Sous vide beef ending up nasty smelling

hi folks,

So I just tried a 16-hour long, 185 F, sous vide cook for beef short ribs. The beef texture turned our amazing, but the smell was horrible. I had to mask it off with tons of BBQ sauce, just so I could eat it!

PS: the beef was brined/refrigerated for 36 hours in a mixture of water, brown sugar, smoked salt, black pepper, chili flakes, and liquid smoke.

What am I doing wrong here???

Appreciate your help.

Mohamad

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Comments

tshewman

Could have been bad bugs. Did you pre-sear or blanch? Bag vacuum sealed? Was it floating at any time? Air get in?

FrankM_3301

For short ribs, I always pre-sear. This takes care of any surface contamination that can result in the effect you noticed.

Mohamad_Fares_388842

Hi guys,

No, I did not pre-sear or blanch... However, I cooked at a relatively high temp of 185 F, which should technically kill any harmful bacteria, no? The beef we get in this part of the world (Qatar) is usually imported, and wet-aged/chilled on the way here, so that could possibly be the culprit. Does blanching or pre-searing have any implications on the finished product (I'm aiming for braisey texture.)

Cheers,

Mohamad

FrankM_3301

The final texture should not be impacted by a pre-sear or blanch. You only need a short treatment. 15- 30 sec blanch, or maybe a minute sear in very hot pan.

bkeene12

Mohamad- Did you wait for the sous vide to come up to 185 before you put the meat in?

Mohamad_Fares_388842

Hi Bobby,

I did not. Could that be the reason? I dropped it in at about 100.

Thanks,

tshewman

quite possible, was the bad inflated/floating at anytime?

Mohamad_Fares_388842

It was a little inflated.. I was surprised with the amount of liquid that the meat shed, and attributed it to that. It wasn't enough to float though. The meat weighed a hefty 5 lbs, which was enough to keep it down.

I will try blanching in blazing hot water for 45 seconds next time and updated this thread. Will also drop it in once the bath has come to temp. I'll update you folks. Thanks again!

Mohamad

matthewmicahhall

It sounds like Todd may have hit on the issue. Given the low starting temperature, it's quite possible that you cultured something like lactobacillus that gave the funky smell. The blanching step that you mentioned should help with killing off surface microbes, but dropping the beef at the right temp should also solve the problem.

Mohamad_Fares_388842

Thanks Matt!

fisher23

Next time try a pre-sear that will kill off any bacteria and then sous vide as normal. I do that will all my longer cooks and don't have the issue. Some of the cooks will even deep fry for a minute or so for the same reason. It also helps to avoid air forming in the bag and getting a floater in the middle of your cook.

bkeene12

Yes, if you dropped it in at 100 you basically had the meat off gassing in the bag resulting in the stink.

Mohamad_Fares_388842

Thanks for all the responses ladies and gents. I am now in the process of take 2. Just finished trimming the meat and dropped it in an extremely cold brine of spices, liquid smoke, etc. I will let it marinate for a good 18 hours before I sous vide it. My plan is to quickly sear it on a screaming hot cast iron skillet and then drop it in a 185 F bath (that's already come to temp, this time!)

Will let y'all know how it turns out!

Henry_741549

Read this thread: https://stefangourmet.com/2017/11/01/how-to-prevent-a-bad-smell-with-long-and-low-sous-vide-cooks/