The Best Sous Vide Containers [2017 Edition] | The Tool Shed

The Best Sous Vide Containers [2017 Edition]

If you aren’t quite ready to purchase your own sous vide water bath, and would rather get started with an immersion circulator, you’re still going to need a container to actually cook your food in.

While technically, you can use any type of vessel, we recommend purchasing a specialist sous vide container, and today we’re going to look at some of our favourites, for both home and professional kitchens.

The Pro Range

28Ltr Stainless Steel Container with Custom Cut Lid – £59.99

Our best-selling professional container is our 26L stainless steel model with custom cut lid, which will instantly turn your thermal circulator into a stirred water bath.

The high-quality stainless steel construction and the custom cut lid ensure that the maximum amount of heat is retained, and also means that the container will be robust enough to stand up the rigours of a busy kitchen.

The lid can be placed over the top of the tank and removed simply and easily during a busy service, providing perfect insulation for your sous vide meals and ensuring that none of the water is lost through evaporation.

Simply let us know the model of thermal circulator that you’re working with to ensure that you get the right custom cut lid.

This model of container has an overall 28L capacity, with dimensions of 200mm x 300mm x 500mm.

The Domestic Range

18Ltr Polycarbonate Container with Custom Cut Lid – £47.99

For home use, we’ve found that our most popular sous vide container is the 18L polycarbonate container.

They’re slightly more affordable than the stainless steel models, and a lot more lightweight, but still provide a robust solution, with their virtually unbreakable polycarbonate material, which is suitable for all temperatures from -40˚C to +100˚C.

While being used, the polycarbonate construction stays cool enough to touch, making it easier to handle in the kitchen, and it is also both non-stick and dishwasher safe, so it’s easy to clean after use.

Suitable for all our brands of thermal circulator, simply let us know which one you’ll be using so that we can provide you with the right custom cut lid.

Polycarbonate containers are much more practical for those cooking at home and are well worth investing in if you’re going to taking sous vide seriously.

The container has an overall capacity of 18L, with dimensions of 230mm x 455mm x 305mm.

Extras

Floating Sous Vide Balls Blanket – £53.99

If you don’t want to purchase a container and would rather use your own, without a lid, we recommend this solution to ensure that your meals don’t lose any heat or water through evaporation.

These small ‘ping-pong’ style balls are made from polypropylene, and cover the surface of your container, reducing water evaporation by as much as 90%, which is especially important when you’re cooking for a long period of time.

Designed to be lightweight, but with a hard and smooth surface, the balls also help to stop bacteria and chemical corrosion and effectively use any vessel you wish to cook sous vide, without losing any heat or water.

(Each pack contains 300 balls, which are 20mm in diameter.)

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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