Immersion Circulator

Update: The Kitchen Gizmo knob to set time and temp became so erratic it was impossible to use (took a few years though), so I replaced it with an Anova Nano 3.0 which I'm even willing to use the wifi app to control (mostly so I get alerts on the phone and don't have to be close enough to hear the nearly silent beeps).

Oh No! I have succumbed to yet another fad! I've just bought a Kitchen Gizmo Immersion Circulator.

As I write this, a thick cut pork chop is in the water:

I'll report how it turned out later, but for now, here's what I notice about the gadget itself.

Temp, hours, and minutes are set with the dial. Tap on the bottom temp/time logo to switch between them. Tap on the top power logo to start. Nothing much to go wrong or confuse you. If you do screw up, unplug it and plug it back in to start from scratch.

It is very quiet, easily drowned out by the sound of the air conditioner running.

When it should make noise, it does have a loud enough beep to hear (water up to temp, time expired).

Miraculously, I seem to have a cooking thermometer that agrees with the circulator about the temperature, so maybe they are both well calibrated.

The Pork Chop

It is a thick cut bone-in pork chop from Publix. I patted it dry, applied kosher salt, fresh ground pepper, and Montreal chicken seasoning (which worked well in another pork chop recipe, so I figured why not try it here). Put it in a one gallon ziplock bag, poured in a dollop of peanut oil. Squished out air, then sank it in the pot to have the water squish out more air, sealed bag.

Set the circulator to 136 F (for medium pork chops) and 1.5 hours (for thick cut).

Now I wait (and write up this web page).

The time expired, and I seared the pork chop in a medium high cast iron pan with butter.

Too hungry to take a picture of the result, dug in with some steamed broccoli on the side. It was indeed delicious. Very tender, very moist, perhaps slightly pinker than I'd like, but nothing that looked hazardous to my health. The seasoning was very tasty.

The package from Publix came with two pork chops, so perhaps I'll do the next one at a slightly higher temperature.

Conclusion

It is a shame to need to cleanup the cast iron pan. I should investigate the Searzall. I could sear meat on a piece of aluminum foil and have nothing to clean up :-).