Straight to the Level
The very best vacuum sealer we have now ever examined is the Anova Precision Professional. It’s modern, compact, and highly effective (and priced excellent).
I’ve had my fair proportion of expertise with vacuum sealers. Perhaps greater than my fair proportion, as these home equipment began changing into commonplace in restaurant kitchens a minimum of a decade earlier than they grew to become the go-to funding for intrepid residence cooks seeking to broaden their culinary repertoire. At one level, it might have been unimaginable to assume that the big vacuum sealers I labored with in eating places would ever make it to the house market. Fortunately, time and expertise have made massive waves on this sector, and vacuum sealers immediately are a lot smaller and extra environment friendly than those I lower my tooth on.
Just lately tasked with testing residence vacuum sealers, I obtained a full overview of the unfold that’s out there immediately. From ultra-compact handheld sealers to trimmed-down variations of the identical sort of chamber sealer I labored with at Eleven Madison Park, these home equipment have rather a lot to supply the house chef. Helpful for each storage/preservation and cooking, an excellent vacuum sealer can prevent lots of of {dollars} a 12 months.
Of the 25 fashions we examined, the Anova Precision Vacuum Sealer Professional proved to be the most effective total, with loads of helpful features and options in a slim profile. Extra compact than the Anova Chamber Sealer and extra highly effective than the model’s base mannequin, the Professional has modes for moist and dry elements, a handbook pulse possibility for final management, and a port for utilizing the hose accent. This accent might be paired with issues like Mason jars and inflexible plastic meals storage containers for eradicating extra air and prolonging shelf life. Total, it’s the right alternative should you’re contemplating including a vacuum sealer to your kitchen.
Why It is Nice
The Anova Professional’s Locking Handles Save Area
Many vacuum sealers have some type of deal with that lifts the highest of the machine in an effort to place the bag’s edge in earlier than sealing. The Anova Professional has a swivel deal with that lifts throughout use, then folds down and locks throughout storage. Not like different vacuum sealers we examined, the deal with doesn’t stick out awkwardly, so the whole unit can pack flat.
Double Seals Received’t Budge
Anova makes use of double-sealing expertise on all its sealers. Which means two metallic bars warmth as much as soften the plastic bag shut whenever you set the machine to seal. Double seals imply double the power. Once we examined the Anova Professional, the seal by no means budged or failed regardless of excessive water temperatures and lengthy stints within the water bathtub. Whereas we might anticipate that from any sealer, a stunning quantity of different manufacturers did fail beneath sure circumstances. That’s the very last thing you need to occur after you’ve shelled out for a pair of primo duck breasts to sous vide for an important day.
The Anova Precision Professional vs. the Anova Precision Vacuum Sealer
Anova does make a base mannequin that did effectively in our testing, however total I want the Professional. The Professional is barely costlier, however that worth improve comes with a whole lot of bang for the buck. First, it’s a bit bigger, which permits it to have room to retailer a roll of luggage and a cutter. I don’t learn about you, however I hate to must dig round for equipment after I go to start out a kitchen challenge and I can actually recognize an equipment that homes every thing I would like in a single unit.
The second massive distinction is that the Professional mannequin has a number of additional options, particularly a port for a hose attachment and two particular buttons: moist and dry. The moist and dry buttons include built-in sensible expertise that enables the sealer to determine how a lot suction to use based mostly on the contents of the bag. This takes a whole lot of stress off the consumer and permits for a extra hands-free expertise. The hose attachment is supposed to pair with sure sorts of jars and inflexible meals storage containers—a pleasant additional.
The final distinction that I think about to be essentially the most essential is that the Professional has a locking lid. The swivel deal with lifts to open the highest then closes and clamps down tight after you add a bag. Finally, this led to a safer sealing course of and nearly eradicated any points with the bag changing into crooked or misaligned throughout sealing.
The Verdict
It was onerous for me to seek out many faults with the Anova Precision Vacuum Sealer Professional, which I think about to be one among greatest vacuum sealers out there available on the market immediately. It’s the right alternative for each the occasional and frequent consumer, with all the mandatory options to seal every thing from bony cuts of meat to delicate crackers. Every part comes housed in a easy, compact physique that even contains storage and a cutter for plastic luggage.
The Execs
The Anova Precision Vacuum Sealer Professional is modern and streamlined, with intuitive, easy controls. It’s one of many solely fashions available on the market that explicitly allows you to seal liquids within the bag (hey, marinade). Surprisingly, the highly effective double-sealing heating strip that seals the bag isn’t bested by slightly water on the plastic, like different sealers had been. Additionally in contrast to different vacuum sealers, the Professional would not want a refractory interval in between sealings and might seal bag after bag with no difficulty. Anova claims the machine can deal with as much as 100 steady sealings if the scenario ought to ever come up.
The minimalist design isn’t only for appears to be like—it additionally has fewer cracks and crevices for meals and liquids to get trapped. It’s light-weight and compact sufficient to retailer in a drawer, with no cumbersome handles or elements that jut out. Constructed inside the inside is a useful compartment designed to retailer a roll of plastic luggage. There’s an connected cutter in an effort to feed the bag immediately from the storage space to the sealing space in a single fluid movement.
The Cons
The Anova Professional is pricier than fashions with comparable efficiency when not on sale. Apart from that, the handbook could possibly be a bit extra instructive, like together with textual content to accompany the diagrams that designate learn how to use the sealer.
Key Specs
- Weight: 5 kilos
- Variety of settings: 3
- Dimensions: 14.75 x 7 x 4 inches
- Included equipment: 1 18.9-inch hose attachment, 1 roll of luggage
- Constructed-in storage and bag cutter?: Sure
- Steady seals: 100
- Time-out interval between sealings: None
- Pulse setting: Sure
- Guarantee: 2 years
FAQs
Is the Anova Precision Vacuum Sealer Professional higher than different Anova vacuum sealers?
Whereas we do recognize the elements of Anova’s different sealers, together with the base mannequin and the chamber mannequin, if we needed to decide only one to purchase it might be the Professional. It strikes simply the appropriate candy spot when it comes to dimension, energy, and worth.
Does the Anova Precision Vacuum Sealer Professional solely work with the Anova sous vide machine?
If you wish to begin utilizing sous vide cooking methods, it’s true that you simply’ll want a vacuum sealer and a sous vide machine. That being stated, there’s no cause that it’s important to use the identical model for each merchandise. Whereas we love the Anova vacuum sealer, you would use any vacuum sealer to organize meals for a visit within the sous vide bathtub. Likewise, if in case you have an Anova vacuum sealer, you aren’t restricted to utilizing the model’s immersion circulator. We additionally just like the Breville Joule Turbo Sous Vide, which is compact however highly effective.
How do you utilize a vacuum sealer for sous vide?
The time period sous vide interprets to “beneath vacuum” and refers to an ingredient that’s sealed in a vacuum-sealed bag and cooked in a water bathtub. When you may get away with a satisfactory substitution by squeezing all of the air out of a sealable plastic bag, you’d most definitely face leakage which may wreck your dish. The easiest way to keep away from this pitfall is to spring for a vacuum sealer, which removes each final little bit of air and seals the bag securely for cooking in water.
Are you able to freeze vacuum-sealed meals?
Sure, and it’s the most effective causes to get a vacuum sealer. Not like different strategies of meals storage that are vulnerable to letting in air and thus, freezer burn, vacuum-sealed meals is totally protected against the tough surroundings of the freezer. Even unappealing flavors and aromas from the freezer can’t penetrate the thick plastic luggage used for vacuum sealing.
Why We are the Consultants
- Taylor Murray has been working in meals and meals media for over 10 years, together with in award-winning eating places.
- She has examined quite a few gadgets for Severe Eats, together with tagines and deep-dish pizza pans.
- Taylor helped check 25 vacuum sealers, together with the Anova Professional. We used them to seal frozen floor beef, bone-in pork chops, oil-soaked sponges, ping pong balls, and delicate Chex cereal. We additionally evaluated how simple they had been to deal with and use.