Breville HydroPro Immersion Circulator Review
Although Breville’s KitchenAid stand mixers are certainly well-known to home cooks, did you know that they’ve also been building a name for themselves in the professional cooking world?
The firm has recently introduced its new range of HydroPro immersion circulators, and we’re here to explain exactly what makes these models stand out from the competition.
Here’s a detailed review of the Breville HydroPro Immersion Circulator to assist you in determining whether or not it is the appropriate device for you.
Continue reading to learn more about the factors you should consider before making your decision.
Table of Contents
Why You Need An Immersion Circulator?
You’ve probably pondered how professional chefs manage to prepare a flawlessly moderate steak.
Although it is difficult to know each cook’s secrets, we know that they use sous vide. Which is a great way to cook a steak.
This is a technique used by both restaurant chefs and home cooks alike. The secret is that the steak is cooked in a small bag of water in the oven at the desired temperature for the desired amount of time.
There are a variety of devices and circulators available on the market that can assist home chefs in achieving similar results in their own kitchens.
One such machine is Breville’s The Hydro Pro sous vide immersion circulator.
Breville HydroPro Immersion Circulator Reviewed
It is essentially a fancy food-thermal water bath that allows you to cook food at a lower temperature and with less risk of over-cooking.
The unit comes with a built-in probe that you can use to keep track of the food’s temperature and stop the cooking as soon as the desired doneness is reached.
For small sous vide machine that’s very affordable, the Breville Hydro Pro is a good choice. Particularly if you’re just starting out with sous vide cooking, or you’re looking for something that will serve you well for many years to come.
It has a lot of features that you would want in sous vide machine, and it’s easy to use too.
We Tested Its Performance: Let’s Checkout The Results
When cooking sous vide, it is critical to remember that the temperature must remain constant during the whole cooking period.
Regardless of the temperature, we picked for the Hydro Pro, it remained surprisingly consistent.
When we created short ribs that were to be cooked at 130 degrees for 48 hours, the temperature never deviated from 144 degrees at any point during the cooking process.
As part of a cooking experiment, We disconnected The Hydro Pro, to emulate a power cut.
The cooker began cooking as soon as we plugged it back in, but it also left us with a notice saying that it had lost power.
More importantly, though, it informed us of the temperature of the water when the cooking was restarted, and the message remained on the display until we recognized its presence.
It is also critical for sous-vide preparation that all of the water tanks, especially the water around the food be at the same temperature during the whole cooking process. Featuring three variable water speeds, the Breville Hydro Pro takes its circulating job quite seriously.
One thing that worried us a little bit was that water circulation is rather rapid at the highest level and was disturbing the cooking a little bit. But we realized that we may not need such high-level settings in general at all.
However, even at the lowest pace caused ripples to appear on top of the water in the container that we used. It wasn’t very stable, but it is also true that small ripples won’t disturb the cooking.
What Features It Has?
1. It’s easy to use: with a touch screen!
This tool is designed to be easy to use. It’s also equipped with an intuitive interface that makes it simple to use. It also features a touch screen, which is a great way to control the settings.
To make cooking parameters selections and adjustments, the unit includes a big 4.3″ Gorilla Glass color TFT touchscreen interface with audio capabilities, which lets you carefully pick and set your chosen cooking parameters.
2. Offers full control on time and temperature
The HydroPro features a built-in timer that helps you control the cooking time and the temperature.
It also features a variable temperature range of from 135°F (57°C) to 185°F (85°C). It’s easy to adjust the temperature settings using the touch screen.
3. Advance AI toolbox
The toolbox is a cooking guide that uses scientific algorithms to evaluate time, temperature, and pasteurization needed for cooking a wide range of foods, which makes sous vide cooking a lot easier for us.
The sous vide toolbox was our favorite feature. This helpful tool estimates the proper cooking times for a wide range of meals, but it’s more than simply hours and temperatures.
It asks how thick the meat is, if it’s a rough or soft cut, what form the food is, whether it’s fresh or freezing, and more.
It also enquired if we wanted to cook until the center reached the desired temperature and if we wanted to continue cooking to pasteurize the exterior, or to cook until the meal was pasteurized all the way through.
Pasteurizing the exterior of solid meals like pork chops or steaks is likely all that’s required—or may not be required at all if the dish will be seared.
However, when it comes to cooking a rare burger, the ability to pasteurize it all completely can make a significant difference in the finished product’s safety.
4. Cooking – tightly sealed & evenly distributed
The HydroPro cooker features a patented vacuum seal that creates a tight seal around food to ensure food stays juicy and tender.
It also features a stainless steel water jacket that provides even heat distribution.
5. Storage
The HydroPro has a removable, dishwasher-safe storage container that can hold up to 4 cups. It also features an interior storage tray that can be used for storing ingredients or as a place to store other tools.
6. Powerful
This immersion circulator is a high-quality device with a lot of power as well. It has a 45-liter capacity and is heated by a 1450-watt 120-volt electric heater. With a water flow rate of 17 liters per minute, it warms the water quite quickly.
7. Easy Cleaning
The HydroPro is easy to clean. It features a non-stick surface that’s easy to clean, and a drip-free design that prevents leaks and messes. It also features a self-cleaning feature!
8. Water proof
It is fully waterproof. The entire machine is IXP7-rated, meaning it’s waterproof and totally immersible. It will remain fully safe should it inadvertently fall into the water bath.
9. Warranty
The HydroPro comes with a 2-year warranty.
What we didn’t like about it?
1. Its big!
The HydroPro Plus is a sous vide system that can cook food in a controlled environment. It appears similar to most other household sous vide machines on the market today, with one exception.
It is both larger and heavier than your normal home sous vide machine, which makes it a bit daunting to use at first.
There are other different immersion circulators available on the market that are modest in contrast and can be stored simply in a drawer. No drawer in my house is large enough to accommodate the HydroPro.
2. Lacks an app!
The Breville Hydro immersion circulator does not actually have a smartphone application to connect and control it. It does have a toolbox and touch screen control which makes cooking really easier, but a mobile app still gives some flexibility and a sense of ease which it lacked.
What’s the difference between Pro and Plus versions?
The Digital Probe, which measures the interior temperatures of the food being cooked, is the primary difference between the original Breville HydroPro and its successor the HydroPro Plus.
The Plus and probe also make it easy to comply with HACCP regulations by logging data and uploading it to a HACCP Manager Application on your mobile phone using Bluetooth technology.
However, even if you do not want the HACCP compliance recording, we believe that the HydroPro Plus model is still worth the extra money.
When it comes to determining the temperature of meals, the temperature sensor is really handy.
Another good product is the Breville Joule sous vide cooker which we reviewed thoroughly.
Price: It’s a bit expensive though!
The Hyrdo Pro is available for purchase for around $500. There’s no denying that this is an extremely pricey piece of machinery.
However, this can be understood given that it is targeted at professionals as well as dedicated home cooks who want the latest in culinary technology within their reach.
But for a pricey piece of equipment, lacking a smartphone-compatible app is one thing that bothers us.
Final Thoughts
Although the Breville HydroPro and HydroPro Plus are more expensive than other sous vide cookers, the features that come with it make it a worthwhile investment.
The HydroPro has a TFT touch screen and the Toolbox, making it very straightforward to prepare sous vide meals to absolute perfection.
The Breville HydroPro immersion circulator is definitely a kitchen essential.
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