Eastman Outdoors 38229 Reveo MariVac Food Tumbler

It works, but I’d like it better with less marketing and more value

I have used my new Reveo MariVac multiple times on pork roasts, London broil beef (grilled), and whole roast chicken. Recipes are provided for fish and vegetables as well, but I have not tried these yet. The MariVac is easy and fun to use. Just put up to four pounds of meat in the clear acrylic tumbler with your marinade of choice, let the MariVac evacuate the air inside the tumbler (takes 90 seconds), and have the MariVac tumble the food for up to 20 minutes. Roast food is extremely juicy after just 15-20 minutes of MariVac tumbling. Combining MariVac’s system with a good meat thermometer will reliably produce a perfect roast. In addition to the obvious time savings over marinating overnight, the short time that the meat is in liquid in the MariVac system avoids the mushy texture and bland color that slowly-marinated foods sometimes develop. Basically, you get a whole lot of liquid inside your meat, real fast. Your meat can gain up to 20% in weight.

There are, however,…

Reveo….the first word in flavor!!!

I watched this product demonstrated on TV several times. The price was daunting but I decided to give it a try. Before I tried it, I decided to test it against the FoodSaver with its marinade canister. I bought two pieces of sirloin steak and used a marinade recipe that I really like. I vacuum sealed the steak in the FoodSaver canister and likewise used the Reveo MariVac to seal the meat in the Reveo. I placed the FoodSaver canister in the fridge and set the Reveo canister on the unit and set the control for 20 minutes.

Results: After 20 minutes, there was no marinade visible in the Reveo canister. The steak had ‘plumped-up’ considerably. After 4 hours, there was still a lot of marinade visible in the FoodSaver canister. I cooked both on the Cuisinart Griddler and the Reveo produced a clearly superior steak. It was so tender that you might have mistaken it for rib eye steak. The FoodSaver steak, albeit tender, was still a cut below the Reveo.

The Reveo…

Over priced for the performance

This product was showcased on TV and I was intrigued. I’m not a gourmet chef, but I do enjoy cooking. And if there’s one thing I’m not good at in the kitchen, it’s planning ahead when it comes to dinner. So the Reveo sounded like the ultimate kitchen gadget to me. I was put off by the price but after reading all the 5-star reviews, I decided to take the plunge. I ordered my very own Reveo. I could hardly wait to get it out of the box. My first try was a simple oil, vinegar, garlic, salt, and pepper marinade that I whipped up myself. I put fresh green beans and chopped potatoes into the Reveo with some marinade and let ‘er rip. Once that batch was done, I threw in some raw peeled shrimp with more of the marinade. I followed the instructions (which are pretty simple) and marinated both batches for the appropriate time. The veggies didn’t seem to absorb any of the flavor but the shrimp did. This is not surprising because I could’ve marinated the shrimp for a little longer on…

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