sous vide steak

[Fred588]

For various reason, a big one of which was some issues with my teeth, its been more than six months since I have eaten a steak. The teeth issue is now mostly resolved so I did a steak today. I cooked it by a fairly new method that seems to be known as sous vide. I highly recommend it although the precision water bath device required is not inexpensive. The steak was perfect for the cut used.

I believe the term "sous vide" technically means sealed in plastic and does not fully explain the method of cooking, so I will try to explain that here. The steak was sealed in plastic by placing it inside a slider bag. That's a ziplock bag that has a slider device that makes sure it is tightly closed. The final step of sealing was done with most of the bag pressed under water so that all the air was squeezed out. The next step is cooking in a hot water bath at a precise temperature. I set the temperature to 136 degrees F. which is about a degree warmer than the recommended temperature for medium. Next time I will use the recommended temperature. The bag of steak was placed completely submerged in the water bath. The precision device keeps the temperature within about half a degree of the setting at all times. I cooked the steak in this way for two hours. They say up to four hours would make no discernable difference - the point is to raise the internal meat temperature to that of the water.

After two hours, the bag was removed from the water bath and opened. At this point the steak was medium throughout but did not have the charred crust one normally expects with a steak, so there is one more step. A half hour before the water bath step was done I lit a wood fire in the Studio wood-cooking pit, so it would be quite hot when the water bath procedure finished. The water-bath cooked steak was then brought outside and placed on a grill just above the flames. It was seared on one side for two minutes and then two more on the other side. At that point I ate it. Highly recommended - I will have the second steak tomorrow.

[Boggy Man]

I checked, and "sous vide" is French for "vacuum".

[Fred588]

Yes, I believe that is correct. In this case it means "vacuum-sealed" but in practice that just means sealed in plastic with no air inside.

I checked, and "sous vide" is French for "vacuum".

[H8ms2014]

sous vide: French for stick it in a bag with flavors and/or marinades. Vacuum seal the vag, then cook it slowly in water.I've heard steak will cook without any colour change.

[Fred588]

sous vide: French for stick it in a bag with flavors and/or marinades. Vacuum seal the vag, then cook it slowly in water.I've heard steak will cook without any colour change.

The steak does change color but only slightly. It tends to come out of the water bath looking rather grey and not very appetizing. It also lacks, at that stage, the ultra-flavorful charred crust that a great steak should have. But that is all fixed by the very quick grilling or a minute or two under the broiler. Some cooks apparently use a torch - yes like a plumber's torch - for the final step. One advantage I find in using a wood fire is I can make the fire VERY hot. This does the crust in very short order without any effect on the interior. The result is a very think but perfectly seared crust with the rest of the meat done exactly as you like it. It my case that is medium rare.

The main limitation of this method would be that if you have two or more people who prefer their steak differently it cannot be done without two water baths.

[Mynock]

You can do a similar trick using your conventional oven--bake it first at low temp, then sear. Requires some experimentation with exact temperature/cooking time, etc. A temperature probe is a GREAT thing to have when doing this.

Vacuum seal the vag....

Best. Typo. Ever.

[Fred588]

I've not tried that with steak but it certainly works with chicken.

You can do a similar trick using your conventional oven--bake it first at low temp, then sear. Requires some experimentation with exact temperature/cooking time, etc. A temperature probe is a GREAT thing to have when doing this.

Vacuum seal the vag....

Best. Typo. Ever.

[H8ms2014]

You can do a similar trick using your conventional oven--bake it first at low temp, then sear. Requires some experimentation with exact temperature/cooking time, etc. A temperature probe is a GREAT thing to have when doing this.

Vacuum seal the vag....

Best. Typo. Ever.

Oops, but so funny I will leave it right there