I’ve been wanting to try sous vide cooking for a while now. But I’ve been hesitant to invest in a sous vide system, because I wasn’t sure how I’d like it, or how often I’d use it. And I didn’t want an appliance taking up space in my kitchen that wasn’t getting used often. So I was really excited to learn that Hamilton Beach is offering a Professional Sous Vide and 6 Quart Slow Cooker. I can definitely get behind an appliance that does double duty in the kitchen! And I couldn’t be happier with the way my first sous vide recipe turned out!
If you’re not familiar with sous vide, it’s a cooking method that means “under vacuum.” You place your food in an airtight container (usually a vacuum sealed bag) and submerge the ingredients in a precise temperature-controlled water bath.
Which means your food will cook evenly throughout, reducing any risk of over or under cooking. Just like the slow cooker, you walk away and let the appliance do the work.
Sous vide is a popular cooking method for meat, especially steak, but it’s also a perfect cooking method for many sweet recipes like dulce de leche. Dulce de leche is a thick, rich caramel that’s popular in South America, and if you’ve ever tried making it on your stove top, you know how easy it is to scald your milk. But you don’t have to worry about that when you make dulce de leche in a sous vide machine. It comes out perfect every time!
I already mentioned that I love that this machine doubles as a 6 quart slow cooker, and the sleek stainless steel design looks fabulous in my kitchen. I also love that the Sous Vide and 6 Quart Slow Cooker is fully programmable and comes with a 5 year warranty. It is truly a professional quality appliance!
Typically you would vacuum seal your food in a bag when cooking sous vide style. But you can make sous vide dulce de leche in a clean, sterilized glass jar filled with sweetened condensed milk. You simply immerse your covered jar in the water bath, and when you come back 15 hours later, you’ve got dulce de leche.
Yes, I know 15 hours is a long time. But you don’t have to do anything! It really could not be easier!
Easy Sous Vide Dulce de Leche
Ingredients
- 14 ounce cans of sweetened condensed milk (the number will depend on how much dulce de leche you want to make, and how many jars you can fit in the sous vide machine).
- Clean, sterilized (4-8 oz.) canning jars with lids. (Be sure your jars will fit in the sous vide machine and that you will be able to completely cover the top of the jar with water).
Instructions
- Fill the sous vide machine with water to just below the max fill line. Begin preheating the water to 185 degrees.
- Pour the sweetened condensed milk into your clean jars, leaving about 1 inch of head space. Place the lids tightly on the jars.
- Immerse the jars in the water. Add more water if needed to cover the tops of the jars, but do not fill over the max fill line.
- Cook for 15 hours, or until the sweetened condensed milk is thick, with a dark caramel color.
- Remove the jars from the water bath and cool to room temperature. Dulce de leche will keep in the refrigerator for up to 3 months.
Now for some exciting news. Hamilton Beach is giving away a Professional Sous Vide and 6 Quart Slow Cooker to one lucky Let’s Dish reader. I know you’ll love it as a slow cooker, and you’ll love trying out the wonderful sous vide method of cooking.
Enter using the widget below. Open to U.S. residents only. Good luck!
With the holidays approaching, I know exactly what I’ll be handing out to friends, teachers and neighbors–jars of delicious dulce de leche made in my new Hamilton Beach Sous Vide and 6 Quart Slow Cooker.
Grace
I had never heard of sous vide, but I love dulce de leche, so you reeled me in! This sounds amazing! Both the method and the recipe (at first glance, I thought that was a straw in the dulce de leche and thought, “My kind of recipe!” Ha ha).
Becci
Looks fabulous.
I just simmer my cans of condensed milk in water for 3 hours to make our caramel. It’s the best caramel ever!
Judy
Just recently tried Dulce de Leche, I bought it for a recipe but had to taste it first. Cannot remember the name of the recipe and the nearest location to buy it is 250 miles away.
Dave
My Sous Vide machine tripped the breaker overnight at some point. Woke up and the condensed milk is more of a caramel gel. Is there anyway to salvage at this point?
Sierra
Does this work with Evaporated Milk? I know it would be less sweet, which is okay with me
Danelle
No, it wouldn’t. The sugars in the condensed milk are part of what helps the milk caramelize.