Newbie here, help please! (with pictures)

[Conor]

Ron,
Thanks for the quick reply! I’ve annotated some pictures here that I hope will help us communicate more effectively.

First let’s orient ourselves. For lack of anything better that I can think up off the top of my head, let’s go with this:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/TBqLj9nTAZEmhKfF6

Now, as I said in the original post, I’m getting poor contact in the hills and valleys because the steak is too big in the ‘A Direction’ as shown here:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/dcBctoGR2Nx3VKhD7

If I understand what you said correctly, then you are recommending I cut a couple steaks off of the end like this:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/FQdgtkaWkPh1DmFa6

But I don’t think that will resolve my problem of the steak being too big in the A Direction and get me better bag coverage. I’d still have the same bag taughtness in the A direction so I don’t think the bag would adhere to the surface better.

So what I was asking about, was whether or not I needed to cut the meat something like this:

https://photos.app.goo.gl/Ha4ynhW5Xbi6cvRY9

Unless the meat shrinks, I don’t think just turning the meat such that the fat cap is facing up will resolve the issue, because the taughtness of the bag will keep it away from the surface of the meat.

Do you think cutting the bottom off of the B direction of the steaks is necessary? If I do that, is there a way to re-wet the surface without introducing bacteria?

Thanks for the help! Certainly next time I’ll just start with a smaller piece of meat.
Conor