I tried a TikTok trick for cooking a fancy sous-vide steak using household objects. It worked, but I wouldn't do it again.

I cooked a steak in a homemade sous-vide machine.Lucien Formichella

• I followed a viral TikTok to sous vide a steak with a bag, thermometer, and spatula.
• The process seemed relatively simple but I had a hard time controlling the temperature of the water.

There are many ways to cook a steak and one technique is sous vide, a technique created by French chefs.

This low-temperature method involves cooking food contained in a vacuum-sealed bag without the risk of overcooking it. The sous-vide technique generally allows for greater temperature control and can infuse your food with more flavor.

Sous-vide machines typically cost over $100, so I decided to try recreating a makeshift setup I saw on TikTok. In a video with over 60,000 likes, user @shawtgal49 shows how to sous vide a steak using plastic bag, thermometer, and other basic kitchen equipment.

Notably, this creator isn't the first person to use this sous-vide method — similar tutorials can be found on food blogs and even the Ziploc website. Still, I watched her video and cooked a steak using the budget-friendly hack myself.

Here's how it went.