*** 9/28/2017 — Updated to include info about the searing function for the Cinder Precision Grill ***
I have been using the Anova Bluetooth Precision Cooker for a few years now and I love sous-vide cooking with that device. But I was looking for something that will cut down the steps and the cook time. That’s when I found the Cinder Precision Grill.
Let’s take a step back and let me explain sous-vide. Sous-vide literally is french for “under vacuum”. Sous-vide cooking is using vacuum sealed (or Ziploc bags with the water displacement method) bags to cook food in a water bath at a constant temperature. The idea is to cook the food at the exact temperature that we want to serve it (ex: medium rare steak at 135 degrees). Normal cooking methods, whether in a skillet or an oven, blasts the food at 350 degrees or higher hoping to get the center of the food to the serving temperature while turning the outside into a burnt crisp. By cooking with sous-vide, your food will cook to the perfect temperature, retaining much more of the moisture in it, and the texture is exactly the same on the outside as the inside.
So that’s the benefit of sous-vide, here are the downsides:
- It takes hours to cook something, because of the lower temperature.
- It doesn’t give the added flavor that searing does, so you will need to sear separately in a skillet after cooking in sous-vide.
- You have extra utensils to clean up (the sous-vide device itself, the pot for the water to cook, even if it’s just rinsing it).
The Cinder is kind of a like George Foreman Grill with a brain in it. It senses the temperature between the grill plates and cooks the food at the specified temperature and holds the temperature by surrounding the plates with a thick metallic skirt. I have the Cinder for nearly six months now. I can say it solves all the downsides listed above, but I’m still keeping my Anova. Let me explain why.
When I received the Cinder in the mail, I couldn’t believe how big it is. The size of the box is roughly the same as an old desktop size PC. It weighted as much too, if not a bit heavier. I had a George Foreman Grill over 10 years ago and this is 4x larger and 10x heavier. As soon as I placed it on my counter, I knew it is a permanent installation, unlike the Anova, which I put back in its original packaging when I done using it.
But as big as the Cinder is, it’s cooking area is still small. I can easily fit 2 or 3 ribeye steaks in its grill plates, but when I tried to fit 1 pound of thinly sliced chicken breasts, I had to use a sheet of aluminum foil to separate and stack them. This trick works but it shows that the Cinder isn’t made for cooking for more than 4 people. I had no problem cooking 60 chicken wings with the Anova as I just needed to use a much bigger pot. The Cinder might be good for everyday cooking, but you won’t be using it for parties (well, maybe for melting chocolate for chocolate dipped strawberries, but definitely not entree type food that will serve a large group).
I finally used Cinder to seared salmon yesterday (9/27/17), mainly because I wrote in this review that I never seared anything on it and it got me curious. I have to say it was an eye-opening experience. As I wrote in the original review, I have been trained to sear any food that I sous-vide as the food just looks unattractive (steaks looks gray, chicken looks rubbery) and lacks the extra grill flavor without searing. I also wrote it would be slower to wait until the grilling plates on the Cinder to cool down, wipe clean, then start the process to heat up the plates for grilling temperature than to grill on a skillet. I was so wrong. You don’t have to wait for the plates to cool down. It cooked the salmon to 140+ degrees, so the plates are hot, but they are not even as hot as boiling water. So I just grab a sheet of paper towel, damped it with water and wiped down the hot plates once I removed the salmon, being careful not to touch the plates. As soon as that’s done, I spin the dial on the Cinder to sear, and it took less than 5 minutes to get to searing temperature. I dropped the salmon back in, and 45 seconds later, done! The best part is since it seared salmon on both sides, I don’t have to flip it like I do on a skillet. Also, because I didn’t use any additional oil (even though you are suppose to), the salmon skin was seared perfectly. I have never been able to do that on a skillet or with a blowtorch. As an added touch, when I turned the Cinder off, it told me it is cooling the grill plates with its built-in fan. That’s just neat.
Now that you know how fast it sears food, let’s go back and talk about how fast it cooks it. The Cinder beats the Anova hands-down, probably by a factor of 2. Normally, you fill a pot with room water temperature and heat it using the heating elements in the Anova. You can start cooking when the water reaches cooking temperature. That can take anywhere from 15 to 30 minutes, depending on the size of the pot and the temperature. I usually cheat by heating the pot on a stove to near boiling, risking slightly overcooking the food on the outside, but since I sear anyway I don’t notice any difference. But even cheating by heating the water ahead, I normally have to start cooking before 4 PM if I want to have dinner ready by 7 PM. With the Cinder, I can start around 5:30 PM and still be able to have dinner ready by 7 PM, as long as the food is not from the freezer. It’s awesome that Cinder includes the option to handle frozen food in their app, but it is so bare-bones at this point, it isn’t pretty to look at compared to Anova’s. I can’t wait for them to update their app, but the current version is stable and functional.
So is the Cinder for everyone? No. At it’s current price point of $499, it is way too expensive compared to other sous-vide devices that retail for $149 or much, much less. But if you like playing with new gadgets, have the money to spend, and want sous-vide type food at 1/2 the cooking time, the Cinder might be for you. Just note that you can’t soft boil eggs with it and it’s not readily available as Cinder isn’t mass produced on the same scale as Anova or other sous-vide devices. It is currently on Indiegogo and ships by December 2017 (although, like any hardware on crowdfunded sites, they might not hit that ship date).
Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars (added .25 as it does a marvelous job searing food)
