Keep your sous vide food under water

If you do any sous vide cooking, you know that some foods just like to float. It's annoying. And it's not great for cooking when part of the food is bobbing out of the water because the unsubmerged parts aren't getting the benefit of the warm cooking water.

Some vegetables (carrots, I'm looking at you) tend to give off gas when they cook, inflating the bag and making it float. Sometimes it's just that the vacuum didn't get all of the air out of the bag when sealing. There are plenty of reasons it can happen, so it's good to be prepared with a plan.

There are actually plenty of methods for keeping food under water, and I've tried a bunch of them. Even better, there are some DIY ones that won't cost you any money. You can put some silverware in with the food to weight it down. You can put a plate or a jar or something else on top of the food. 

But there can be drawbacks to those methods. The silverware method is fine, if you food isn't so large that it can stand up in the container with the silverware on the bottom. And of course it depends on the silverware. I've heard horror stories about silverware starting to rust.

I've tried using plates and other random things around the kitchen and I've had them slide off of the food. I tried vacuum sealing silverware to make a "raft" on top of the food. It actually worked a little better than the plates, but it wasn't great.

I've had some luck with sous vide magnets, but it depends on the cooking vessel. At least two magnets are required. One (or more than one, if you like) goes into the food bag or is placed outside the bag on the bottom or top edge - or wherever it makes sense. The other magnet is placed outside the container. The magnets attract each other and keep the bag from moving. If the container is stainless steel, the magnets can stick to that instead of needing a magnet on the outside. 

So far, my favorite is the sous vide sinker, which essentially is a chain mesh "cloth," albeit with giant holes. Like chainmail. It's simply draped over the bag to keep it from floating and it drapes well over irregular shapes so it's more likely to stay in place than something solid, like a plate. So far, it's been working really well. Plus, it's easy to wash. I just throw it on a rack in my dishwasher.

It doesn't look like much, but it does its job well. If you sous vide, and you're tired of floaty food, give it a try!

And if you're looking for a sous vide cooker, check out some of my picks on The Spruce Eats.