Kenwood Cooking Chef?

Hi all --

First of all, congrats on the site!

Have you ever looked at the Kenwood Cooking Chef as a "good-enough" substitute for a SVS? I am more of a baker / pastry guy than a cook but would love to get into sous-vide. The main questions would be a) is the temp. stable enough, b) should I use one of the attachments to churn the water bath for even temp., and c) is the "robot coupe" accessory strong enough to make smooth nut pastes ?

Many thanks !

A o'N

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Ann_O_Nyme_582

Thanks a lot Chris --

Additionnal comments from the Community most welcome --

erik.askenberger

Hi! Do not know if it you are still interested, but I've got a Kenwood Major KM070 Cooking Chef.

My experience is that it does not hold the temperature good enough for Sousvide, It do keep a steady temperature but as the heat is only generated from the bottom and you do not have any circulation makes the temperaturespread uneaven. I have tried it several times to makes custard for icecreambase, and the tactic to put it om 86*c and lightly beat the custard with the "rubber-thingy" it makes it takes forever (30min) to reach an even temperature for the custard. Instead I put it slightly above the temperature, like 110*c. This require me to be on my toes but are better than doing it on the stove... but frankly, my custards were much better before i tried them in this machine....

So, I do not think it works as sousvide, your meat will be unevenly cooked because the bowl is too small and the heat is unevenly spread.

Or have you tried with success?

Ann_O_Nyme_582

Many thanks Erik --

For the record, I've actually bought the Cooking Chef only a few weeks ago, and so have not experimented much.

I agree it does not hold temperature that well -- but I've been able to work around it so far.

1-- 65°C eggs ==>> put them in water for 45 min with the temp. dial at 68°C, then raise to max temp and count 2 min (to firm up the whites). No churn / attachment. The result satisfied me well enough (ie, great for amateur cook, not gourmet restaurant).

2-- Scramble eggs ==>> 4 eggs, bit of butter and cream ==>> 70°C with the rubber paddle. Delicious but took quite a bit of time

3-- Sous-vide cod ==>> One nice cod filet and a bit of neutral oil in a zip bag (no vaccuum, just remove the air with water displacement method). Temp of 45°C for 20 - 30 min. No attachement but I moved the bag in water bath 3 - 4 times. It ended up almost-perfectly cooked. (I should have let it an extra 5 min. in the water bath).

4-- Temp-controled risotto ==>> classic risotto, with just enough liquid and a temp just below boiling. Worked fine but I messed up the timing a bit so I overcooked the rice slightly.

My prelim. conclusion : the CC is good enough for sous-vide provided that

-- "Goode enough" means just that ==>> you'll get most advantages of sous-vide (no overècooking, tenderness, etc.) but without the pin-point acuracy of other machines. You'll get your meat medium-rare, not a exactly 56C -- do you care? If you put it in a skillet for added browning, you'll lose some precision in any case

-- Add 10 - 15% time to whatever you'd need with a circulator ==>> the food will be cooked evenly even if the CC has variations

-- you fill the bowl well with water. This idea is to have enough "inertia" to mitigate the other weaknesses of the machine

-- you make sure your food items sink to the bottom. The temp. sensor is there -- so this is where you'll have least variation

-- Churn the water manually once in a while (further testing required before confirming if this is important though).

Looking forward to reading your comments !

A O'N