Poor man's sous vide -- done with thermometer and electric wok. Recipe tboyer33

Fill the bag with meat and ingredients and push air out of the bag (no need to be fussy), then zip it.

Fill your electric wok or skillet with 2-3 inches or so of water.

Using the temperature dial, turn the appliance on to its lowest setting and warm your water to 145-150 (or start with hot water to speed up the process).

Use your therm to monitor this.

When you reach temperature, then turn your temperature dial down until the heating element clicks off.

There should be a light that tells you this.

This is essentially calibrating your analog control.

By watching your thermometer and turning your dial, in a few minutes you should be able to find the ideal place on your dial to maintain the right temperature.

It wont be perfectly accurate but it should be plenty accurate for good sous vide results.

Add the bag.

The temperature should go down with the addition of cold food, the appliance should alternate on and off for 10-15 minutes while the appliance is stabilizing temperature.

All you have to do is make sure the temperature doesnt go too high and doesnt settle permanently at a place under 140.

Once the food has reached cooking temperature (and again, make sure this is not below 140 for safety), you should be able to pretty much let it go all day with very little intervention.

For soft meat at that temperature, check a good sous vide guide on the web, but Id go a minimum of 4 hours and ideally 8 or 10 hours.

The beautify of the technique is you pretty much cant overcook it.

Youre just waiting for the connective tissue to break down and the meat to get soft.

When youre done, the meat should be juicy, fully cooked and yet still red/pink inside.

Thats the magic!

The liquid can usually be made into a sauce on the stovetop.

Dont poison yourself by pushing the envelope on too low a temperature.

Food safety is the No.

1 thing here.

Make your cooking temp is over 140 or you can allow bacteria to grow.

You can still get the sous vide effect at 150 or 160 without losing much flavor-wise.