Joule Sous Vide Review & How to (ChefSteps Breville )

Thinking about getting a Breville Joule Sous Vide machine? I’ll tell you what it can do and whether it’s worth it.
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Sous Vide cooking is a technique that uses a hot water bath to cook food to a precise temperature. More accurate than steaming and not as bland as boiling, sous vide is a whole different method of cooking food.

Cooking sous vide involves sealing food inside a watertight bag, and immersing it in precisely controlled hot water for an extended period of time. Frequently the food is seared after sous videing to give it a bit of colour, since while it's cooked to a perfectly uniform temperature all the way through, the finished meats can look a little pasty.

Setting up Joule sous vide is easy.

VO: app general
You’ll download the free Joule app, and create an account. Once logged in, the app walks you through pre-set cook options and there's also a variety of recipes to choose from. You can input your own custom time and temperature settings too if you prefer.

Operating Joule is easy. From the main screen you can select your protein or vegetable. If it's chicken, the app will then ask you which cut you're using: breast, thighs etc. Then you'll set your target temperature: for chicken you can choose from different levels of doneness.

After choosing what you want the finished product to look like, you'll select whether it's fresh or frozen (which will change the total cook time) and how thick it is. With the data put in, you're ready to sous vide!

When the cook is done, Joule will send a push notification to your phone. If I have a complaint about this device it's that it appears I am unable to change the alerts. I'd prefer an audible alarm or more persistent notification, but I couldn't find a setting where this is an option. As a result you'll need to keep one eye on your phone to see when our food is done. The water will stay at temperature and Joule will keep running until you turn it off. Because your food can sit in the bath for a significant amount of time once the cooking time is over it won't overcook if you miss your push notification.

I cooked a variety of foods over several weeks with Joule, using Joule's pre-set recipes, and my own selections:
-salmon
-trout in compound butter
-chicken breast
-sous vide egg bites
-pork chops
-infused vodka

OC: Yes, infused vodka. Because the vodka is heated only to the perfect temperature to extract flavour from your addition (think lemon, lemongrass, blueberries, raspberries) it doesn't boil off the alcohol or cook your fruit and make it bitter. Sous vide egg bites are another fave.
I've really, really come to love sous vide cooking.
Sous vide food is more tender, juicier and more flavourful. It also allows you much more flexibility and creativity with your food.

The Joule is easy to use and the built-in recipes and instructions were easy to follow and turned out pretty good. Because some of the pre-set cooks have different options you can choose your level of doneness.

I did find, however, that many of Joule's 'Joule Fave' settings were a tad underdone for my personal taste. So moving forward, I chose the slightly higher temperature option.

I love how compact Joule is compared to other sous vide cookers. It's easy to store anywhere, unlike the other machine I have.

Things I didn't love about Joule? The lack of configurable and audible alerts was disappointing. I also think the price is a tad high. A digital display would also be nice, especially at the higher price point.

Joule sells for about CAD $229-249, compared to $129-199 for the competitor.

In all, I definitely recommend Joule if you're looking to launch yourself into the addictive world of sous vide cooking.

[wrawrer]

The somewhat noisy thing is easily rectified by filling the pot above the outflow... Not sure why you would use water sparingly to get the waterfall effect.

[riverrock]

When you enter the item to be cooked, joule will provide a cook time. I just use my smart phone timer for audible alarms as well as joule notification. I also bought a plastic water tub that sits on my counter for cooking. Does not need to be on the stove. The clip works well with the water tub. The other advantage is no smell while cooking in the water. Smell only during last few minute browning. Especially nice for seafood smells that linger.

[zebraquack]

Quite informative and helpful! My only "complaint" has also been around the lack of notification customization for the reasons you stated. Thanks for a good review and how-to.

[vincentcliong]

For country like mine Indonesia sousvide its not popular because the electricity is limited by 1, 1kwh or 2, 2kwh per house. I use rice cooker 1, 8liter 300watt 220volt price around 17USD and for the thermostat use "sonoff th10 wifi". I think sometimes you must try to cook sousvide with cheaper and low watt tools so everybody can enjoy sousvide.

[johnmiller]

3:10 no waiting 10 mins use warm/hot tap water when u start out

[les]

Great job, Erin. Your reviews are my favorite!!!

[AngelGarcia-fmsu]

I just saw your review on the Joule sous vide and I will admit your review is way better than all the ones that I have come across. Also I have had my Joule for two years since it came out and I am finely enjoying it did to the updates. I still have a problem connecting through my WiFi but it's manageable.. I will be checking out your web site in the near future...

[DerpyDo]

I didn't know such a thing existed. Blew my mind.

[scottlane]

I haven't read through all the comments, but aren't you supposed to immerse the Joule in enough water so that the outflow is also underwater? I haven't seen any other Sous Vide review/video where you could actually see the outflow like the waterfall thing you show in your video . . .

[RetiredBadge]

Congratulations on a great informative video.

[michaelvitale]

Erin, my concern/issue is that my joule keeps “disconnecting” and the circulator turns off 🥺 The convenience of a long SV cook is not having to eyeball it the entire time. You can go out for the day, go to work, or go to sleep. I have a bottom round in the bath right now, went to sleep last night and woke up to 106* water, and no circulation. Any suggestions ?? Is this common ? WiFi & Bluetooth are both very finicky as we know

[Achilles]

Very professionally done. I was (still am?) a noob, so thanks Erin!

[vegetableeyes]

I think you can set the sound for notifications in the notification centre on an iPhone

[MrVrick]

Mine stopped and as I purchased off Amazon in the UK they said my problem was with Amazon not them. I have Anova sousvide purchased before and still going

[rjpassingtime]

Great review. Sadly mine is not working. I was trying to find a trouble shooting video.

[mrmindstorms]

Great review! Just wondering, what happens if you leave the house and lose connection with Joule? Does the cooking continue and do you still get notifications on your phone when it's done? Thanks.

[MrTheSetter]

Can you do an amazon link so we can buy it and you get a little bit of money for it

[ffbarnette]

Will the joule work when the phone is not nearby? For example will it keep cooking if I have to go to the store.

[hoobertie]

Overcooking is just as much about length of time so it doesn't matter if the temperature is held after it's cooked.

[frogdomofficial]

I know this is a 6 year old video but when you buy one of these gadgets specifically the joule you get a code for a video game if by any chance you have not used this code could I have it