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**surfdog** · February 1, 2017, 03:15 PM

Ok...here we go...since you asked. LOL

I asked a similar question some time ago...
As a trained chef (two degrees AND real world experience), I questioned the need for a sous vide device in the home.
When catering, or in a restaurant, they can be a game changer. (And a life saver.)
Just imagine prepping & cooking 300+ steaks. O_o

BUT...I questioned their value to a home cook!
I seriously...
DID. NOT. GET. IT.

Well, after reading the comments to MY question...and some of other things written, I decided to pick one up. (Anova Precision Cooker) Yeah...it CAN also be a game changer at home as well. Steaks, perfectly cooked, can be replicated with ease. And that replication is key. Also, that straight-line fully linear cooking of steaks can now include another glass of wine or beer or whatever, without having to worry that one has overshot the runway. In short...the steaks are more or less ready when WE are ready...and not the other way 'round. Yes, they still require a bit of "finishing" but the timing for that is not nearly as critical as when doing a linear cook.

To be fair, for some things...I'm still on the fence.
For example, I really do not see the benefit in "poaching" an egg for 45 minutes. O_o
IDK, perhaps it's because I KNOW how to properly poach an egg...but that just seems a solution looking for a problem that doesn't exist to me.

So yeah, overall...I'm a convert for sous vide as a useful home cooking device.

**RonB** · February 1, 2017, 03:25 PM

Let me take another whack at this.

So I put all the steaks in the bath @ 120* F for an hour. I then remove the rare steaks and put them in an ice bath. The temp gets raised to 135* F, (for example), and after 30 min at that temp, I remove the medium steaks and place in the ice bath. Then, if I need any well done steaks, I raise the temp and repeat.

I then would cool all the steaks down to the same temp and then sear them until the temps of all are back up to 120* F - the temp of the rare steaks, and since the steaks are already done, 120* is sufficient and all should be ready at the same time. And I could sous vide any time - even the day before, and sear and serve when I'm ready?

BTW - getting the temp of the bath down, (as I originally suggested), would not be a problem as I could just add a bit of ice to lower the temp of the bath.

**MBMorgan** · February 1, 2017, 04:23 PM

Originally posted by RonB View Post

Let me take another whack at this.

So I put all the steaks in the bath @ 120* F for an hour. I then remove the rare steaks and put them in an ice bath. The temp gets raised to 135* F, (for example), and after 30 min at that temp, I remove the medium steaks and place in the ice bath. Then, if I need any well done steaks, I raise the temp and repeat.

I then would cool all the steaks down to the same temp and then sear them until the temps of all are back up to 120* F - the temp of the rare steaks, and since the steaks are already done, 120* is sufficient and all should be ready at the same time. And I could sous vide any time - even the day before, and sear and serve when I'm ready?

A word of caution about rare steaks SV'd at 120*. 131* is generally considered the lowest safe temp to SV meat because, below that, you may not achieve full pasteurization regardless of time. Jerod Broussard or DouglasBaldwin or Potkettleblack might want to comment.

**tbob4** · February 1, 2017, 04:27 PM

RonB - I have not done the ice bath trick. I will some day soon. For steak - I set the Anova to 128 if my daughter is eating, 131 if my son is and my daughter isn't. 133 if my wife and I are eating alone. So if I have them all here, I set the Anova to 128 and let the steaks cook for a few hours. I make a good fire on my Santa Maria Grill. I put the grate at a medium height. I take my wife's steak out of the water, pat it dry, season it and put it on the fire. She likes hers medium to medium well. I take mine out, do the same thing, lower the grate a bit, put mine on, turn hers. I like mine medium rare. Then I repeat the process with the kids'. By the time I am at my daughter's steak, my wife's has been on for about 6 minutes and mine about 4. I have the grate low to the fire and things are sizzling. My daughter's steak literally just goes on, sizzles, gets flipped, sizzles and is done. I'm flipping all of the steaks at the same rate by this time and pulling them simultaneously. If, I'm cooking at 133 for the two of us, I am just doing the sizzle thing to my steak because it is already medium rare and cooking my wife's a little more. I would have to adapt this method for the ice bath method. With my vision grill, I've done something similar - get it to hold at 350 - pull wife's first, put lid back down for a few minutes, open lid, fire gets blazing and then I do the quick flip with the kids'.

**Jerod Broussard** · February 1, 2017, 05:20 PM

If I ever sous vide under 131 I pre-sear.

**SlushDeezey** · February 1, 2017, 07:05 PM

Wow, great responses from you guys. What's the footprint on the Anova?

**ribeyeguy** · February 1, 2017, 08:10 PM

Originally posted by surfdog View Post

RonB I would set the circulator for the for the lowest temp to be served. Pull those that want "more done" first, and put them on the "cool" side of a two zone grill... They'll continue to cook up to well done if need be. (shudder LOL) When those are about ready to be blasted with HIGH heat (read: seared) pull the lower temp steaks. That way they are all "finished" at the same time, and everyone gets served with the steak cooked to their choice. And everything from well done to rare can be done this way if needed.

Hey surfdog , no disrespect intended but how does that differ from a standard two zone grill method? As an example, let's say I've got four steaks to cook, one to rare, two to medium and one to well. The well done one goes on the cool side of the grill first, a bit ahead of the mediums and then the rare. By staggering the start times they should all be ready for reverse searing at roughly the same time and seared for the same length of time.

Maybe I'm missing something but doesn't that achieve the same result without having to bother with a sous vide unit? It just seems like an extra, unnecessary step to me along with more clean up.

Again, I mean no disrespect, just looking for a reason to justify buying one.

**vandy** · February 1, 2017, 08:56 PM

From what I understand the whole point of the sous vide setup is to get the meat more tender than you can get with the grill alone. Read Clint Cantwell's post on here about doing a ribeye sous vide then on the grill to finish. If I knew how to link to that post I would but sorry I don't. I did my last ribeye with the Joule and it was by far the most tender ribeye that I have done, now I just have to learn how to get that grill flavor that I like. Clint's way of doing it sounds as if it is the perfect marriage of sous vide and grill so the next time I cook them I am planning on trying his recommendation to find out.

**tbob4** · February 1, 2017, 09:54 PM

ribeyeguy - you are not missing anything in your description of how you cook. If you have a method that delivers good, consistent results from beginning to end on the grill, it's preferable in my opinion. I have a Santa Maria grill and can make the perfect medium rare steak every time. Where I have issues is making the rare steaks. I know with sous vide, I can do both. I will follow with a few thoughts:

It's fantastic for the frozen steak. I buy prime ribeye roasts, cut them into steaks, salt the steaks, vacuum pack them, refrigerate them for a day and then freeze them. I take the steaks straight from the freezer to the sous vide. No thawing.

In the winter, when things are cold outside and light is limited, it is really nice to start a fire, have a steak ready and have it done quickly.

In the summer I don't use the sous vide to cook much - it is more my reheating vessel - and a beautiful one.

I'm not sold on the "sous vide is better" argument. I like my perfectly grilled steak, start to finish, better. It takes a good deal of prep, attention to detail and a bit of selfishness to do it, though. I like MY steak to be perfect - definition is Medium Rare. If my daughter's rare steak suffers a bit, what the heck. If my wife's is over or undercooked, what the heck.

I like the fact that I can get things right for everyone consistently. Not perfect, but right. My daughter would argue - she loves her very rare steaks. She says I have never BBQ'd a steak so well.

Lots of rambling, I know but i hope it helps a bit.

**Michael Brinton** · February 2, 2017, 06:42 AM

I'm hoping he has good results but Cooking Issues, Dave Arnold's working of methods to SV steak at rare temps and have it appear as if it's cooked well done. He sort of rambled current results but from what I understand the trick is in oxygenation. Ever notice how steak "blooms" to bright red after you slice? He's saying resting the steaks before cooking, maybe buying them from a case, outside of any wrapping can produce less red steak so far. So if it's only an issue of appearance, and a method can be developed, you could serve rare steaks that look well done, best of both worlds. Though I have to personally I enjoy the red but some people... (I'll definitely watch his progress.)

**Atalanta** · February 2, 2017, 11:50 AM

For us its not so much steak but chicken and pork. I wouldn't buy pork chops because I could never get them done right, they always came out dry. Now they're tender and juicy, and even a little pink in the middle. Same with chicken (though on the grill, I'd often undercook and then have to do something to finish them). I'm thinking this will make great stuffed burgers - SV so the insides get hot and runny then finish on the grill, without worrying about overdone meat and ungooey insides.

**surfdog** · February 3, 2017, 11:05 AM

ribeyeguy Absolutely no offense taken. With that out of the way...

The short answer: it doesn't.
What it does add, is the ability to better control WHEN those steaks get seared...which is handy if you need to hold them for a while. As you know, once the steaks hit the grill it's a pretty linear journey to finished. Sous vide allows for them to be started before guests arrive...and then finish them when everyone is actually ready. Kind of a neat trick.

It also ensures that the IT is the same throughout...with much more precision. Especially useful the more towards rare one like them. It's pretty easy to ensure a perfect rare/med-rare steak with a great sear with sous vide. Not that it can't be done otherwise, because it certainly can, but it brings a level of control not normally found on a regular grill. (And it's just the thing to pack when expected to cook on someone's "foreign" grill.)

As I stated some time ago...even after using them in a professional kitchen, I still questioned their usefulness to a home cook. Now that I use one...I'm a bit of a convert. I do like being able to toss some meat in the tub and walk away for a couple hours...and then simply finish them when my guests and I are ready. But I enjoy the "old fashioned" way as well...just me & fire. Both give good results and good outcomes...but sous vide adds a level of control that may or may not be important to everyone.

They're getting cheap enough now that I think they're worth trying...even if I haven't found some uses to be that worthwhile.
Sheesh, what a rant. LOL Sorry about that.

**vandy** · February 5, 2017, 08:32 PM

I cooked some boneless skinless chicken breasts this weekend with the Joule sous vide and they were by far the most tender and juicy chicken breasts that I have cooked. I put them in the bath straight out of the freezer for about an hour and a half, then put them in an ice bath for 30 minutes (before they were frozen I seasoned them with some chicken rub). I then put them on my Grilla Silverback at 325 degrees until the internal temp was around 160. They were very tender, juicy and tasty with the smoke flavor that I like, I was very surprised that they were that good with the grill taste that I like. This will definitely be my go to method for cooking these from now on.

**tbob4** · February 5, 2017, 09:18 PM

ribeyeguy - I have another reason for the Sous Vide. I had to cheat a bit this weekend. I promised BBQ'd ribs, tri-tip and chicken wings for a Super Bowl Party. I had the space for it all but it was only me cooking. So I prepped everything and had them vacuum packed. I got the fire started at 06:00. I had a clean fire going and put the ribs in at 08:00. I put the tri-tip on at 10:30 and got the second smoker going. I was also going to smoke the ribs. I thought, "why would I smoke the wings when everyone is just going to eat them as a snack?" So I sous vide'd them and finished them on the grill. Best wings I ever made. I could spend my time with a blazing hot fire concentrating on getting a good crisp skin on the wings and I did not have to worry about them being dry. If I were only doing wings, I might have been just as successful in the smoker, but with all of the other stuff going on and at different temps and times it made things really nice.

**Atalanta** · February 6, 2017, 09:49 PM

vandy The dressing isn't so much a recipe as a "wing it". About equal parts oil and vinegar, couple shakes of the italian spice blend (that stuff you get in the grocery store, usually about $1.50) and just as dash of the lemon juice. BF used to work in an Italian restaurant and they'd make this by the vat. Instead of lemon juice, they'd slice a bunch of lemons and let everything get friendly. Oh and garlic. I always forget the garlic. We put quite a bit in - if I'm making it I used garlic powder, if BF is doing it, he minces fresh garlic.

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