It’s been fun to watch the development of the Sous Vide revolution over the last couple years, from DIY solutions using Raspberry Pi, to crowdfunded campaigns for more polished devices, to now – fully-realized mainstream commercial devices. I’ve even tried the poor-man’s sous vide before, using an Igloo cooler and a meat thermometer. But when Anova asked to send me their brand-new Wifi-enabled all-in-one Precision Cooker, I had to give it a try.

The idea is pretty simple: the device has a thermostat-controlled heating element and a water pump all built in, and then connects to an app on your portable device via wifi. You mount it on the side of your pot (which does NOT have to actually be on a stove) filled with hot water. To the other edge of your pot, you hook your seasoned meat, preferably in a vacuum seal bag. Set the goal temp and time on the app, and let ‘er rip!

Via the miracle of science, the Precision Cooker brings the water up to the temperature – say the perfect temp for medium-rare steak – and maintains it until the steak reaches the same temp all the way through. The cool thing is that, due to thermodynamics, the meat can’t get any hotter, so it’s impossible to overcook. When it’s ready, you cut it out of the bag, give it a quick sear on a skillet to get the surface just right, and enjoy.

On my first go with the device, it worked perfectly. The steak my wife and I enjoyed was just right – it’s amazing how important the perfect temperature is to the final product. And what’s nice is that we already have a vacuum sealer, so we can try all sorts of cool sous vide recipes.

Better still, Amazon is having a daily deal sale on vacuum sealers today, so if you want to get a sous vide setup for the chef in your life for the holidays, now’s the perfect time!