Yes, we can hear your screams of delight from here. You cannot wait to read this article about sous vide racks!! Sure the topic may not blow you away. But stainless steel sous vide racks are a sous vider’s best friend. Why? We are glad you asked. Read on.
Why sous vide racks are useful
Stainless steel sous vide racks can be very handy. Here is why:
- They increase the capacity of food you can put in your pot, sous vide water oven or any other water vessel you are using (such as plastic containers – read more about plastic containers by clicking here)
- The racks help to separate each vacuum sealed bag of food so that the food cooks evenly. Even cooking is the secret to sous vide success
- The rack makes it easy to get food in and out of your pot, water oven or any other water vessel you are using for your sous vide cook
- You don’t have to worry about clipping your food pouches to your water vessel. When vacuum sealed properly, your food bags can be placed evenly between each section and will cook evenly
- Racks ensure food pouches do not rest on the floor of your cooking vessel – this can create uneven cooking
4 things you should look for when choosing a sous vide rack
1.This may sound obvious, but you need to make sure that the rack you have chosen will fit in your pot, water oven or any other water vessel (eg large container) you are going to use for your cook
2. Seek out a quality stainless steel finish. This means that the sous vide rack will not rust
3. Look for an adjustable rack. This will ensure that you can accommodate different food pouch thicknesses
4. Find a sous vide rack that is collapsible. This will allow for easy storage between uses
Our top 2 picks for stainless steel sous vide racks
The Sous Vide Hub winner is…
LIPAVI Sous Vide Racks – these racks come in various sizes and are compatible with LIPAVI containers (along with others including Rubbermaid containers). Made with high quality stainless steel, the LIPAVI sous vide rack holds food in place well. It is easy to take apart for washing and storage between uses. When you disassemble between uses, you can store it with a nifty little velcro belt (as seen in the picture below).
From time to time some reviewers have received racks that have poorly welded, or seem to be a little flimsy. There are not a significant number of reviews like this. However it is worth keeping this in mind when you unbox the sous vide stainless steel rack to make sure that it is not faulty. The other minor gripe with this rack is that it is a little on the expensive side.
The Sous Vide Hub Runners up is…
Ikea Variera Post Lid Organizer
Technically, this is not a sous vide stainless steel rack, BUT it has been used by a serious number of sous vide home cooks and chefs who rave it. You just need to use your imagination a little more. You can customize the length of the rack based on the number of food pouches you are going to put in between the prongs. The prongs (each of them is 4 inches high) have rounded tops so piercing vacuum sealed bags shouldn’t be a problem. Being made of stainless steel, this sous vide rack shouldn’t rust either. And if you ever give up sous vide cooking, you can use this rack for it’s intended purpose as a lid organizer!
This stainless steel rack comes in a set of two so you can have double the sous vide fun.
Have you got another stainless steel rack that you use for your sous vide cooks? We would love to hear about them so we can share those suggestions with the Sous Vide Hub community. Just add your comments in the section below.
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