First attempt at Sous Vide

[FLBuckeye]

Got two ribeyes (total of 2.43 lbs.) and attempted the sous vide technique. Dry brined the steaks two hours prior. Filled a beer cooler halfway with hot water from the tap. Boiled some more water to add as needed. Water temp was 108 so I added more to bring it to 130, figuring I would lose a few degrees when the cold steaks were added. Put the two steaks slowly into the water to purge the air from the bags. Temp dropped to 127. After 15 min. I started a chimney full of lump charcoal (wanted a hotter fire than my usual Kingsford blue) and let it get really hot. Used my old Weber with bricks under the coal grate to around two inches from the cooking grate. Plopped the two steaks onto the grate and cooked for a few minutes on each side. Got the desired crust and the flavor was really good. My teen aged daughter said it was the best steak she ever had. I have done the reverse sear before but I think the sous vide was better.
The pictures show my embarrassing lack of talent in photography.

[David Parrish]

REAL NICE! Did you sear them longer on one side than the other? Looks like you have a thicker brown edge on one side of the steak. That's just me being curious. That steak looks incredible!

[_John_]

Looks terrific.

[Jon Solberg]

WTG FLB. I'm inspired!

[bbantel]

Wow, that looks awesome. Thanks for sharing. TBH, I'm too much of a chicken to sous-vide w/o a machine, but kudos for trying this.

[Christobol]

Got two ribeyes (total of 2.43 lbs.) and attempted the sous vide technique. Dry brined the steaks two hours prior. Filled a beer cooler halfway with hot water from the tap. Boiled some more water to add as needed. Water temp was 108 so I added more to bring it to 130, figuring I would lose a few degrees when the cold steaks were added. Put the two steaks slowly into the water to purge the air from the bags. Temp dropped to 127. After 15 min. I started a chimney full of lump charcoal (wanted a hotter fire than my usual Kingsford blue) and let it get really hot. Used my old Weber with bricks under the coal grate to around two inches from the cooking grate. Plopped the two steaks onto the grate and cooked for a few minutes on each side. Got the desired crust and the flavor was really good. My teen aged daughter said it was the best steak she ever had. I have done the reverse sear before but I think the sous vide was better.
The pictures show my embarrassing lack of talent in photography.

How long did you run the sous vide? What temp do you think you ran them at during that time? I've been playing with my sous vide machine (there are a bunch of inexpensive ones that are $200 now), and have made 20 or so steaks so far. I've found there is quite a variation in the effects upon the steak when the temp varies from 130 to 132 degrees, then 135 is definitely over cooked for by my taste and my gf's. 128 seems too rare, and I guess the fibers have loosened up enough that they are squishy without bursting when chewed making the steak VERY chewy.

I've had trouble doing the reverse sear on the grill because it ends up cooking the interior and overcooking the steak. What sous vide chefs recommend is finishing the steak in a pan with canola oil at 550 plus, to get a good and solid sear. My Genesis S330 only maintains a grill temp of 350-450 over two burners with the sear station in the middle, and it takes a good 8-10 min to get a nice dark brown Mailllard reaction.

Yesterday I tried a top sirloin prime in the sous vide for 2 hours at 120, and 30 min at 126 as I started to sound think how much cooking effect I was actually getting. I finished it in the pan and one turned out awesome but mine was slightly too charred on one side.

≈A note on the vacuum packagers: I bought one from Costco, and after using it for a few months have found it lacks enough sucking power. There is something called a vacuum chamber and it's considered ideal as you can set how many atmospheres to drop, and how tightly to pack the plastic, regardless of other liquids in with the meat. Plus it'll help tremendously with drawing salt and any cooking sauce into the meat while cooking in the sous vide.

[mgaretz]

I have done the reverse sear before but I think the sous vide was better.

I'm not sure what you really meant, but you still did reverse sear, and it's very common with sous vide - it's exactly how I make my steaks.

[mgaretz]

FWIW, my wife and I like our steaks rare. I will do 1 to 1.5" thick sirloins, starting with them vacuum packed and frozen, for 1 hour at 125F. Then a quick reverse sear on my Weber gasser with GrillGrates, about 3 minutes a side. Lately I have been using the flat side of the grill grates.

[Huskee]

Looks good my man. I wouldn't turn it away! The only thing I'd do if I were to sous vide is I'd really plop some good amount of wood on there and sear over embers with plenty of smoke to infuse some smoke flavor during that limited coal exposure. But some do sous vide since they don't prefer the smoke flavor on steaks.

[Chrisonthego]

Here are my sous vide cookings. Like for any good steaks, i do a reverse sear.

[IrondeQuer]

Great discussion! This has to go on the to-try list! Great pics, FLB.

[David Parrish]

Guys would you like to have a Sous Vide sub channel in the recipes and techniques section?

[David Parrish]

FWIW, my wife and I like our steaks rare. I will do 1 to 1.5" thick sirloins, starting with them vacuum packed and frozen, for 1 hour at 125F. Then a quick reverse sear on my Weber gasser with GrillGrates, about 3 minutes a side. Lately I have been using the flat side of the grill grates.

Mark next time you use this technique try flipping the steaks every minute during the reverse sear. Still cook them 3 minutes per side, just do it 1 minute at a time and flip often. I bet you'll get even better edge to edge red.

[FLBuckeye]

I bragged about my sous vide steaks and now I "volunteered" to do 12 of them for a Scout leaders camp out. Will wait until the week of the camp out to see what I can find on sale (hopefully ribeyes) or just go to Restaurant Depot and buy a case. Will be at least 1.5" thick. Going to be a bit trick logistics wise to get them all done roughly at the same time but since the sear time is so short, I think I can pull it off. Not going to mess with sides, the other guys can do that. Looking at 2 coolers as sous vide containers with Maverick probes in both to monitor water temp.
I will be doing pics with our new (used) SLR camera.