Voila! Smart sous vide from the Anova Precision Cooker (pictures)

The Anova Precision Cooker is a Bluetooth-enabled device that will turn any pot into a smart sous vide machine. What's sous vide? Glad you asked -- click through for all of the tasty details.

"Sous vide" is a French culinary term meaning "under vacuum." By sealing your food within plastic, then cooking it in circulating, evenly heated water, you can achieve precise results with little risk of overcooking.

That's exactly what Anova's Precision Cooker does -- it heats your water to a specific temperature, then circulates that water around your food.

The Anova Precision Cooker uses heated coils to warm the water, a propeller unit to circulate the water, and a laboratory-grade thermometer to keep track of the temperature. The bottom casing of the machine comes off and is dishwasher-safe for easy cleanup.

What sets the Anova Precision Cooker apart from Anova's first sous vide machine is the fact that you'll be able to control it from your phone over Bluetooth.

Using Anova's app, you'll be able to pick out exactly what you're cooking, then start the cooker remotely.

Time and temperature settings for each recipe are built right into the app. You can tweak them if you like, but otherwise, all you'll need to do is press Start.

The clip that attaches Anova's cooker to your pot is fully detachable, which is a change from the previous Anova cooker. Now, you'll be able to adjust the angle of the cooker into the pot to maximize flow from the propeller.

Using the Anova looks simple enough. All you'll need is a pot, some water, and a standard ziplock bag (Anova says that vacuum sealing isn't necessary).

Anova claims that sous vide machines are the fastest growing class of kitchen appliances, and promises that their cooker makes master-chef-style food prep easy enough for anyone.

Along with the precise cooking of delicate, difficult ingredients like eggs and salmon, Anova claims that their cooker does a superior job preparing meats and poultry, including steak.

If you were bracing for a premium price tag, I've got some good news for you. The Anova Precision Cooker costs $169 (or even less, if you catch an early-bird Kickstarter discount). That's dramatically less than other smart sous vide cookers -- and even $30 less than the original, non-connected Anova cooker.