Go to the Recipe: Herb-Crusted Sous Vide Chuck Roast
I want to serve this carvery style (so thin slices) could you thinly slice it and serve it cold, or would it fall apart because of the fat that’s removed? Would you suggest to keep the fat in there for it to be thinly cut. Thanks
I was thinking that exact same thing
Has anyone used transglutaminase (aka-Activa) to bind the pieces of meat instead of tying up the roast?
This recipe is a no fail for me but I want to try doing a “large” amount of meet. Anyone had experience with doing say 15 lbs or so? What did you use? Did you change the recipe in any way? TIA Madalin
I don't pre-sear. Just salt, pepper, and a bit of paprika (smokey Hungarian), and a shake of garlic powder. Cook for 36 hours at 135 for a medium/medium rare. Ice water bath to stop the cooking. Then I either refrigerate right in the bag for a day or three until I am ready to cook or just let it cool to the touch. When I open the bag to finish the cook, I save all the juices for making gravy. On the day of final cook: if it's been in the fridge, take it out for an hour or two to come to room temperature Turn on the gas BBQ grill and preheat on high for about 15 minutes to get the grates hot then turn it down to medium. Grill about 10-15 minutes per side, about 30 minutes total, turning frequently. While it's grilling, I make gravy with the juices. Take it off the grill and let it sit for just a couple minutes. If it's been in the fridge for a few days, the inside may still be a tiny bit cool but the outside will be hot and crackly. I err on the side of not overcooking on the grill and drying it out. Slice, pass the gravy and enjoy. The grill crisps up the exterior beautifully. I have even gone as far as adding smoking chips and letting it heat up slowly, like a traditional BBQ, taking about an hour. Slightly different taste.
Thank you so much. I will vacuum seal it then. That will save on freezer space too.
On another note. If this is sealed in a vacuum chamber before cooking, then chilling in ice bath is easier and will keep in the fridge just fine.
This will work. Make sure to ice and chill before freezing. Day of is gonna take about 2-3 hours to therm before adding crust to finish. Dijon mustard will work as an egg replacement but may not be as "crusty".
Attempting to do 2 x 8lb roasts for both my wife’s and my Thanksgiving holiday gatherings. Being a week out, I was wondering if I could take the roasts through the sous vide cook, freeze, then thaw in a 136F water bath on the day, apply the crust, and roast. Would this result in a negative outcome?
Additionally, my niece is allergic to egg; do you have any recommended substitutions for the egg white use to adhere the rub?
Hoping to hear back soon.
Thank you for all the help in the past.
-Chris
Hi Marcus. The salt used at the end is a large flake salt that we are intending to be in the rub,
I have a question on salt for this recipe. My instinct is to apply most of the salt at the beginning (even before trussing so some salt starts inside the roast) and just have the balance of the necessary salt in the rub at the end. In the ChefSteps video on chuck steak, Grant reverses this and uses 1/4 of the salt at the beginning and adds the rest at the end. Why is this? Don't we want the salt to diffuse fairly evenly through the meat during the cook so it's all seasoned well?
It should be pretty good on time as long as the roasts are about the same thickness. But when you say it was overcooked, do you mean the doneness or the texture? The doneness shouldn't vary with the size. If you had a smaller roast it could get more tender/ brassie but the doneness would only be affected by the final roast stage going too long and brining the core temp above the sous vide temp.
Should I be concerned about time to weight ratio? Like would 18 hours for a chuck roast be ideal regardless of size? I have found that I overcooked a smaller one last night by a little bit and wanted to double check.
I made a smaller chuck roast, only 2 lbs. It was a little difficult to tie it together because the pieces were so small but it worked and it came out beautiful and delicious. Tender, tender!
Not to cause to much of an uproar but long duration SV is a dehydrating process. That fluid in the bag at the finish came out of the meat. It is also a tenderizing process and the fluid loss is in reciprocity with the tenderness. Go to far with one and you come up too short with the other. And things suck. If you're going to post sear a piece of meat like a SV'ed roast I'd rethink using a convection oven. The roast is already at the brink of juicy and that oven will dry it to the point it becomes unpleasantly dry.
We wanted to knock this SV roast thing out for a Taco Truck and made a few changes from the conventional. Used wire not twine to truss so we were not limited in the heat or heat methods we used. Put extra fat in the bag to get a confit effect and post seared in a 1700 degree oven. SV at 135 for 24. ( we smoked a portion of the meat to a heavy bark to add to the final shredded beef ) The meat was still moist, well seared and looked good when slab cut although that was not our purpose. The raging hot oven sears so fast there's little fluid loss. But who has such a thing? That's why the wire. You can post sear in a hot pan ( 425 to 475 ) and not burn string. That's also a fast fluid sparing technique.
I just made the recipe. It turned out good. Next time I will trim a little more of the fat and use a fat separator for the sauce. The sauce tasted very greasy
Most reverse sear sous vide recipes recommend cooling the meat before the final oven searing step to prevent over-cooking. Does that not apply to this recipe, or is it just an omission? Sounds wonderful, and if I can get away without paying prime rib prices, I'm all over it.
Why waste the fat? I render the fat and use it to brown the roast, brings a lot of flavor. Save the fat if a fan of Yorkshire puddin'🤗 Then see if you can get get the puddin' to rise? I find chanting, rattling of beads, drums, dancing and casting of the bones to help.
I use mustard, it will be sticky but you would not taste the mustard after the cook.
You should re-read Baldwin. The actual number is 126.1°F. 131°F gets quoted a lot because it is in his tables, but that includes a significant margin for error which is not really needed with an accurate circulator like Joule and a reasonable amount of care.
Curious minds want to know. Why do you find it necessary to mock people who prefer their meat cooked well done. Is this Joule corporate policy? Joule doesn't care to do business from people with such poor taste as to want their meat cooked well done?
Should not do less than 131ºF for anything over 2 1/2 hours for sanitary reasons.
Essentially no pathogenic bacteria of relevance to a home cook will grow above 126.1°F (52°C)(Baldwin). The higher numbers have a builtin margin for error (not really needed with a very accurate circulator like Joule and some reasonable care).
I applied the same techniques to a venison roast. It came out fork tender and beautiful
Any ideas for a substitute for egg white due to allergies?
Has anyone tried this with the Bottom Round cut?
I have the same question. How is this food safe? The pre-sear destroys any surface pathogens, but then a big piece of meat at 131F for 18 hours still makes me nervous.
made this last night. Cooked it at 133 for 24 hours. It was amazing! Love my Joule.
So I tried this yesterday. Did the pre-sear, sous vide @ 135F for 24 hrs. Post 'sear' in 475 convection oven. The meat was nothing like I expected from all the comments here and about chuck on other sites. I don't know what went wrong, but the roast was not juicy and still very tough.
I followed the recipe first time out. I paid $8.49 for a 3.5lb chuck roast. I didn't have any large Sous Vide bags so I used 2 gallon Ziplock freezer bags (double bagged) and this roast came out perfect. I added the Tips & Tricks for Roasted Vegetables and some dinner rolls and this roast turned out great. If an inexpensive piece of meat turns out this moist and flavorful, how will a ribeye or prime rib roast turn out?
Hi! I'm wondering if I would need to modify the cooking time or temp if using rump roast rather than chuck?
Delicious!
Last year I tried this out, this year I went all in , total of 14lbs, for 20 people and restricted budget.
Those were 20 very happy people and no left overs (damn!).
The Joule continues to pay for itself many times over.
Question for the experts: This cut of meat is right next to the prime on the cow and is very similar in muscle content and structure. This recipe calls for a long cook (and I agree it works beautifully at 18-24 hrs!) but the recipe for the prime rib only calls for 6-8 hrs and says you can leave it in for an extra hr if needed.
My question is: why the large disparity in cooking times for two roasts that are almost identical?
Anyone have any thoughts? Has anyone done a prime roast for an extended cook?
I made this over the weekend and did the full 48 hours on a 6.5 lb roast at 136. You're right, it beats prime rib hands down. And I decided to make a gravy instead of the jous but still followed the reduction and deglazing to start. HOLY CRAP BATMAN. The combination was heavenly. The depth of flavour was truly mind boggling. Well played, Chefsteps, Well. Played.
The temperatures here suggest 54c as acceptable, whereas elsewhere 55c is suggested as minimum temp for long cooking times.
I've just hit 26h @54c on a 5lb chuck roast, seared but untrussed, un-trimmed. I bumped it up to 56c for the next 24h out of an abundance of caution, but I'm very concerned that this temperature suggestion may have been too low, and I'm kind of freaking out about the potential this will poison my family. any suggestions?
Made it for Thanksgiving dinner. Starting size was 5.5 lbs, trimmed the fat, and reassembled with a little help from transglutaminase.
Seared it, and used thyme, garlic, salt and pepper to season the roast.
Cook time was 30 hours at 133F.
When finished, used only half the herbs (15g of thyme and sage) and black pepper (7.5g), and a quarter of the salt (10g) for a light crust. 15 minutes in a 450F oven. Came out perfect!
I noticed that you use the immersion method with these bags. I have tired this recipe a couple of times (going for a 48 hour cook time), and had the bag fill with gas, ruining the roast. Does using the immersion method help keep this from happening? would people suggest vacuum sealing the bag?
Should the egg white wash be coated after the roast is cooled down to room temp? Do I need to pat try the meat before applying the egg wash?
I am preparing this dish for a potluck party this weekend (just started sous vide process). My plan is prep everything until the final crust bake step. Then take it to my friends home and place it in their oven to complete. Any potential issues with that?
This turned out perfectly (tho I’ll use less salt for the crust next time). After cooking for 22 hours, the meat was tender, tasty and perfectly medium. The bad new: our guests wanted seconds so there were no leftovers ;( I served the roast with horseradish potatoes and braised kale. Delicious!
This recipe turned out perfectly tho I will use less salt on the crust next time. The meat was so tender. Definitely a keeper recipe and so simple. I cooked mine for 22 hours.
Chose this recipe for my first ever use of my Joule sous vide. It was amazing! So tender! Can't wait to make something else.
