Not the fanciest steak…. 30 day dry aged Hereford fro
Waitrose. Sous vide at 120f for a couple hours and pan seared to finish. Smashed potatoes, sautéed red chicory and shiitake mushrooms.
The green stuff is a take on Aaron Franklin’s salsa verde- I add more anchovies, more lemons for brightness, and green olives which round it out nicely.
The potatoes were over-boiled and fell apart upon smashing, but everything else else was on point.
Paired with 2022 Clement Perceval 2011 Les Rouleaux, 2014 Lagier Meredith “Tribidrag”, and 1991 Ravenswood Gregory Vineyard Cab.
So irritated with the Morgan Ranch team; I picked this rib-eye up at an upscale market and it just didn’t even come close. Crust was perfect, cook was how I like it and the rub was spot on… but derp. Just a great reminder of the impact the quality of the beef makes.
Quick note: my wife put my cutting board in a “safe place” while we’re having the house repainted… hence the banana board.
My first Flannery and my first reverse sear, by me. Well, had about 50+ texts from Todd, Kane, Meats, Jorge and Fu, on what to do and what not to do. And not all on the same page. But for our palates - me, wife and kid - who like meat slightly less than medium rare, these were perfect. Lightly seasoned with sea salt and cracked pepper. Oh. These were the 28 ounce Jorge bone-in ribeyes, which are close to 3 inches thick. Took about an hour at 275 bake to hit 115 on one and 120 on the other. Then seared each side for 30-45 seconds on a steel pan and hot oil, butter added on the flip.
Curious how many of you big-time meat eaters use the sous vide method to cook your steaks (followed by a conventional sear)? I’ve never done it before, but the results look pretty darn good.
It’s great if you don’t want to hassle with the oven/grill/sear/etc to get the perfect doneness, but just make sure to not have it in the water bath for too long otherwise the texture does get compromised.
I do notice that the texture is not as firm as if it’s cooked on the grill/oven then reversed seared, but timing with the kids, etc. I’m willing to make that trade-off.
A lot of big meat eaters here don’t like the texture of the steaks sous-vide.
Make me a +1 on the texture thing. It’s just different.
Okay, I get that and I wonder if I would feel the same (long-time griller here)? The family likes steak medium-rare. I wonder if the texture issue could be mitigated by doing the sous vide method to a rare condition, then searing a little longer to medium-rare? Has anyone tried that?
I think that’s a good question, and one you could experiment with. I usually set it to 125F and then finish it pretty aggressively. it’s important to dry your steak once out of the sous vide before searing
The chief advantage of sous vide in my mind (for steaks at least) is that sometimes that kind of textural difference can actually be a good thing. You can make a $12 choice grade filet taste like a $35 cut if finished properly. In my experience it seems to elevate lesser cuts (but I’ve stopped using it for very good meat). The second advantage being the ability to time your cook really well. One of the greatest hacks I’ve seen recently is to make your mashed potato puree, set it in a bag, then drop into sous vide at 165 until ready to serve!
Another plus for sous vide is if the people eat a different times, then all you have to do it heat the pan, take the steak you want to prepare, and sear it from the sous vide bath.
The timing for that on a grill or oven will be very hard. This happens regularly with 3 kids…
This board is very split Re sous vide steak. I love it. It’s almost idiot proof, especially after you do it once or twice. The accuracy at such a low temperature is great for cooking the entire steak evenly and precisely (so there’s not one spot that’s better worse than another). I generally like the texture of sous vide steak, but it can degrade if you cook it too long, so you have to find a cook time that works for your tastes.
Pan seared these and didn’t go out of my way to take a pic afterwards, but I thought I’d share some pre-cook Morgan Ranch Berserker Day goodness.
My wife doesn’t like the texture, so i have stopped sous vide on most of the steaks. I think a ribeye does okay as it does give it the softer prime rib texture that lots of people like. Skirt does pretty well.
However, it does an outstanding job on the quick defrost. I set the water bath temp to 32deg drop in the bag and 20 to 30 minutes later completely defrosted. Take out of the bag, dry off, salt and start the drying process in the fridge on a rack. I can get pretty good same day results this way.
Pork chops etc. i think are way better sous vide. You get a chance to introduce the salt into the meat, flavor the meat, get a good texture without over cooking once they hit the grill.
The best thing about Sous Vide is that it turns steak into fast food on those evenings when you just dont know what to eat. I have a good amount of steaks vacuum sealed in the freezer, just pick one, drop it in, 2 hours later - dinner.
I agree. I have quite a few steaks in the freezer, and it’s a mindless job to just put the steak from freezer to water bath and have a steak almost ready in 2 hours. Just need to finish off with reverse sear. I just have to remember to set up the sous vide 3-4PM since the kids get hungry pretty early.
I’m not quite sure how the grill crowd defrosts the steaks. I’ve put the steaks in the fridge overnight, and it’s still frozen! The only solution I can come up with is either defrost on the counter or in a water bath, then put it in the fridge. Or I have to prepare 2+ days early and keep it in the fridge.
Pair of 2 pound domestic Wagyu Picanha
Morgan Ranch Wagyu Flank Steak. I like how flank is tapered and allows me to overcook my Wife’s side while my stays bloody!
I’m a big fan of sous vide cooking-and if you have a grill capable of getting to 800+ degrees and you can get a nice, fast sear/char on the exterior after the SV you would be hard pressed to have a texture issue. If you don’t get a good sear, there will be a texture issue for most. That said I never SV Wagyu steaks-no reason to melt the fat in a 60 minute SV that you paid extra for.
SV is wonderful for vegetables and thick pork chops-but you still need to get a good, fast sear at the end.
Wrong post for this pic-but here is a Kurobuta pork chop, brined, 2 hour SV @ 137, quick sear at 800+ maybe 30 seconds per side-
Do NOT thaw frozen beef on the counter. The surface hits the danger zone of bacterial growth way before the inside is anywhere near done. That is a classic recipe for food poisoning.
Anything on the surface will be killed by salting and then heat from cooking. Bacteria doesn’t magically penetrate beef.