Go to the Recipe: Sous Vide Steak
So you just season the meat in the last step? No herbs, salt or pepper in the sous vide bag?
You can put herbs and seasonings into the bag if you want to marinade the steak with those aromas. However, we never recommend pre-salting beef and other red meats before cooking them sous vide. The salt tends to lightly brine the meat as it cooks, which leaves the steak with a texture that we don't like. So, we always salt our red meats after cooking them sous vide.
Does the time needed to reach the target temperature change based on how high that temperature is or is only based on thickness regardless of temperature?
The time to reach core temperature is mostly a function of an objects thickness. How many degrees the temperature needs to increase also matters, but less so than the geometrical shape of the food.If the object is mostly flat, like a steak or a chicken breast, then you can simplify the math and just assume that every time you double the thickness you quadruple the cooking time. Having to temperature be set to 120 °F, 130 °F, 140 °F only makes a very small difference to the cooking time.As the object becomes very thick, however, you need to factor in the heat energy that is diffusing in to the food from all direction and looking only at the thickness will cause you to over-estimate the total cooking time.
I am a little confused by the last step I thought the method for finishing a protein after sous vide was to use a scorching hot pan to minimize the amount of overcooking, wouldn't butter burn very quickly is a pan at that heat and won't too much steak over cook if you spend a couple of minutes basting it with butter?
Are you going to modify this video or add a note in the text area in light of your new video which suggests pre-searing meat before SVing?
- originally posted by sygyzy
Yes, I think we will make a modification with regards to this tip. Thanks for suggesting it.
You can, of course, use a scorching hot pan. But finishing with the butter in a very hot, but not burning hot, pan is perfectly reasonable and achieves a great end result with very little overcooking beneath the crust.
So...are we now thinking it's best to lightly sear before the steak goes in the bag and then sear with butter and herb when the steak is finished in the water bath? Thank you.
This is one of our favorite approaches.
Great videos! I just tried this technique with prime strip (2.5 hours at 57.5C as a compromise temperature) and thought it was excellent. For myself I might have done a few degrees cooler, but that was okay. However, my family felt that it lacked the flavor we get from charcoal grilling with a coating of anchovy paste. What's a good way to introduce more flavor to SV cooking? Will anchovy paste get an offer flavor from time in the SV bath?I also tried with non-prime top sirloin. In an effort to tenderize I did 10 hours at 58C. The meat was fairly tender, but it was also very dry. How can this be avoided? Edit: I should clarify that the steak was dry as we were eating, after searing. There was a lot of liquid left in the bag, but I didn't make a sauce.
Evan: Glad you like the videos.You can, of course, grill your meat after cooking it sous vide, but you might also consider a technique called presearing. This can be done by pan-roasting, grilling or another technique. We demonstrate the strategy in our course: http://www.chefsteps.com/cours...There is also a good discussion about how to get more flavor in your sous vide steaks in our forum:http://forum.chefsteps.com/dis...
If you we're going to serve 25-40 filets and 20-30 rib eyes during a 4 hour service window how would you do it? Put them in water 90 minutes before opening at 5:30 pm? Could you pre sear, cool, sous vide 90 minutes, chill in the morning, then finish somehow at service? What would be the best way to serve 70-90 steaks at night in a 4 hour service window with great results?
Thanks Chris, I'll try presearing. What can I do about the dry sirloin?
Test, ignore
I would try a different combination of time and temperature. You might prefer 55 °C cooked for 10 hours.
Scottymc: This is a great question to post on our forum. But the basic idea I would follow is to presear and package. You then have at least two choices:(1) You could precook to different degrees of doneness, chill, and reheat during service. I don't think you'll need 90 minutes of cooking unless you are cutting them 2 inches thick or more. During service you would reheat them all in a bath set to the lowest common temperature. But keep in mind they take as long to reheat as they do to cook in the first place. The advantage of precooking though, is if you have to send one out, it will have the appearance and texture of properly cooked, but be slightly cool in the center.(2) Cook them during service by adding them to a suitable bath at a certain rate. This approach requires you to have more baths, but if I was going to serve this many steaks, I would start service with maybe a 1/3 in the bath, and then add one that I expect to sell later for each one that I take out. You do, however, have to keep track of which steak is which.I prefer to use approach 2 because the results are superior, but I've used approach 1 with results that were fine for the situation.
Awesome. Could I do method 2, have the bath at 129, then sear the steaks to finish 1-2 minutes for a MR and leave them on the grill for 5-6 minutes for a MW? If you have a few steaks left over at the end of the night would you ice them down and retherm them the next night without loosing quality? Would you pre sear? In the bag would you do butter, olive oil, herbs or nothing? Thanks. Your site is amazing! Any more questions I'll hit the forum.
This should work fairly well. I would leave any salt out of the bag, but otherwise you can add some seasoning. There is a big caveat that I should have added that will apply to restaurants: Under the FDA Food Code, you cannot precook, chill, and reheat later without pasteurizing the food product. In practice, this will mean that steaks you are cooking at temperatures below 54 °C / 130 °F you will need to cook from raw and serve within a 4 hour window. We will be getting into the details of this later in the course. But if you have specific questions now, I'll try to handle them in the forum.
Would you equilibrium brine steaks like this as you did with the pork loin the brine lesson?
In my experience, I don't think steaks benefit from brining. The brined texture just doesn't seem pleasant with beef for most people. But if you wanted to try it, I would go for a very low salt level, like 0.5%.
I often sous vide the steak along with a pat of butter. When I sear it, I use a really big deep pot so there isn't a huge splatter mess all around my stovetop. Everything else is about the same. My favorite temp is 131, which I’ve heard is the lowest temp where one can expect pasteurization...
I noticed that the steak was seasoned after the sear. Is there any advantage/disadvantage to salting the steak after it comes out of the circulator and before searing?
What is the recommended temperature of the pan for searing? I'd imagine you don't want to go much higher than the smoke point of the oil that you are using, but is it possible to get the temperature of a cast iron skillet to > 500F, coat the steak in a bit of oil, and throw in onto the skillet very quickly? Logic being that the hotter the pan the quicker the sear and less overcooking of the inside?
after searing, i add fresh thyme, salt and pepper, and little bit of fleur de sel or maldon smoked sea salt, and let it rest for 5mins. you could also rub roast garlic on the steak after searing.from my experience if you add pepper beforehand it gets scorched.
- originally posted by lostinsydney
Try using clarified butter when you sear. The smoking temperature is much higher than non-clarified. Be sure the steak is dry when you sear and that should minimize any splattering issues and it keeps your steak from sticking.
In your Sous Vide course, you mentioned pre-searing the steak, how come it wasn't part of this recipe? Is this just a matter of preference.
Matter of preference. Often we pre-sear, especially if we want a really deeply colored, but as thin-as-possible crust. Other times, a quick sear after the cook is the most convenient approach.
Some notes I took immediately after finishing my first SV steak. All anecdotal, of course (your milage may vary), and pretty much shooting from the hip (minimal editing!):* Cook to rare (54C) if searing on a cast iron. I had my pan pretty hot — definitely smoking — but had to give each side about 3 min. Wound up cooking into the meat too much. Still medium rare by average standards, but not picturesque pink-all-the-way-through.* Fattier pieces probably require more time. The polyscience sous-vide calculator app wanted me to give my cut of meat 2 hours and 48 minutes. I liked ChefSteps's 90 min approach better. I had a nice semi-bone-in rib eye that I cooked for 90m at 57C. While delicious, there was an awful lot of fat left around the meat. I think if I let it ride for the extra 90 minutes, that fat would have broken down better.* Trim the fat off your meat to suit your taste, even if you get it from a butcher who cuts it fresh for you, before circulating.* SAVE YOUR JUICES. I wish I did. After coming out of the bath, create a nice spout in the bag and pour the juices into a container. Assuming you're searing on a cast iron and basting with butter, sear the meat, remove it from the pan, add the juices to the pan and reduce to a nice sauce.
- originally posted by ericdfields
Eric, I cook NY Strip on my acorn grill for a bit over 2 minutes a side - from warm raw, and it comes out randomly "medium" (and also "unbelievably awesome"). No sous vide. Now, I like the charcoal taste and spend a good amount of time getting the coals going, so I'm fine with that. But I wouldn't spend this much time searing if it's already cooked... you seem to be double-cooking, a QUICK sear is probably enough to get a crust, and that's if you don't want to "play human thermometer" as Scott H says.My grill is really great for strip steak, but I'm going to give my Sansaire a workout on the cuts that need the collagen worked over.
Thanks for the great course for a steak. I used a large pot & candy thermometer & it came out rare as we wanted. After I started with too much heat. The community comments & the course are great. Thanks.
how long will it hold at a certain temperature after the 45 minutes cooking timei do lamb rumps at 62, and worry about leaving them longer than an hour until serving?
- originally posted by Ryan Lowery
It's tricky to get a good sear. Take it out of the package, pat it dry, put some oil on it, drop it in a smoking hot cast iron skillet, dribble it with clarified butter.
My mistake has been putting salt and pepper on the steak when I package it, but other guides say drop in some butter, salt, pepper, thyme, rosemary, and garlic cloves.
The science needs to become more settled on this, but the experiments aren't cheap.
I saw a video somewhere that the perfect sear is a 35 seconds dipping in liquid nitrogen then 35 seconds dipped in a deep fat fryer at 375F. Barring that we go for the smoking hot sear which is between 450F and 500F for clarified butter or grapeseed oil
Dry rubs before sous vide, otherwise season it when you sear it, and spoon the juices onto the steak in the pan. The important thing is get the skin dry before you sear or you are just steaming it instead.
Did you bother to dry your meat off after unbagging and before searing? If not then Im guessing our pan wasnt smoking hot. Three minutes a side is way too long.
I don't understand how can one aim for core temp while the bag is sealed and in sous vide? Am I missing a step? should we take It off, puncture with thermocouple and repeat all steps again if core temp isn't right?
I agree Ron, I am new to sous vide, and this 'statement' is repeated consistently through the recipes... but it is never addressed as far as I have found.
The question of 'core temp' is the biggest question I have about sous vide cooking.
When cooking sous vide the idea is for the core temp to hit a certain temperature and stay there for an extended period of time. While it is possible to measure the internal temperature using some foam tape, most people don't do this because it's simpler to just cook the meat a little longer to be on the safe side and still only have minimal loss in quality. Instead recipes such as this one often use thicknesses to suggest cooking times based on how long it should take for the core temperature to reach the temperature of the sous vide bath.
From the above recipe:
Thanks for the reply Andrew.
I have 2 specific questions then.
1. Does cooking to a 1" steak to 129, and leaving it in for 2 hours rather than 45 min 'change' the steak in a negative way? Overcooked, dry, etc?
2. Does having MORE than one, say 6 steaks in the bath, change the time at all? I have a Polysci Creative circulator, and if I set it at 129 and put in 6 steaks in a relatively large container ie 4gal, rather than one steak, does that change the time. Theoretically, it shouldn't, if the circulator can keep the temp at 129. However, I know in practice with an oven and grill, increasing the amount of food cooked lengthens the time it takes to cook it.
Chefsteps -- I've seen people use butane torches to sear. Would you recommend this method? If so, how would you go about doing it?
Just ate dinner at the French Laundry. Their calotte de boeuf seemed as if it was cooked sous vide and then pan seared. However, it had a distinct delicious chargrilled flavor even though served medium rare. To get that smoky taste would require much longer than a minute or two of searing on a charcoal grill. Would I put the steak in a smoke box first to get that smoky chargrilled taste before putting it into the water bath?
Sounds like a super hot cast iron griddle and no oil.
I agree they probably did sear it in super hot cast iron but where did the smoky chargrilled flavor come from? I have never achieved that chargrilled taste simply from cast iron. Have you? I usually have to cook over wood or charcoal to get that intense smoky flavor in steaks.
Could be smoke gun + meat in ziploc...
I hope this isn't blasphemy to TK, but could it be liquid smoke put into the bag with the steak while it cooks sous vide? Liquid smoke is made from real, high-quality woodsmoke that flows through an adsorption column, capturing the smoke in much the same way that food does inside a smoker. The adsorbed compounds collect in a wash of water, which is then purified to eliminate tars, resins, and carcinogens. But the condensate maintains natural smoke properties that contribute to flavor and color during the cooking process. Liquid hickory smoke reacts with the surface of the meat to give it both the appearance and the aroma of smoked meat. ...?
Hope this helps: http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/sous-vide-time-and-temperature-guide
Tried this today... I made 2, one at 55°C and one at 65°C. Amazing to see the meat cooked all the way through with the same lavel of doneness... First thing that came out from my DIY sous vide circulator.
There actually is no question of "core temp" because there is no core temp. Its all the same temp. Nor is it possible to mess up the center temp of the meat other than by removing it to early from the water bath.
You set the circulator ( an immersion heater with a water circulation jet ) to the desired temperature you want the WATER to be. Lets say 125..that's what I use. When the tub of water is a uniform 125 ( the circulator, if it is a good one, has a thermostat in it ) you put the meat in a plastic bag and drop it into the water. In time the steak will take on the temperature of the water and equilibrate with it. It cannot get any hotter that 125. If you leave it in long enough it must be that temp to its core.
If you want to know as soon as it gets to that temp you have an easy fix. Just about every discussion of Sous Vide will suggest using a vacuum sealed bag to put the meat in. That is not necessary and many restaurants that use the method as a standard do not do that. All you need is a thin plastic bag..much like the ultra-thin bags used in small kitchen trash bins. It must be thin enough ( most of the 13 gallon bags are less than 1 mil thick ) that it will collapse tightly around the meat when you drop it in the water, almost like it was vacuumed down. But its open at the top but long enough you just drop it in the water bath with the top out of the water. If you wanted..you could put a continuous read cooking thermo into the meat, up and out the top of the bag and read it to desired temp. ( just like you would in an oven job ) .
I have a bunch of glass beads that look like flattened marbles that are used in decorative plant potting. I put a few in the bag to weight it and hang the bag with a clothing pin on a rod over my tank. I usually let the meat sit 2 hours or so and therefore have no core temp concerns. After 2 hours its 125 through and through.
Someone asked where you get these things. You can buy used immersion circulators for scientific use on eBay. They are spot on accurate and will heat a Tupperware tub with 5 to 6 gallons in it..allowing you to cook anything and in large quantities if you want. They are sold as "scientific water baths" or "immersion circulators" and are what most pro's use.
It was probably a "smoke prepped" pan..hot hot hot..if it was done sous vide. If you are eating in a joint like the Pantry ( excise me..the Laundry..the French Pantry is here in Jacksonville ) it was most likely masterful cooking in a conventional way that produced that steak. My guess is it was an elegant "black and blue", on a wood smoke fire.
If you like a "gas taste" by all means use it. You will not sear meat with a butane or propane torch unless you hold it a long distance from the flame. You will burn it. You want to caramelize the surface not pyrolyse it. Anything over 750 ( 650 is probably more realistic ) and you incinerate..not cook meat.
In your sous vide steak with red wine recipe it says a 2-inch steak will cook through (suggests 135F) in 60 minutes. Here it says 2 hours. That's a big difference. Which is it ? A good steak here in NYC is about $35/lb so I'd prefer to let you guys experiment. If it cooks through in 1 hour will leaving it in for 2 have any downside ? What about leaving it in for 10 hours ? What effect, if any, does more time once it reaches desired core tempature have on a prime loin cut of steak ?
This article has been a huge help for me as I am beginning to learn this awesome way of cooking. I love my steaks, so finding a detailed instruction guide to making the perfect steak (for my taste) and cook it just the way I like it is awesome. Out of curiosity, what do you all use to cook sous vide? I just bought my new Paragon Precision Cooker (http://bit.ly/Paragon1B) and its been a dream. Just curious to hear about what everyone else is using to cook in their own way.
Anova immersion circulator version 1. It takes up very little space and it's easy to use and quite accurate as far as holding a constant temp.
Check their time/temp chart, it will tell you precisely how long to cook and how long food can stay in the bath until adverse effects. http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/sous-vide-time-and-temperature-guide
60 minutes sounds rather low to me, maybe the steak thickness was a typo in the other recipe?
For a 2" (50mm) steak, I'd estimate that the center would be about 103 F after 60 minutes, about 126 F after 2 hours (with a 135F/57.2C bath), and take a good 3 hours to get close to the water temp (56 C). If your meat is close to 2:3:5 aspect ratio, you'll probably see something like 108 F and 129 F, respectively.
I'm using my own implementation of Baldwin's model, but you can get the "SousVide Dash" app to play around with these numbers. (I'm using a heat transfer coefficient of 150 because that's what the app gives for my Creative Series device.)
Baldwin's table for time to water bath temperature is suggests 3.5 hours to get a 50 mm of slab-shaped meat within 0.5 C of the water bath.
As far as holding at temp goes, I've read that for most steaks/chops, you're good till about 4 hours before the texture starts to change, but I forget where I saw this - possibly Baldwin or Serious Eats.
Not to be pedantic but you're recommending olive oil and yet the bottle used in the video clearly states "Canola Oil" on the label.
There's a lot of debate at the moment about Canola oil being "toxic" and over processed in general. I'd be interested to hear any perspectives on this.
Also, one other thing about frying in vegetable oils in general - are they really optimal for high heat frying and searing? I keep the renedered beef fat from my stocks/bone broths for this and think it is a much tastier and safer fat to fry with than olive oil or any other vegetable based oil for that matter. And surely, isn't beef fat an altogether better partner for frying beef steaks? :-)
All that aside, loving the ChefSteps format and community - keep it coming!
My sous vide bone-in rib eye tonight!
I use a TS 8000 torch with a Searzall attachment. It's fabulous!
My first sous vide steak was overall, somewhat successful. Vacuumed sealed into a 137 degrees for 90 minutes (1.5" thick boneless rib eye steaks, marbled) water bath, I then patted them dry, buttered and sprinkled dry thyme and seared all sides on a very hot cast iron grill pan. Salt and pepper for seasoning on the plate, the meat was cooked perfectly medium-medium, however the steak lacked flavor.
I've read about the discouragement of pre-seasoning and marinading the meat in advance. I am not so sure about that. Should I blame COSTCO meat? Next time Angus beef?
I'm new to Sous Vide (picked up the Anova on Amazon last month). I tried this recipe last night and, after cooking several times with pork, beef, and chicken sous vide, the thing I'm missing is depth of flavor. Meats are all cooked perfectly but just seem bland. These strip steaks were beautiful but didn't really have a good beef flavor. I usually grill over charcoal so that may be part of it but any thoughts on how to achieve a deeper, more complex level of flavor with sous vide would be appreciated. Thanks.
Have very much appreciated the steak cooking guide and the discussion. I tried sous vide steak for the first time last night. I cooked three whole rib eyes (I think it is called tenderloin in the States) tied them with cooking string, semi froze them and then pre-seared with clarified butter in a cast iron pan. I cooked them for about two hours at 54 degrees and lightly seared them again in clarified butter. I cut the fillets into two inch pieces and served them on rounds of dauphine potato that I had prepared in advance. The steak was perfectly cooked and mixed mushrooms, veal jus and baby carrots complimented the dish very well.
Ways to add flavor: (1) put a sprig of fresh herbs in the bag with the meat before putting it in the water bath, (2) sear the meat after cooking it sous vide (pat it dry, put on the seasoning of your choice, and use a blow torch for quick gorgeous crust. Even the sides get done this way, and you can do it just before serving for a dramatic finishing step.
The Searzall attachment was specifically designed to avoid any "gas taste". It is used in high end restaurants for that reason. I do not have a Searzall yet, but I can detect no gas taste using propane and a TS 8000. And if you use MAP/P gas, you can get an even higher temp than propane. The meat does not burn, it just gets a great crust very rapidly -- and you can do the sides easily. Make sure your protein is DRY before you start torching, and turn your stove fan on high. There are additional steps you can take to accelerate the Maillard Reaction even more...
Is there a reason why you do not sear the steak prior to cooking it sous-vide as well as changing the moment you season your steak compare to the recipe? http://www.chefsteps.com/activities/simple-sous-vide-steak-with-red-wine-sauce
Definitely season before cooking, at least 40mins.
If I am prepping food in advance, how do I not "over-cook" them when reheating?
In this article, the steaks are put in the sous vide as is and then seared at the end however in the recipe for simple sous vide steak with red wine sauce the steaks are pre-seared before the are sous vide. Why is this and which method is recommended?
The steaks at our local Framers Market come frozen in Vacuum Sealed bags. Can I simply defrost and go direct in the SV?
or is it... wrong type of plastic/ needing a rinse and pat down/ needs seasoning/ something else. I have a sealer, so no worries, just wondering if they are SV ready from the 'store'!
Double yes!
Both methods work great, and you can do either or both. When you sear before, the flavors that developed during searing will cook together with the steak, adding a little bit of nice flavor to the bag. Searing before also means you can get your pan dirty and then have time to clean it way before dinner. Searing after helps develop a nice clean crust right before serving, and releases all those wonderful it's-almost-dinner-time aromas as well. The bottom line is: They both work. It's really a personal preference thing.
You can cook steak in advance, reheat it to the same temperature (or slightly lower) in a water bath for about 10 minutes, and then sear it on a ripping hot pan or grill for a nice crust right before serving. Make sure your searing surface is nice and hot and you should be good to go!
Sounds lovely!!
Seasoning is key. After you pull it out of the bath, try basting with butter and thyme as mentioned in this recipe, and then season *generously* with salt and pepper. The salt and butter will really make all the difference.
I do sear it before to have the flavor and after to have the flavor and the maillard crust.
Not 100% sure but I don't think they sous vide the beef, last time I was there (Aug 2013) they prepared the wagyu beef over a japanese yakitori char grill very low temperature. This could be the source of your smoke flavor and since it is cooked low temp it should have time to penetrate.
I don't cook with olive oil (can ruin the oil with heat), and I don't use canola because of exactly what you stated. My high heat oil of choice is grapeseed oil. It has high smoke point with the added benefit of Omegas and virtually no taste. I love coconut oil for the MCTs, but it has distinct flavors you don't always want in your dishes. Butter is my go to oil when I want some rich flavors, especially with meats.
I completely agree with this, I've found that salting red meat before sous vide ends up leaving the steak too dry. Very disappointing to eat a perfectly medium rare steak which is dry. So why does Grant heavily salt both sides of the steak before sous vide-ing in the video??
This is exactly what happened to me when I tried this. The butter instantly bunt. So I cleaned it up and lowered the heat and had a delicious steak. But when I tried to make the sauce with some wine in the pan after, I just had a ton of black bits in the bottom of the pan and it didn't seem very saucey. Was my pan still too hot? I guess I'm not good with the directions of "high heat". To me that means turn the dial up near the highest setting. My dial settings are [low, tick, 2, tick, 4, tick, 6, tick, 8, tick, hi, lite]. I seem to have this problem a lot when trying to follow cook instructions from anywhere. I use the dial setting in the recipe and I either am not hot enough or I'm too hot. The only time I've felt totally confident is when one of your recipes gives me the exact temp and I have a thermometer that I use. When I have a temp, my stuff turns out great. Is there a way to take measurements on my stovetop to learn how I should adjust the instructed heat levels to my stove? I've had this problem on multiple stoves, so it's either a common problem or I'm just lost. Probably a mixture of both?
I've been toying with rice bran oil. It has a high smoke point and I haven't noticed any obscene flavor transfer. Just used in searing. Not frying. I don't know much about it other than it doesn't set my smoke detector off.
You say if you double the thickness of a steak then you quadruple the time required for the core to reach the temperature of the water bath. However, in the sous vide steak article above it is stated that a 1 inch thick steak takes 1 hour, a 1.5 inch steak takes 90 minutes and a 2 inch steak takes 120 minutes. This is a linear function of 15 minutes per 1/4 inch of thickness. I cannot reconcile these two sets of instructions. Which one is right? If they are the same then please explain.
