Birthday Cook Sear Experiment: USDA Prime NY Strip

[scottranda]

I’m always excited for my birthday cook. I get to pick up anything I want, so off to Costco I went and got to choose from their selection. I picked up a NY Strip that is Prime for $9.99 / lb. I thought that was a pretty good deal! The marbling looks outstanding.

As you know, I have been contemplating getting the best sear ever. Lots of good conversations that have me excited to give some new techniques a shot. Here’s my plan:

Sous vide 1 steak in clarified butter and another in beef love. Probably SV to a medium rare or slightly more than that for about 1.5 hours. Cold shock it still in it’s vacuum seal for about 15 minutes. Then pull it out and pitchfork the steaks with these utensils I have for turkey. Then HOVER the steaks over a charcoal chimney that is HOTTER than Warp 10. I’ll call it the "no grate technique".

Here are my concerns: 1) will the cold shock gel up the clarified butter or beef love? Will that give me any issues when I sear? 2) I’m using clarified butter and beef love over a crazy hot charcoal chimney... Will those flare ups be of any concern? I imagine I’ll have quite a bit of flare up. Dave’s video show flames climbing over his steaks, but he says it’s not a problem because the grates are not hot.

Would you do anything different if you were me? Thoughts?

[DWCowles]

Happy Birthday! Those are some beautiful steaks. Cheers!

[RonB]

First off - the label sez "Blade Tenderized". If that means they have used a bladed contraption to cut the meat all the way through, you need to be very careful to make sure you kill any possible surface contamination that got pushed internally when is was tenderized. There is a chart somewhere that tells you how long to heat at any given temp to kill the bad bugs.

Next, butter burns at a fairly low temp, so you will need to watch carefully when you sear that steak.

However the steaks do look great.

[SMOG MAN]

I have seen that wording on many Costco labels, I take as a general warning that is built in to their labeling text, clearly when I buy Costco steaks they are not blade tenderized.

[scottranda]

RonB thanks for the info on the verbiage on the blade tenderized.

For the CLARIFIED butter, I read this article from Meathead which gave me the idea (see stripsteak method)

https://amazingribs.com/more-technique-and-science/more-cooking-science/extreme-steak-wild-and-crazy-ways-get-killer-sear

Should I still be concerned about burning even if using clarified butter? If that guy does it in Vegas with a screaming hot grill, what about me?

[RonB]

If it works in a high end steak house, you should be able to do it too. It may be the solids that burn??

[EdF]

Clarified butter doesn't burn easily.

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

Correct, clarified butter won't burn as badly. I personally wouldn't use the butter and such in the sous vide. I have found when doing steaks this way, the more you add, the less you get out of it. Salt, pepper, garlic, MAYBE some onion powder. But heavier on the salt than you would normally. That's it.

[DWCowles]

I used glee all the time when searing steaks. It can handle high heat with no problems.

[scottranda]

I plan on sous vide, cold shocking for 15, then do you think I need to warm up the ghee so it’s not gelatin? Could I go straight from cold shock to sear (with perhaps gelatinized ghee on the steak)?

[scottranda]

Do I need to be concerned about flare ups? (Clarified butter levitating over a charcoal chimney)

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

Trim your fat pretty well, I think, and you won't have to worry very much about flareups. I wish I knew what to tell you about going right from cold shock to sear...

[HorseDoctor]

Good luck with your cook! I'm sure it will go fine. My question is; why in the name of all that is Holy would anyone "blade tenderize" a prime NY strip and then label it "cook to 160"??? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!!! What were they thinking???????

[scottranda]

I just hope these are as tasty as what I had at the Capital Grille. I need to read more about blade tenderizing. I’m always learning!

[HorseDoctor]

It’s stabbed with a Jaccard type set of blades which potentially injects outside contamination into the center of the meat. This then requires the high temp warning. A prime strip shouldn’t need that treatment and 160 F would be a sacrilege for a prime piece of strip steak!

[lonnie mac]

I would try one really "no grate" and see how ya like it! No flareups really as there is no air between meat and heat.

[scottranda]

I can’t bring myself to do that caveman quite yet.

[Frozen Smoke]

I like lonnie mac idea. You get a excellent sear and you don't have to stab your nice steaks with that spear and give all those juices you strive to keep an escape exit.

[scottranda]

I checked the USDA time and temp chart. I think I’ll be fine. If I want my steak around 135-137 finished/serving temp, it only requires 23-36 minutes held at that temp. If I go for that temp in the SV water bath for 1.5 hours, I should be just fine. Thanks for pointing that out though RonB

[HouseHomey]

Enjoy!!

[jfmorris]

I hope you have a great birthday dinner!

I'll have to double check the labels on any steak I buy at Costco. I've got most of my steaks at Sam's, and never seen a label like that before. I cannot believe they would take a great steak and shove microbes to the center with needles/blades. Glad you are setup to sous vide things, otherwise it would be hard to guarantee the safety unless well done.

[scottranda]

Sous vide does some amazing things. I’ve learned a lot from this site about it... and staying safe.

[kmhfive]

Happy Birthday! I love the "no-grate" idea. I think it may take off in the future. Enjoy!

[scottranda]

Thanks!

[FireMan]

Now ya got me thinking, cuz I was going to pick up a couple of NY’s tomorrow at local butcher. 1sr I have heard of blade tenderizing. Good to know about.

[lonnie mac]

If one were into that sorta thing, this is the best 20 bucks I have spent. Don't use it much, but man when I do it works.

https://www.amazon.com/Jaccard-200348-Supertendermatic-48-Blade-Tenderizer/dp/B001347JK6/ref=pd_bxgy_79_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=FJ2X34Z6AV7AXCP2APHN

[HorseDoctor]

Agree! I use it a lot to tenderize venison round steaks before pounding out thin. Works great for what it's for. Still can't fathom needing it for a prime NY strip????

[texastweeter]

sometimes use it on beef plate ribs if they look too lean

[DogFaced PonySoldier]

Did you already do this cook? How did it turn out? I personally like to do all my steaks sous vide for at least 2 hours or so, sometimes 3. But I don't like putting a lot in the bag with them. I did the same taste test that the guys from Sous Vide Everything on YouTube did, and I found that putting butter in the bag actually muddies the flavor somewhat, I don't know why. I don't get it too much, but I know almost everything in the bag gets diluted somewhat, so I stick mainly with salt, pepper and garlic these days. And I even use garlic powder instead of fresh garlic most of the time, as it seems to be just as well-received by my guests and I can't tell a difference, either. And garlic is a major PITA, to me, to chop up.

I've got some in the freezer already seasoned and bagged, I just need to throw them in the water bath. But I think I want to cold shock them after, then bring them to around 115 on the smoker and tear them up with the flamethrower!

[scottranda]

I like the tests the SV Everything guys do, but I think their technique could be done better. Plus video production could be better too.