Cooking sous-vide is a technique in which food in a vacuum bag is cooked in “precisely controlled, low-temperature water,” according to the ChefSteps website. The ChefSteps Joule sous vide appliance has an accompanying smartphone app. The app lets you set precise temperature settings, comes with recipes with instructions for cooking with the Joule. There is also a “visual doneness” guide to help set the exact temperature for how you want your food cooked. In addition, the Joule app will notify you when the water is hot and when your food is ready. Now Alexa and Facebook Messenger are in the pot, too.
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The initial Alexa implementation, made available in October, lets you ask
According to ChefSteps writer Jessica Voelker, “We started thinking about voice control and it’s basically like having a second set of hands in the kitchen. Just the same way a chef could yell out ‘fire that dish’ at a line cook, you can do that with Alexa.”
As for the Facebook Messenger integration, ChefSteps wrote in a Medium post, you can now control your sous vide machine’s cooking time with text. “Right this minute, you can head to Messenger to start the Joule sous vide tool, check in on a cook, or change your desired temperature,” the company said. “Joulebot is already a pretty good customer service agent and is studying hard so it can offer tons of kitchen tips in the days to come.”
Why go to Facebook Messenger, though? ChefSteps said that they’re simply following the crowd. “
But don’t worry — if Alexa and Facebook aren’t your things, ChefSteps will soon be innovating once again to help you cook the way you like.
Article originally published in October 2016. Updated on 02-17-2017 by Lulu Chang: Added news of Facebook Messenger integration.
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