SideKIC Sous Vide Review: Initial Thoughts

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SideKIC Immersion Circulator

Earlier this week, I received a SideKIC sous vide controller.  This 170$ entry into the sous vide consumer market looks like it is going to offer a lot of value.  The SideKIC is an immersion circulator.  This means that there is a heating element that can be put into a bowl or pot and it will simultaneously heat and then circulate (pump) the water.  Many people consider water circulation critical to maintaining temperature stability.

The (sorta) Unbox

Unlike most immersion circulators, the SideKIC separates out the heating unit from the controller.   All of the controls of the device are done through a color UI, somewhat resembling an iPod.  There is a scroll wheel (ok, its a dial) used to navigate through the menus.  The dial also acts as a button, and pressing it allows you to make a selection.  As I said, it's like a Sous Vide iPod.

Controller/iPhone Comparison Size

The SideKIC is also pretty tiny, which is great if you have a small kitchen.   It can easily fit inside of just about any pot you were going to use to cook with, so in theory, you can buy one and have it not take up any additional space in your kitchen.




As far as initial drawbacks go, I think the biggest compromise made to produce the SideKIC was the power of the heating element.  Its heater is not nearly as powerful as immersion circulators designed for professionals.  As a result, it takes longer to initially bring up a water bath to temperature.  This might also have implications on stabilizing temperature after product is put into heated bath.  The manufacturer is very straight forward about this on their website, where they also recommend that you not use more than ten quarts of water in your water bath.

Continue to the second part of my SideKIC Review.

Product: SideKIC Immersion Circulator
Manufacturer: ICA Kitchen, LLC
Available at Amazon.com


Comments

  1. Ravi Shanghavi OttawaFebruary 13, 2012 at 7:52 PM

    Hi Pablo, can you give it a test? Hot tap water to 145.. then drop in frozen chicken breasts.. see how it long it takes to get up to temp. And how long it takes to get back up after the chicken? I've got the sous vide magic, and its huge (including the bubbler). Would like to reduce my storage space. Cheers, Ravi Shanghavi of Ottawa, Canada

    ReplyDelete
  2. pescolarFebruary 13, 2012 at 9:55 PM

    Ravi:

    Actually, my next review is going to measure how long it takes for the SideKIC to come up to temperature and to check how it stabilizes after adding in something cold.

    ~p

    ReplyDelete

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