How to SV Sirloin

[Oak Smoke]

My lovely bride was astounded to learn that there were only 12 or 13 ribeye steaks in a half beef. She loves her ribeyes. Now I need to see if I can make a sirloin acceptable, we’ve got a lot of those. These are really nice sirloins. I have no problem with them as they are but need to tender them a little for her. My son showed up the other day with his Anova SV and left it with me because he never uses it. Will SV tenderize a sirloin without over cooking it or rendering all the moisture out. If it will how would you recommend going about it. I am a total amateur at SV, I’ve not ever turned one on yet.

[jfmorris]

Following this…

My initial thoughts are you don’t want to SV a steak more than a couple of hours at the temp you want it to be done to. I.e. 130, whatever. The improvement in tenderness for something like a sirloin would be from simply not over cooking it, since you know the interior is done to the perfect temp.

My issue with SV steaks is my wife likes hers medium-well and I like mine medium rare. And I only have one SV machine, so I do all the steaks to medium-rare - 135 for me usually - then just flip hers in the grill or skillet longer to get the interior higher.

[Andrrr]

Check out acorgihouse’s response below regarding cooking two SV steaks to different temps. The solution is painfully obvious once you read it.

[Panhead John]

I’m zero help on SV’ing anything, but I will add that a sirloin cooked medium rare with……..sautéed purple onion and mushrooms on top is very good! Sautee em in butter with Lawry’s Garlic Salt and some pepper.

[Oak Smoke]

Man I love sautéed onions and mushrooms. Thank you. If you want a really nice change of pace sautée a large yellow onion, just before it’s done squeeze half a lime over it and cook a little longer. It’s remarkable.

[bmillin]

Give it a try! The biggest learning curve (for me at least) is how to get the sear right. My wife and I compromise on a sv temp of 131 degrees. Searing can bump that up fast, so I try for a cool-down period before searing so I don't overshoot past 135.

BTW Sirloin can go 4 hours easy, no more necessary IMHO

[Oak Smoke]

Thank you! What is the optimal time to shoot for? I will be at 131 temp.

[CaptainMike]

Wut dis guy sed. Sooper simple.

[ssandy_561]

In my opinion when you sous vide a tougher steak it does make it more tender but not in the way a ribeye is tender.

A nicely marbled ribeye is tender but still has some firmness to the chew. A sous vide sirloin is tender but it loses that firmness in the chew. It’s not mushy but it’s a step closer to mushy than the tenderness of a ribeye.

Also the juiciness of a sous vide steak can never compare to the juiciness of a grilled steak. Both can be juicy but the grilled steak’s juiciness is on a whole other level.

I’ve sous vide sirloin steaks in the past ranging from 2 hours to 4 hours but if I buy sirloin steaks now I’ll just grill them and deal with the toughness by slicing it thinner when I eat it.

[Panhead John]

+1 You can’t beat a grilled steak! Good point about slicing it a little thinner.

[acorgihouse]

I sous vide off and on, just because the apparatus takes up space on the counter. So I use it a while, then put away for a while.... I have read that sometimes sous vide steak is less tender, as the fat doesn't render as quickly when you have a more controlled temp. All I know is what I have done. I think, honestly, that people are afraid (often) to leave the steak in there cooking for "too long." I have cooked steak, all kinds, at 129-130F, for 1 to 3-4 hours with no problem in the texture. The ones that go a little longer (like 3 hours or so) seem more tender. I don't know the length of time it would take to make the steak unflatteringly soft, but more than 4 hours certainly. I like my steak at ~133-134F, so cook to 129-130F and quick sear on grill or cast iron. I would not hesitate to sous vide a sirloin for 3-4 hours, not at all.
For the issue of getting two done at different temps, the easy way (for me) is to cook the highest heat steak first, then turn down the heat and throw in some ice until the temp is at the lower temp. Throw in the more rare steak, leave the high heat one in the bath to keep warm. So: if you wanted one steak at 140F and one at 131F> put in steak 1 and run up to 140F for 30 mins at least, till cooked through, then leave it in there but turn stick down to 131F and throw in some ice cubes. When the water temp hits 131F, throw in steak 2. Steak 1 can stay put, it will keep warm, and it won't cook further because it has already cooked to doneness of 140F. When enough time for steak 2 to be cooked, they are both done to the desired doneness, and both warm. Make sense?
Edit to add: I don't know about the new-ish sous vide ovens that don't have food in a bag in water bath. When you do traditional sous vide, you keep the moisture in the bag, so it doesn't get a chance to dry out. I know people like to put fat in, like butter, but the meat has fat and so doesn't really absorb more during the cook. Fat in a really lean meat, like fish, can apparently absorb some of it into the meat, but with beef or pork the fat in meat is exuding, so adding more fat to the bag just makes more extraneous liquid at the end. So they say...

[Oak Smoke]

Thank you, yes it all makes sense. I like a very pink steak. Given the chance I would go to the grill with a steak in the 125 internal range and don’t mind than there is slightly more chew to the sirloin. As I said these are very nice sirloins. The wife’s needs to go to the grill at 135-140. I don’t mind setting my steak to the side of the grill and searing hers longer. All I want SV to do is get me a little more tenderness in hers. Again thank you for all the details, I’m a details person.

[jfmorris]

Thanks so much for presenting this solution to the SV to two different temp issue. I'll give this a try the next time I do steaks using the SV method.

[Troutman]

First off technically there are not 12-13 ribeyes in a side of beef. Cows have 13 ribs but the first 5 are part of the chuck. You do have chuck eyes in from about ribs 4-5. From there on you have the longissimus and spinalis muscles creating the ribeye section, the best of which is through rib 12. Rib 13 begins the loin. So technically there you get more like 7 ribeyes. But I digress.

I suggest you download the Joule Chef Steps app onto your phone or computer. It has a wealth of information on how best to cook a variety of proteins to suit your finish preferences. Good luck !!

Joule Chef Steps App

[Troutman]

Oak Smoke yea the subprimal rib sections I buy from Costco usually yield 10-11 steaks so I hear ya. It also depends how thick you slice them. Regardless check out Joule, they do a great job showing the results of SV steaks.

[Oak Smoke]

Troutman Thank you, I’ll check them out on Joule this evening. It seems I’ve just been assigned to put up Christmas lights.

[WayneT]

+1 on what Steve said about the ChefSteps Joule app and immersion cooker. You can use the SV settings from a food recipe search in the app or use your own temp and time settings.

This website is also a very good place to begin to get familiar with SV settings based on the shape and thickness of your protein.

https://stefangourmet.com/2018/04/01/how-to-choose-time-and-temperature-to-cook-meat-sous-vide/

[WayneT]

Another very handy SV tool if you want to smoke after the SV step without overcooking.

https://www.breville.com/us/en/breville-commercial-blog/sous-vide-chilling.html

[GolfGeezer]

Here is some light reading to help you with this:

https://www.seriouseats.com/food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-steak

[STEbbq]

I have done steaks in SV for several years now. I do 90 minutes at 129, pat dry, put rub on, avocado oil or another high smoke point oil on rub, and sear at high temps over charcoal flipping every 30 seconds until I get the desired color. You can do anywhere between 129-132 for 90 minutes and get same result. If they are too medium for your taste, freeze them for 10-20 minutes after SV and then sear immediately.