'Warm Ageing' Sous Vide Steak

Generally, I have been disappointed in sous vide steaks (I use Choice Rib eye) because while they are very tender, much of the juiciness is gone. It is left in the bag when you pull it out of the bath. The longer the meat is in the more juice is extracted from the meat.

I came across the idea of ‘warm ageing’ steak (Chris Young) by using the sous vide method to 103F degrees for an hour and then 120F degrees for another hour or two. This tenderizes the meat because of enzymatic tenderization. Then finishing off for an additional 2 hours at desired temperature.

My question is; can I safely skip the last step and go directly to the grill or skillet? This step would allow sous vide to do its magic on tenderizing the meat while keeping moisture loss to a minimum. Then, at 120F, a nice balance to get a sufficient sear on the outside and yet bring up the temp to desired doneness on the inside. Of course, I would pre-sear before sous vide if using non-frozen beef. I don’t believe this step would be necessary for my individual vacuumed packed frozen cuts; I would just put them directly into the bath. Is this correct?

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Find more posts tagged with

Recipes Q's

Comments

Johan_Edstrom_5586

I'd most certainly pre sear frozen too, you'll be keeping it at really low temps.

Your dry steaks, how long have you had them in bath?

HammeredChef_DEFINITELY_does_NOT_work_at_22134

Are you salting them before SV?

Samuel_68313

I'm half convinced that when people have this complaint about sous vide cooking it is more a matter of their mind playing tricks on them than anything else. They see the juice in the bag and assume the meat will be dry because of it, whereas obviously that same juice and more is lost in other cooking methods.

Rickard_Frans_n_125068

I would disagree with you there Samuel (at least when we talk about times around 24h and so on) as I have had problems with alot of juices lost (30% of the original piece of meats weight). My family identified that the meat was tender but very dry and they are very used to eating meat that I sous vide. When we talk about 2-4 or even 10 hours I havn't had a problem with it but with lean meat and 24 hours of cooking time it has been a problem for sure.

Samuel_68313

Well why would you cook a lean piece of meat for 24 hours?

Brandon_Byrd_40557

I'd disagree as well. I've cooked a boatload of steak sous vide - mostly ribeye and strip steaks - and have found that the texture is often drier and more grainy than when I use a traditional cooking method. I don't pre-salt and I don't cook for extended times... I basically just cook to core and then sear (and I usually pre-sear, but not always). The problem seems to be more pronounced on leaner beef; about 3/4 of the beef I buy is grass-fed, so it's a problem for me. Because of this, I've moved away from cooking tender cuts sous vide unless they have a high fat content or are super-tender already. My wife likes tenderloin (I rarely eat the stuff) but hates undercooked meat, so I always cook hers to core and then finish on the grill (where I cook my steaks conventionally). In my experience, SV works great on tough cuts with extended cook times and on short cooks of cuts like flank, skirt, or flap steak (whose pronounced grain doesn't seem to be negatively impacted like ribeye or strip). Maybe something super-baller like a Wagyu or top prime steak would hold up better, but I never cook the stuff because it's difficult for me to source and costs more than I'd like to pay.

Brendan_Lee_56950

I've had that same issue with grass fed beef but not with grain fed.

I'd love to see a double blind experiment where individuals with varying experience are fed steak that has been cooked SV and from a pan and from a grill, seasoned with only a pre-defined amount of salt. To keep it fair I would trim all of the seared sides so they would have only a cube of meat cooked using each method and wouldn't be able to detect the grill flavor or pan flavor for example.

I'd then like to see some data on the average temperature at which a grilled steak is consumed at the table vs the average temperature of a SV steak at the table. My hunch, completely unscientific, is that the average person consumes a steak from the grill at a significantly warmer temperature than when cooking SV and as a result is feeling as though it is more juicy because it is still expelling juice from not resting long enough. I think one of the biggest complaints I see for beginner SV cooks is that food isn't serve warm enough and when compared to a steak off the grill the "juices aren't flowing" so to speak.

Rickard_Frans_n_125068

http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/tough-cuts-transformed

Samuel_68313

I sometimes prefer the flavour when cooked using just a pan or grill, but that's pretty much because it's easier to get a great sear. I've certainly never had a texture issue cooking steak sous vide.

mike-chefsteps

"I think one of the biggest complaints I see for beginner SV cooks is that food isn't serve warm enough"

How do experienced chefs handle that problem?

mike-chefsteps

I have definitely noticed a difference in graininess between steaks, even cooked at the same time and temperature (give or take a degree). They were the same cut, but from different stores (Trader Joe's vs. Costco) and probably different grades.

I never put any time into exploring it systematically, though.