinary writers, from limoncello to pumpkin pie.
Joule
Like the previous hardware, the Joule software is a little more interesting. In addition to being able to set the temperature and time depending on the recipe, Joule has a “visual readiness” scale for most foods, allowing you to cook an egg based on how you want the egg white and yolk to look , not just words. You can also choose “fresh” or “frozen” meat, which means you can toss your steak straight out of the freezer.
Guides are categorized as “basic” and “definitive,” but you can also search by food type. Unfortunately, the app does not contain every sous video recipe ChefSteps has ever improved. To find them you have to head over to the ChefSteps website, which makes some sense given how often ChefSteps releases a new sous vide recipe.
Steaks: Everyone wins when Sous Vide participates
Now we get to the most important thing: cooking. To test the culinary abilities of each circulator – and give myself an excuse to buy two ribeyes – I cooked two nearly identical steaks side by side following the instructions in the respective appendices. (I skipped the recommended rosemary and garlic, however, and decided to keep the seasoning simple with just a little olive oil, salt and pepper.)
Both were medium-well done and delicious and were perfectly pink from edge to edge, the steak cooked using Joule’s instructions was slightly more cooked than the Anova steak, but that makes sense when you consider that Joule has his steak We hang it in the water for another half hour. I was in awe of both of them.
Verdict: The Joule is your culinary apple for Anova’s Microsoft
The fact is that both Joule and Anova allow you to cook perfectly cooked food. The joule is smaller, slightly more powerful, and a little nicer to the eyes, but it’s also a hundred dollars heavier on the wallet, so the question is what you want to spend your money on. ( UPDATE : Chefsteps informed me that they are cutting the price! Starting Aug 9, Joule will be available for $ 199, $ 149 with pre-order, making it cheaper than Anova.) Basically, Anova is owned by Microsoft, and Joule is this Apple. Joule is a little more trendy, the app is a little prettier and easier to use – and all that “visual readiness” is pretty darn good, but Anova will do its job anyway.
It’s also worth noting that you can use ChefSteps and Anova recipes no matter what sous vide circulator you have, although you may have to set up the timing and timing yourself instead of sending them from your phone.
In doing so, I’m going to award the victory to the Joules, and not only for aesthetic reasons. The smaller size and streamlined design makes it easy to store, and the extra power reduces preheat wait times. I’m not going to get rid of my Anova anytime soon, but if I were in the market for a new sous video I would get a Joule, especially at that sweet pre-sale price.
Photos by Claire Lower.