The Proof is on the Plate!

[K Haberer]

I have watched a whole lot of videos on aging beef and cooking the final product. Aging procedures and cooking may have some slight variations, but the final cutting of the aged cut into steaks seems to always produce something pretty special. Cooking the steaks is something else again. Personally, I aim for a consistent end result. I prefer a rare steak, but that can be bit iffy when grilling.

Several months ago I was introduced to a French technique called Sous Vide. Now it is pretty much all I use. When I try to tell folks about it I am greeted by a lot of healthy skepticism. To them it just seems weird. You put the meat in hot water? No. I seal the meat in plastic bags and immerse the bags in water for a prescribed period of time at a very precise water temperature. My steaks are all perfectly rare and juicy and flavorful. After removing the steaks from the water bath I finish them with a hot seer on the grill or stove top, or I use a butane torch. Now I use Sous Vide to cook everything – meat, fish, shrimp, scallops, lobster, mussels and a variety of veggies. Nothing ever dries out.

One very special thing for me with aged beef of all kinds is the texture of the finished cooked product. I often cut the aged dry bag NY strip, sirloin or rib eye into steaks without trimming it first. Often I just leave the bark on the steaks. Cooking Sous Vide softens the bark, leaving a very intense beef flavor. It’s to die for.

Try it. You may really like it!

[Ron Pratt]

Though I have only had my ANOVA brand sous vide unit since mid February I have yet to try any of my dry aged stash, but will do so soon. I have loved the pork, salmon, lobster and even filets and have no doubt what you say is true! The whole concept of dialing in to a given end temperature, plus never over shooting it thus drying it out is such wonderful culinary achievement let alone so easy with sous vide! Ron

[russell quesenberry]

can you please tell me how long this cooking method takes? Is there equipment to buy? ect ect

[K Haberer]

There is equipment to buy – a rather large plastic container to hold the water and a sous vide device to control water temperature and water flow in the container. Absolute precision is required. For example, the water is brought to a temperature of 129 degrees Fahrenheit for rare steaks. I encase each steak in separate food saver plastic bags. I have cooked 6 at a time.

This is definitely not fast food. Preparation for these steaks, for example, requires 90 minutes in the water bath. Then they can be finished on a grill with a very brief seer, or they can be finished with a butane torch. The proof is in the flavor, whether preparing beef, pork, seafood or veggies I have prepared shrimp wrapped in jalapeno bacon (12 per bag) and then finished the bacon wrapping with a torch. Fantastic.

Look up sous vide equipment on Amazon. Lots of choices..

[russell quesenberry]

thanks for the info! I will check it out.

[Ron Pratt]

Here’s the unit I bought and am quite satisfied with it. It is very well built and simple to use and no you do not need a smart phone to operate it! Ron

[russell quesenberry]

Please let me bother you guy’s one more time. you said 90 mins for rare, is that because the meat is already aged for so long? is there a time and temp for say medium to medium well? I see some people saying they cooked stuff for 72 hrs plus.

[Ron Pratt]

That is one thing I still find frustrating…how long to cook using sous vide. I bought Modernist Cooking Made Easy: Sous Vide by Jason Logsdon. In it he has 11 pages of suggested time and temperatures for nearly anything by name! Everything has a wide range time wise. A few examples – all for medium rare

Loin strip steak: 131º for 2 to 3 hours same for a T-Bone
Prime Rib Roast: 131 for 5 to 10 hours same for a sirloin roast
Ribeye steak: 131º for 2 to 6 hours
Flank steak: 131 for 2 to 12 hours
Top round steak: 131 for 1 to 2 days

Get my drift? Temperature is the same but the wide range of time is crazy in my mind.

I bought an app for my iPad which is supposed to calculate the time and temperature based on the meat and it’s thickness but can’t get it to work for me! Ron

PS I’ll be glad to tell you what his recommendation is if you tell me the cut you are cooking sous vide.

[russell quesenberry]

I’m looking at doing bone in prime cut ribeye’s about 1 1/2 to 2 inches thick. medium to medium well.

[Ron Pratt]

That book recommends for a 2″ prime rib 140º for 5 to 10 hours for medium. Ron

[James]

the times are primarily based on the thickness of the cut of meat and whether you are aiming to pasteurize the product or not. Doubling the thickness of a steak can result in a tripling of cook time. Sousvide cooking is based on equilibration of temperature of the meat being cooked to the outside water temp which can be precisely set. The reason it takes a lot more time than grilling a steak is because on a grill you are using outside temps of 600-1200F in order to reach the same 129F on the inside of the steak. For grilled steaks, this results in (if you are lucky) the middle of the steak at 129F and perhaps well done toward the edge of the steak. Sousvide lets you get med-rare 129 from edge to edge, but you gotta let enough time go by so that the whole steak gets to the same temp.

[James]

Oh…the beauty of sous vide in addition to precise temperature is that you cannot overcook a steak, no matter how long you leave it in there to cook. I have put steaks from the freezer into sousvide bath in the morning and left them in there all day for dinner parties.

[russell quesenberry]

Ok Great. Thanks for your help. I will be trying this.

[Greg Beam]

Ron,
I have been looking for one of these water circulator to cook with and they can he very expensive. when I get the money I am going to buy one.

[Ron Pratt]

yes they are expensive, but from time to time Amazon puts them on sale for some reason. Here, once again is the unit I bought:

But instead of $179 it was on sale for $139. Forty bucks is forty bucks!
Ron

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