Let’s get it out of the way first, the making fun of me for asking this question. Yes, it’s true - I am not usually a fan of sous vide for tight proteins, preferring it for vegetables and some fish. I am, however, appreciative of the advantages the method can confer when one is doing a multi-course meal and timing is hard to control.
In a couple of weeks, I’m doing a rather involved menu culminating in the Flannery lamb loin roll. I have cooked these a couple of times before, always using reverse sear, which works really well, though once it got a little overdone. I am considering sous vide this time around, with a nice hot sear before serving, in order to give me leeway on timing and temp control. I hate to lose pan drippings, but I can still make the sauce I want.
What do people think? I have done a rib cap roll sous vide and it came out pretty well. Would it work as well here? Fat cap rendering considerations? Time and temp suggestions? Or just forget it and stick the thing in the oven?
I struggle with sous vide with meat with a big fat cap because even after searing you are still left with a lot of unrendered fat. But you could try scoring and rendering the fat in a pan first, kind of like duck breast, then dump the fat in the bag with the meat and sous vide.
the easy pick up in a complicated meal is a pretty significant benefit imo. in this case, i’d shave down the fat layer to perhaps a 1/4 inch to make it uniform. salt just fat and leave in the fridge to dry a bit. then very shallow scoring to make a nice pattern and a fairly low flame sear to then crisp up and drain a bit of the fat without cooking any of the flesh - get a really uniform crust and color. this will impart a ton of flavor once in the bag. a trick i read somewhere with sv lamb that i use all the time now is to include parsley stems in the bag; they provide a really interesting grassy element that aligns with the lamb flavor.
Thanks, Yaacov. I admit I’ve rejected the pre-sear step in almost all sous vide preps as I usually don’t feel I gain much if anything when I’m going to sear again at the end. In this case, though, I can see where there could be a benefit. Is there a time and temp you’d recommend? I can get there pretty easily from desired pull temp and size, just curious if you’ve got a tried and true.
135 F i think will satisfy most diners. lamb loin goes from under and chewy to over and dry pretty quickly. and yes, the pre-sear serves for flavor but also to create some structure. getting it super dry and then either a sear or, imo better, a broil or torch with a very thin honey / thyme lacquer (or similar) makes this pickup super easy. i also tend not to vacuum all the way so that it doesn’t have weird parts that are squished and then set like a plastic mold.
as for time 90+ minutes then hold at that temp until ready.
I made two of these entirely in a combi-oven for Chinese New Year and they turned out fantastic.
I cooked at 140F with 0 steam until internal temperature of 125, then turned the oven to 482 for about 10 minutes. Ended up with internal temp of about 135 which is pretty much perfect for me for lamb and was edge to edge pink, with nice rendering of the fat.
Thanks, that’s helpful. I actually have massive, commercial, phenomenal Electrolux air-o-steam combi-oven. Problem is, it’s Jonathan’s baby and I don’t have the slightest idea how to use it! This is dinner for his 50th, and I am doing all the cooking so, while it is possible to enlist his help, I’d prefer not to. I suppose it wouldn’t be cheating to get a tutorial…
You wouldn’t need to use a lot of the features, as long as you could control the temperature and which elements are on. I used top and rear. I don’t personally love sous vide with this because I think the texture would be off. Just using low temperature without steam worked great. I did score all the fat with cross hatching.
I thought I had taken pictures but it appears I didn’t. It was nicely dark brown on the outside with nicely rendered fat and edge to edge dark pink inside, extremely tender and flavorful.
If you have the loin cooked SV before the meal and have it out of the bag and in the fridge drying out on a rack, blasting it in a crazy hot oven should render out most of the activated fat on the outside while browning it up. Would definitely have to keep an eye on it in that oven because it will go pretty quick. Let it rest a bit to equalize the temp and you should be good. For me one of the good things about SV is how fast the fat will render off when browning up the outside. That oven is amazing.
The question of the post was about best practices for cooking lamb loin SV. It can be done this way with great results. Not saying it’s better than roasting, just another way of preparing the protein. Sounded like this prep was for being done for time constraints. Getting it cooled down quickly when it comes out of the bath and getting it good and dry before going into a hot oven are key.
What she says is that sous vide would help her with timing. She doesn’t need to use sous vide because she has a combi oven capable of precise temperature control and she can just cook it to her preferred internal temp with an ambient oven temperature of 140F which would give a dramatically better texture than sous vide.
How long does it take to get the loin to temp at 140? SV would free up oven space and help with timing, probably only take five minutes to brown the outside in that oven. Not trying to say it’s the only way to make lamb, but it could make the meal prep go a bit smoother.
Not long. If it’s straight out of the fridge it might take 45 min. With a convection oven it’s very efficient. My oven can sous vide without a bag but I never use it. I only use steam for baking and reheating things, and baked potatoes.
I don’t need to use SV, it’s true, but the actual timing advantage is putting it in the bath in advance and just leaving it there until you are ready to sear. Even in a combi oven you need to take it out when it’s done and so start it the right amount of time in advance so it’s done at about the right time, gets the right rest. I can do all that, sure, but there is no denying SV gives a great deal of timing flexibility.
I agree that in theory you can leave it in the bath for longer but then you’ll have even more texture/crust issues. It will take some time to make sure it’s perfectly dry after SV if you want a good sear/broil. Using the combi, you can take it out and foil wrap it if it’s not going to be hours until you’re going to broil/sear.
I don’t find that to be true, actually. And I dont get mushy texture. I get slightly rubbery, which doesn’t seem to get worse with a modest amount of extra time in the bath. I do the final sear on the wok burner, so I don’t even need to get it fully dry to get a good crust. Any moisture is gone immediately and the sear is so fast I get almost no increase in internal temp. 250k BTUs will do that.
I am lucky to have great tools for all options, and I feel capable of evaluating the trade-offs. My question was hoping to elicit feedback from those who use SV on whether it is a viable option and, if so, how to approach. Like I said, it isn’t my preference, but I am open minded.
