Yikes, was it that bad of a cut?

[Mike981]

Decided to sous vide a ribeye and then sear it in a cast iron pan on my gas grill.

In the sous vide we did 131 degrees for 2.5 hours, the steak was not frozen. After searing the steak, I let it rest for a few minutes and then cut it up. My god was it tough. It was like the sous vide didn't break down any of the tough connective tissue.

Any thoughts?

[STEbbq]

How thick was it?

[Hulagn1971]

I'm going to go with it being a tough cut of meat. I use your technique quite often and it produces great results.

[randy.56]

Tough steak, SV cannot fix everything. We do the same way every week, sometimes we get a hard to chew. Hot charcoal grill on grill greats, takes less that 6 minutes. OH and 2.5 hours from frozen @ 131. It was not the cook.

[Mike981]

How thick was it?

It was 1".

[STEbbq]

Yeah. Tough cut of meat then. Thicker cut would take longer and might be tougher but not 1”.

[Donw]

I would suggest it was a tough cut from a tough animal. With the current lack of beef supply in the market more culled dairy cows are being processed and sold for human consumption instead of being sold for pet consumption and the like. They are older animals who can no longer calve so are of no use in a dairy operation.

[ecowper]

so, the dairy cows are safe, but the cows that keep personal journals aren't? ;-)

[Donw]

Good catch Eric. 🙂

[JHB]

I've had two disappointing briskets recently, both supposedly prime cuts. One was from Creekstone and the other from Savenor's (a fancy butcher shop in Cambridge MA.) I've wondered whether the beef shortage was resulting in inferior cuts making onto the market.

[Mike981]

Thank you all for your help. It was such a surprise that even with a very sharp knife, I was having a hard time to cut it.

[RichieB]

For me, the cut is irrelevant. A steak as described would get a minimum of 5 hours. Yes, I know rib eye should equal tender. If you have it at your target temperature, having it the bath for an extended time isn't going to relinquish anything. It can only assist in breaking down the fat IMO and experience with SV.

[Oak Smoke]

I’ve never SV’d a ribeye but my standard for a sirloin is 4 hours at 131 F.

[briano52]

I don't SV much, but I do eat a lot of rib eye, my favorite cut. Sometimes they are tough. Rarely happens with prime grade but it can happen occasionally with choice or lower grades. Unless its prime, steaks can be a bit of a crap shoot. I tend to get more reliable quality, in choice, when I buy from a better store and pay a little more. I have a few favorite local stores, but I also get pretty good meat from Cosco when I have time to shop there.

[captainlee]

It happens. Had that happen with whole chickens too.

[bordercollie]

It may have been an older animal. We have some cows over 10 years old that still have nice calves. We took an open cow to the sale barn last week. She was around 4 years old and brought $2200 on the hoof. She probably weighed about 14-1500.Animals less than 4years bring more -it's my understanding that those have more marbling because they get ground corn in their diet and have more marbling , more tender,= prime. These are more tender than free range for that reason. Our cows still free range but get fed about 20 lbs per day besides grass in the cold months or during droughts.
We worked a group of 55 this afternoon- giving healthcare, weighing etc. That makes for about 175 this week. It is most likely that an old cow would be tougher.