Last weekend I did a sous-vid-que that came out great (second time doing this technique), but has room for improvement. I wanted to share and see if anyone else had different ideas, suggestions, and results with this.
To start, I used this Alton Brown recipe for marinade which I’ve been using for years. It’s awesome:
The recipe/technique is for skirt steak, which is much more expensive, so we usually do it with flank. Incidentally I did actually try his "put it directly on the coals (dirty)" technique once with skirt steak too… turned out nice, but not worth the effort IMHO (and such a waste to fire up coals just for that few seconds of cooking!).
For the sous vide time and temp, I followed the advice in this article here…
…to cook at 131F, because below that is risky. Now, I’ve regularly done steaks (like a thick ribeye) at 120 or 125 for several hours in SV to then finish in the pan, but maybe that’s a bad idea? Cooking in the water at 131 then finishing on the grill made the meat more cooked than I’d like. I want it red and rare; this was pink and cooked more than I want. Mine were in the bath for just a few hours. I know the article above says your can do like 8 hours which will make it really tender; I’m sure it will, but even at 3 it was more tender than not doing the SVQ method. And yes, I did let the meet cool for probably half an hour before throwing it on the grill.
So, comments and questions…
1. Not to question the almighty Meathead and his crack science team, but is doing SV at, say, 120F for a few hours on flank steak really a bad idea? Is there a limit to how long you can cook at that lower temp before things get dangerous?
2. I love my marinade recipe but if anyone has another one they swear by, I’m all ears! Always happy to try something new.
3. Any other suggestions for doing flank steak and making it awesome? I’ve done flank steak just on the stovetop (no sous vide even) many times and it’s great, but doing the SVQ method definitely takes it to a new level.
Thanks, and happy grilling! I believe we’re doing this again tomorrow for a bunch of people. Homemade tortillas and homemade salsa really ties it all together, too ;-)
cheers
-Joseph
To start, I used this Alton Brown recipe for marinade which I’ve been using for years. It’s awesome:
The recipe/technique is for skirt steak, which is much more expensive, so we usually do it with flank. Incidentally I did actually try his "put it directly on the coals (dirty)" technique once with skirt steak too… turned out nice, but not worth the effort IMHO (and such a waste to fire up coals just for that few seconds of cooking!).
For the sous vide time and temp, I followed the advice in this article here…
…to cook at 131F, because below that is risky. Now, I’ve regularly done steaks (like a thick ribeye) at 120 or 125 for several hours in SV to then finish in the pan, but maybe that’s a bad idea? Cooking in the water at 131 then finishing on the grill made the meat more cooked than I’d like. I want it red and rare; this was pink and cooked more than I want. Mine were in the bath for just a few hours. I know the article above says your can do like 8 hours which will make it really tender; I’m sure it will, but even at 3 it was more tender than not doing the SVQ method. And yes, I did let the meet cool for probably half an hour before throwing it on the grill.
So, comments and questions…
1. Not to question the almighty Meathead and his crack science team, but is doing SV at, say, 120F for a few hours on flank steak really a bad idea? Is there a limit to how long you can cook at that lower temp before things get dangerous?
2. I love my marinade recipe but if anyone has another one they swear by, I’m all ears! Always happy to try something new.
3. Any other suggestions for doing flank steak and making it awesome? I’ve done flank steak just on the stovetop (no sous vide even) many times and it’s great, but doing the SVQ method definitely takes it to a new level.
Thanks, and happy grilling! I believe we’re doing this again tomorrow for a bunch of people. Homemade tortillas and homemade salsa really ties it all together, too ;-)
cheers
-Joseph
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