Whenever someone gets into sous vide cooking, there's always a temptation to run out and buy a vacuum sealer machine because...well, that's what you do. And in a lot of cases, that type of machine will do just fine.

However, the moment you go to seal a bag that has any kind of liquid in it — whether it's a marinade or brine, a soup, a flavor-infusion broth, or even a particularly juicy cut of meat — you'll quickly realize that an edge/bar sealer is no bueno. The fluids often get sucked up and out of the pouch, or they interfere with the sealing function of the machine by ending up right where it wants to seal the bag shut.

That's why a lot of professional kitchens rely on a chamber vacuum sealer machine instead.

Rather than simply sucking air out of the food bag, the inside of the chamber vac pumps the air out through the use of pressure, creating an air vacuum both inside and outside the pouch before sealing it up. No more leaks or messy sealing situations!

But that's not where the utility ends. The unique compression properties of chamber vacuuming also allow you to marinate, infuse, or otherwise get liquids/oils/extracts into foods at much higher speeds than, say, simply letting the stuff sit together overnight.

As it happens, chef Jenny Dorsey wrote a post on the Anova blog discussing the science behind this process:

When the CVac vacuum pump removes air from the chamber, the pressure will also pop the pockets of air and water inside the ingredient and liquid base. When the vacuum is released and the pressure is allowed to equalize, all the flavor molecules of the ingredient being extracted from will then rush in and fill the opened pockets in the liquid base. (It’s normal to see some bubbling in the liquid during this step.) No seal is necessary to do these infusions, and you can repeat the vacuum cycle many times to extract and infuse as much flavor as possible.

To make a long story short, there are some very fascinating culinary doors opened by having a chamber vac around. You can this highly rated one from Avid Armor for $369 on Amazon. Happy sous vide-ing and more, folks!