Sous vide (soo veed) has been the secret of professional chefs for years as it allows them to cook amazing dishes consistently in a simple, stress-free way. It involves submerging vacuum-sealed bags of food in heated water which then cooks the ingredients to perfection.

Until recently, the equipment was too expensive for home kitchens, but it’s now much more affordable and incredibly popular with serious amateur cooks. Here’s a brief guide on the different pieces of kit you need to get started and how they work.

While sous vide literally translates to ‘under vacuum’, being able to heat water to an exact temperature is just as important as the vacuum process. This is where water ovens or thermal circulators come into play. They both serve as a heater and thermostat, so you can just leave them to maintain your desired temperature.

Water ovens are countertop units you fill with water. The base then heats the water evenly to keep it at the set temperature.

Thermal circulators work in the same way, but are clamped on to the side of a separate container and use a motor to circulate the water to maintain the correct temperature.

Both machines have their advantages; water ovens don’t need to circulate the water, so they run silently, and they’re all set up and ready to use at any time. Thermal circulators are more suited to the occasional sous vide cook as they can be detached from the container and easily stored away.

Heating water to a precise temperature is one half of sous vide cooking – the other involves placing your ingredients in a pouch and sealing it under vacuum. This requires a machine that can suck all the air out of a bag and seal it. Not only does this prolong the freshness of some foods, it also allows the food to be fully submerged in the water oven in direct contact with the heat of the water resulting in even and consistent cooking. There are two types of machine you can use – vacuum sealers and chamber vacuum packers.

With bar vacuum sealers, you simply feed the open end of your vacuum pouch into the machine and turn it on. It removes all the air inside, then seals the bag by slightly melting the plastic together with a heating strip.

Chamber vacuum packers are for the more serious sous vide cook. Instead of inserting your pouch into a slot, you place the whole thing inside a box, which then removes all the air in the entire chamber, not just the bag, before sealing. This means there’s no difference in pressure outside the bag, so there is less risk of liquids being sucked out with the air. Overall, they’re more powerful, reliable and quicker to use than vacuum sealers, but do come with a higher price tag.