Sous Vide Steaks

Adam_R.

Member
Hey All,

Not sure how many people have made steaks (or any food) using the sous vide method. The short of it is cooking food in a water bath. It produces some of the best meals I've ever made at home. This is due to the fact that you cannot over cook your food. Perfect temp every time. I have an Anova to regulate water temp, but you can just as easily use a beer cooler and hot water with a thermometer. I've done the later many more times before I got the Anova.

The best part about sous vide cooking is the food needs seared to finish, and what better platform for searing than a cast iron skillet.

Anyway, these are some dried aged ribeyes that I cooked for 2 hours at 130 degrees. Then I dried them off very well, salt and peppered, and seared them in my Wagner 11 for 1 minute on each side. I pre-heated the Wagner in the oven at 500 degrees then seared the steaks in a little oil and some butter. They were nothing short of perfection.

I'd encourage all to give sous vide cooking a try. Try the beer cooler method before taking the plunge with an Anova or equivalent.
 

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Never heard of the 'sous vide method'. It does look interesting after reading more about it. The best part about yours is it is finished in your CI skillet. Because I love a good sear on my steaks, I might try just a little longer than 1 minute though.
 
It is a great method for infusing flavors into meat. Put the steak in the vacuum bag with some herb butter and it slowly cooks into the meat.
 
Very nice. There used to be a shop around here that sold dry-aged beef, it operated as a butcher outlet for a local ranch raising Wagyu/Angus hybrids. But since they closed it's a hard find indeed, at least locally.

I've eyeballed sous vide a number of times but have yet to coincide interest with willingness to make the investment in one of the immersion cooker/circulators. But I have used sous vide-like methods to reheat leftover delicate meats without cooking them further, such as prime rib and rare steaks. Works well.
 
Very popular in the restaurant and catering industry because it takes a lot of guess work out of rare, med, well, and, allows the use of lower priced product. Please use accurate equipment, bacteria loves protein and cutting corners on equipment and packaging can result in a product not safe for someone with an impaired immune system. It works. I'm still partial to a good dry aged piece of meat. Probably because I'm an old guy.
 
The downside to sous vide is the cook times are relatively long, hours vs. minutes.

While the cook times are longer, it's completely hands off while it's cooking. Even when using the beer cooler method I never had to add hot water as long as I primed the cooler first (only ever went for 2 hours before removing food).

I think the benefits of consistently cooked food outweigh any inconvenience. I was pretty good at cooking steaks on a grill, but usually they were a touch under or over cooked from what I would consider perfect. Using sous vide, its perfect every time.
 
Adam R, upon re-reading my post it sounded more negative than was my intention. It really does work, and works well. The chef I hired and trained to replace me at local brewery tap room, Phantom Carriage, prepared a 4 course beer pairing dinner for 20 guests recently and used sous vide for the main course protein, filet mignon, then finished them on a hot charcoal grill. Guests were seated in the actual brewing area and he set the grill up outside the large roll up door so they could watch from their tables.
That chef's name is also Adam.
 
Adam R, upon re-reading my post it sounded more negative than was my intention. It really does work, and works well. The chef I hired and trained to replace me at local brewery tap room, Phantom Carriage, prepared a 4 course beer pairing dinner for 20 guests recently and used sous vide for the main course protein, filet mignon, then finished them on a hot charcoal grill. Guests were seated in the actual brewing area and he set the grill up outside the large roll up door so they could watch from their tables.
That chef's name is also Adam.

It didn't come across that way at all. I agree with all points you made.
 
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