I too just got a Anova SV just before Christmas. All these posts on this thread are very helpful. I've done Tri Tip for 12 Hr at 134 then seared and it was very good. One day gassing up the van I saw our Kwik Trip had a special on a Shoulder Tender Beef Steak 5oz for $1.99 each. I thought what a great steak to practice on--so 4.5 Hr at 132 then seared and they too were VG for what they cost. This tells me to agree with the theory that SV is your tenderizer. Fun reading and learning more new methods. Thanks for all your posts and ideas. Can't wait to try vegetables.
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If you are shocking the ribeye after the SV bath how long would you leave it in the ice bath before going to the grill for the sear?Comment
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This is my ribeye cook from yesterday, I did the SV bath at 131 degrees for 4.5 hours with frozen steaks. I then put them in an ice bath for about 10 minutes, then seared them on a hot cast iron griddle with garlic butter on the grill side of my Lang hybrid. They were perfectly done with a tenderness that I don't normally get from grilling all the way but the grill flavor was not there, I think next time I try this I will smoke them straight out of the freezer on one of my pellet smokers then go to the SV bath for a couple hours then sear them over hot coals to find out what happens.Comment
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Here's my ideal Sous-Vide-Que ribeye, created after a ton of practice and testing. My wife declared it one of, if not the, top steaks I've ever done which is saying a lot!
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I SV'd and grilled a ribeye tonight. It went pretty well but, there was very little flavor. I dry brined the steak with Oak Ridge BBQ Steakhouse Seasoning. This rub usually has tons of flavor. After I brined it for a few hours, I threw it in the bath for 3 hours at 129 F.
I used the KJ Jr. for the sear portion of the cook. I did light the cooker about an hour before the searing took place. By the time I was going to sear the steak the coals were RED HOT. The dome thermo was reading 700 F. Wahoooo!!! Right? Not exactly, the coals were so hot and burning so cleanly that the heat was pretty much neutral in flavor. So this didn't help the overall flavor of the meat. Usually, this is where I get all the flavor, or most of it.
Next time, I will add a chunk of wood about 5 mins before I put the steak on the grate. This will give me that extra boost of smoke for the short and hot sear portion of the cook.
Another thing I need to remember, is to salt the steak before searing. When I take the steak out of the bag, I usually tap it dry. I feel like this takes some of surface salt and other spices right off the surface. So, consequently, they need to be reapplied. I believe.
I am still learning and playing around with this new technique. Do any of the SV veterans know of anything else I should try to boost the flavor?
Thanks!
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If you haven't tried it yet do the following method for your steaks.
1. Salt and pepper the steak.
2. Smoke the steak at about 160* for about 20 to 30 minutes. The idea is to add smoke without cooking it.
3. Add equal parts Granulated Garlic, Onion Powder and Tarragon. Rub the steaks on both sides.
4. Sous Vide them puppies at 126* for 1 1/2 hours.
5. Sear them over high heat like a searing grate or as close to hot coals as you can get them. Only sear until golden brown and caramelized. Take them off and onto a plate.
6. Sprinkle again with the G.O.T rub and add a pat of butter on top.
7. Tent with foil for 15 minutes.
8. Serve the best steak you ever ate in your life.Comment
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Spinaker, here's what Kenji Lopez-Alt says about rubs on steak with sous vide:
Q: Can I add a spice rub to my steak?
Yes you can, but spice rubs behave quite differently under sous-vide conditions than standard cooking conditions. Normally, aromatic compounds will dissipate into the air in the kitchen or over your grill as a spice-rubbed steak cooks. At the same time, moisture dissipates, which means what's left of your spices sticks firmly to your meat. With sous-vide cooking, there's no way for that flavor to escape the bag. Meanwhile, spices rubbed on the surface of the meat have a tendency to get rinsed off by any juices that are being expressed.
The short answer is that it's very tough to predict exactly how spices are going to react in a sous-vide bag. I've found that if I want spice flavor, it's better to rub the spices into the meat after the sous-vide cooking phase and before the final searing phase.
It's from The Food Lab's Complete Guide to Sous Vide Steaks on the Serious Eats website, which you've probably already read, but each time I read it I pick up something new, especially now that I've got a few sous vide cooks under my belt and focus more closely on different aspects of the process.
I'm going to follow his method tonight for two big honkin' Porterhouses that we'll be having for supper.
Kathryn
P.S. The problem that I see with Kenji's recommendation about rubs is how to keep them from burning during the quick searing at the end. When a rub is put on the steak for the reverse sear method, the rub has time to become one with the steak. When it's just sprinkled on after sous vide, I'm not sure that happens.Last edited by fzxdoc; February 12, 2017, 08:03 AM.Comment
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You should check out Potkettleblack sticky topic on the purge. The only way to get that flavor back from a rub sous vide is with a sauce made from the purge. Also from reading around the general consensus is no need to dry brine, because you can't over cook the steak. 1% of total weight of salt added to the bag is general. But I've also heard ideas about not salting until after the sous vide step because of textural changes. Test work needs to be done on these questions. A lot of sources say add oil or butter to the bag, I never enjoyed those results.Comment
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Again, here's what Kenji Lopez-Alt says about seasoning a sous vide steak:Seasoning a steak prior to vacuum sealing it and then letting it rest in the bag can result in meat that has a firm texture similar to a mildly cured ham. Some folks find this texture off-putting, though I personally don't mind it. To avoid this texture, it's best to season and bag a steak immediately before cooking, or after cooking sous-vide and before searing.And about adding oil or butter to the bag before sous viding:
In either case, only the exterior of a steak will be seasoned, so it's always a good idea to serve your steak with coarse sea salt, such as Maldon, for sprinkling at the table as your guests slice.I've seen recipes that recommend adding fat to the bag, though none that offer plausible reasons for doing so. I decided to test whether or not it adds anything to the process by cooking three steaks side by side: one with nothing added to the bag, one with olive oil, and one with butter. I also repeated the test with some thyme sprigs and garlic added to each bag.Up to now, I've been following the Chef Steps guides to sous vide. They always add olive oil, garlic/thyme etc., they don't vacuum seal (Kenji gives the option), they let the steak rest after the sous vide. Lopez-Alt does it a bit differently, so I'm going to follow his method and see how it goes.
Intuitively you may think that adding a flavorful fat like butter or olive oil will in turn help create a more flavorful steak, but in fact it turns out that you achieves the opposite goal: it dilutes flavor. Fat-soluble flavor compounds dissolve in the melted butter or oil and end up going down the drain later. Similarly, flavors extracted from aromatics end up diluted. For best results, place your seasoned steak in a bag with no added fats.
I agree with you, Michael Brinton , there's a lot of flavor in those juices. I couldn't bear to pour them out.
KathrynLast edited by fzxdoc; February 12, 2017, 12:55 PM.Comment
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Personally I don't use aromatics when I SV steaks or salt and pepper or any fat. I SV to target temp and never longer than two hours. After removing from bag I dry steak using paper towels and let it sit for a few minutes to cool down - apply salt and sear in a blazing hot cast iron pan (if my smoke alarm doesn't go off it's not hot enough) or SNS (always hot enough). After searing apply pepper ( pepper can burn with enough heat and become unpleasant IMHO) and serve....after a short rest..
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​​​​​​No aromatics cause I just love the flavor of a good steak...Well sometimes I use flavored butter.....rarely...
But that's just my personal way of doing steak - everyone has their own .....experiment and find yours...Comment
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I'm thinking of making a bearnaise sauce for supper in my SV setup after I take the steaks out. Must research that.
Kathryn
Edited: Well, it has to SV for 45 minutes at 174°F which will take too long after the steaks are done and I don't want to do it ahead. Guess I'll just make it old school.Last edited by fzxdoc; February 12, 2017, 12:50 PM.Comment
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fzxdoc Chef steps has a sous vide process/recipe for hollandaise that I bet could be tweaked for bernaise.
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There is so much written here I bet what I'm about to say is already written a few times in fact but here I go anyway. I like the joule (and Anova) for cooking steaks I dont have a real gas grill or really any type of grill to do short cooks on. (My pellet Smoker Died) When I did I always got side tracked and ended up over cooking my steaks. Even I can stay focused for 90 sec a side in the pan after the bath (and shock!) Don't forget that SV is wonderful for reheating Especially Brisket (@160F) it comes out of the bag just like it just came out of the Cooler after the initial rest. Lastly Dont Forget about Vegetables!! (the reason I have 2) They cook at a higher temp 170 ish but items like corn on the cob come out wonderful! Oh I did Eggs Benedict on Christmas day and it was wonderful!! (how many times can i write Wonderful??) (and very easy!!) Every week I hear of something else SV is good for.( like pastrami) Its a great item to have in your arsenal of Cooking Devices!!Last edited by GadjetGriller; February 12, 2017, 02:24 PM.Comment
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fzxdoc I used this one, I cubed the pork loin and marinated it then SV'd the marinated pork in same bag for about 2hrs then browned them up in CI skillet.
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Gooner-que I am so glad you posted the information for the thermal controller. I was looking at that ITC-308 last week, thinking of the same use. Thanks for posting.
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Well, I sous vided the 1.5 inch Porterhouse steaks (3.5lbs total) last night and they were awesome. I put them in the sous vide spa at 133°F for 1 hour 45 minutes with just salt and pepper. I vacuum sealed them in the new heavy duty Food Saver Gamesaver bags that I had just bought, which worked great. The bones did not perforate the bag, something that I was worried about. I sealed them on the moist setting so I could get a double seal.
When they came out, I put them on the plate, moist, and then sprinkled our fav steak rub (Napa Style Roasted Garlic Rub) on both sides. Because I didn't dry the steaks, the rub stuck quickly and well. With all the rub on, the steaks felt almost dry to the touch--just a little tacky.
I seared them on my gasser on my Grill Grate Griddle which was about 600 degrees, about a minute per side, then flipped for an additonal 30 seconds per side. The crust formed nicely, but it wasn't as good a crust as I get doing the reverse sear method. And there were small char places where the rub burned, but not many--mostly the steaks were browned nicely.
The meat was tender and delicious. I could taste the rub, but again not like I do for reverse sear method.
I had planned on searing them off on my WSCGC, but remembered Meathead saying somewhere that for short cooks, the meat doesn't pick up the flavor from the charcoal fire, so it doesn't matter if food cooked fast is done on a charcoal grill or a gasser. I've always meant to test that theory in a side-by-side comparison, but that's still on my BBQ To Do list.
What I'm finding about the sous vide method is that, for the first time ever, the meat is not the boss of me! I am the sole cook in our household--no help from hubby until cleanup time--and sometimes I fly around the kitchen and out to the grills on the deck to get everything to come together on time. It can be real workout. But having a sous vide device allows me to take comfort in the fact that the meat is cooking nicely and will never overcook as I work at a more relaxed and enjoyable pace getting the rest of the meal prepared.
So I'm sold on sous vide!
KathrynLast edited by fuzzydaddy; February 13, 2017, 05:43 PM. Reason: Added AR affiliate code to the Grill Grate Griddle linkComment
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@fzxdoc
Kathryn, Nice wrote up. I always dry my SV steaks, post soak, but like I said in my post above, I think I am blotting the spices and salt right off the surface. I also haven't applied the rub after the SV process to allow the water on the surface to soak up the rub. That makes perfect sense to me. Especially since MH tells us that spices and salt dissolve better in water.
Here is a thought.....And someone tell me if I am off base on this one......Can you SV at 115 F for an hour or so. Then take the steak out and sear it until the internal hits 130F. Like you would with a traditional Reverse seared steak. This would give it more time to soak up that live fire taste on the grill. Curious to hear what others think......Comment
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It probably still wouldn't be long enough. Go with Clint Cantwell 's big chill then re heat reverse sear, best of both worlds and you could split the days up so it wouldn't be extra cooking. -
I agree Michael Brinton I am going to try Clint's method the next time I do some ribeyes. I plan on sous vide, then in the ice bath for 1 hour then into the fridge until the next day, then cook them on the grill with the normal reverse sear method on the grill.
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