Random tips: * It's easier to do if you have a foodsaver/vacuum setup. Make SURE that your bags are totally sealed, though. If I suspect a seal might not be 100%, I'll run it through again. A leaky bag is a giant PIA. If you are unsure about your seal, just do the ziplock-immersion technique. * For meat, there's no carryover to worry about. You pick your doneness temp, let it go, and when it comes out, it's ready to finish. You still want to brown it 90% of the time, because no browning happens during the *sous vide* itself. My go-to for steaks is 128-135 (depending on who I am sharing the steak with, the wife and I like rare) and then finishing on either smoking hot cast iron for 2 min a side, or over a roaring hot charcoal fire about 1/2" from the coals. It also doesn't need to rest after searing. * Dry the meat with a paper towel before you brown it. It's going to be pretty wet out of the bag. * Any *sous vide* longer than 12 hours really needs a lid. I almost ran my rig dry overnight while doing a 36 hour round roast. * Look for cuts of meat that you normally would pass over, because the sous vide can easily handle 36-72 hour cooks to break down all the connective tissue. A long cooked eye of round roast -- normally a trash roast -- comes out with a tenderloin texture while being super beefy like sirloin. * For a quality steak, you can go much shorter, like 2 1/2 hours, because you don't need to break anything down, just bringing it to your temp. * It's great for chicken breasts or turkey breast that you want to turn into sandwich meat. No browning required, just cook them to your done, and they come out insanely moist and tender, edge to edge. * If you are trying to do 148 degree eggs with the jammy yolks, you will want to give them 30-60 seconds in boiling water afterwards to firm up the whites. It took me a few runny white eggs to figure that one out.