Go to the Article: A Guide to Presearing for the Best Sous Vide Steaks and Roasts
Question: Do you season the steak (or other beef cut) prior to sous vide? I've read online positions on both sides of the issue. THANKS!
- originally posted by Christopher DeCluitt
There is no benefit to seasoning(bringing is another story) before hand. In most cases, it will promote oxidation and give leave the meat brown and hammy.
- originally posted by Grant Lee Crilly
Do you have to chill the steak after pre-searing and prior to vacuum packaging?
Not necessarily. An in-depth answer can be found on our forum, at the bottom of this page: http://forum.chefsteps.com/dis...
Would you presear poultry as well? Like a turkey breast to crisp/render the skin then quick sear at the end?
Presearing the skin can be a useful strategy, especially if there is a lot of fat to render beneath the skin, such as with duck breast. You will, however, need a good finishing sear to ensure the skin is crispy since the sous vide cooking step will soften it.
I have this dilemma where my entrecotes are only 2 cm / 0.78 inch thick. Would it be wise to cool them to 4C / 39F, then searing them and do the whole sous-vide bit? Normally when I cook entrecotes I leave them out of the fridge so they'd come to room temperature but because of these thin entrecotes I'm afraid it would cook them too deep already. (I'm rather new to sous-vide cooking)
- originally posted by Guest
Yes, if you want a very nice crust without overcooking much of the flesh, I would sear them as cold as possible and then cook sous vide. You can even par-freeze the entrecotes, sear them par-frozen, then finish cooking sous vide. A very brief sear after cooking will refresh the crust.
I noticed you guys don't use cast iron skillets to sear. Why is that?Normally, when I make steak (with sufficient intramuscular fat); I preseason with salt to bring juices to the surface, get my CIS screaming hot, then drop meat in dry (no oil). This gives me a great crust. In order to adapt for SV, I would SV the steak raw, season it with salt, then sear in the CIS. Thoughts?EDIT: Or are you using cast iron? I can't really tell from the video...it looks coated?
Using standard steel pans on induction. We often prefer to use our presearing technique to get the best result: http://www.chefsteps.com/activ...However, even if you don't do this, the only advantage of cast iron is its mass, which stores a lot of thermal energy. But if you have a sufficiently powerful burner, that can supply more heat as fast as the meat absorbs it, then the metal of the pan doesn't matter. Our high powered induction burner is more than enough to keep up on searing so that the pan temperature doesn't drop.
True...trueee...However, I still question the oil in the pan and constant moving of the steak. I'm going to grab some beef tomorrow and experiment with the various techniques.Thanks for getting back. You guys are the chicken oyster of the internet!
Hey, let us know how the experiments go. Feel free to post a photo in your comments. Glad you like what we're doing.
hi, when you pre sear the steak , do you put it straight in the bag to be sous vide or let it cool? Thanks
Hi i just got myself the polyscience sous vide device for my restaurant, I've tried doing your poach chicken & steak (both pre-seared and regular) recipes, it was great! but i would like to ask about the procedures regarding the re-heating part, for example i did the SV and rapid cooling and stored it at 3C, when it comes to service and an order came should i reheat the pouches in SV again?
for some reason the link does not fully show and I have not been able to find it myself. Could you kindly repost the link?
Excuse me but i'm confused .. on your previous video you cook the steak sous-vide then you sear it in the pan . Now i see you recommend to pre-sear the steak . English is not my native language and i suppose this might be the cause of the misconception . Can somebody please make it clear for me aswell ? Thank you in advance
There are pros and cons to both methods. Searing before hand, generates lots of flavors but the texture is lost, you might want to sear again. Searing afterward is less steps and can possible overcook the food but can generate a very nice dark crust and add more heat to the serving temp/experience.
I'm also interested knowing the answer to this!
What would happen should one pre-sear a steak and bag it one day then the following day cook sous vide and finish with a pan sear? Would that be vastly different than a same day/time sear-sv-sear?
how Do we Access the Link ?
I would say let it cool, you don't want steam in your bag. The cooling should be pretty fast though, since you are not cooking the meat only building the crust it should be cool enough to bag quite fast.
Hello! I have to start by saying that I really love you page! Learning so much every week. Now to my question; I have a small catering firm and on some gigs there are no proper kitchens available and sometimes there is only a fridge and a microwave. My Question in short is, can I use a blow torch to sear my steaks or lager pieces of meat with when cooking Sous Vide for these kinds of events? If yes , Is it better to pre sear and cook the meat Sous Vide and then do a brush up with the torch? Any other options that you would recommend? Kind Regards CM.Hirsch
I would pre-sear still, as it reduces the amount you have to sear with a torch, and has added benefits such as killing surface bacteria. When it comes time to serve you can just kiss each protein with the torch and serve. Easy peasy lemon squeezy.
I wouldn't think it would matter in any significant way. Though it's a bit of a weird thing to do. Most of the time when you do steps ahead it's because they are time consuming and you want to break them up between days. Pre-searing only takes a few minutes, so I am not totally sure why you would want to pre-sear a day ahead. But totes think you could.
I'm thinking, based on personal experience and some reading on Serious Eats, that you reduce the risk of overcooking by simply drying the surface of the meat prior to the post-SV sear.
In the video, Grant puts a "wet" piece of SV steak in the pan. If it was just patted dry first, you could surely reduce/eliminate that overcooked portion.
But I guess the question then really becomes whether pre-searing improves flavour during the cook time or not. Has that been established?
Every link I see here is partial. You can't cut and paste it in browser like that. "http://forum.chefsteps.com/dis ...
Is there something that I am missing?
I've got some extra thick boneless pork chops that I will be freezing. If I want to cook from frozen, can/should I sear before bagging and freezing?
Referring to your "tender cuts" course, it refers to resting the meat in the fridge, at one point in the text it says uncovered, and later on it says to rest it "wrapped tightly" for up to 24 hours
which is it?
I'm trying my very first sous vide and was wondering if there are any pros/cons of putting a marinade in the Ziploc bag with the meat while in the bath? I'm used to grilling where I will marinate the meats for a day prior to throwing them on the grill. My first SV is 2 bags of pork tenderloin - one with marinade and the other without.Thanks!
How about presearing prior to freezing for future SV? Any drawbacks to that?
Why do you not use a torch? Is the flavor not the same as searing in the pan? I love the torch because there is no clean up and I don't fill the house with the greasy smell.
I `'ve seen some people using torches. I'd like to know what ChefSteps think about it. Thank you.
I have the same question regarding pre-searing and then freezing as Jonathan and Polly 4 and 5 months ago. I work primarily with wild game and have to freeze, for example, wild duck breasts in season (skin on), which I customarily do in water and Ziplock bags. Pre-searing and vacuum packing them would seem to make sense, without the water of course. I suppose I'll just have to experiment next season.
I am convinced that using my torch results in a very different and less enjoyable flavor than using a hot cast iron pan to sear. In addition, the pan cooks a larger surface area much quicker than using my torch. I'm even using my MAPP-Pro torch, so it's as big as they get. Just get the cast-iron pan super hot, and the sear is very, very quick and tastes much better.
how about using a torch to refresh the crust???
I like pre-seared steaks and chops, your pork chop viewed a few years ago was the reason I started using a pre-sear on almost everything where the finish benefits from a well developed crust. Easy to get a crust without overcooking. Lately I discovered Pure Desi Ghee as the CI pan oil, thanks to a South Asian friend. Flavourful crust develops quickly without burning. Any thoughts?
May I salt & pepper my steak and put vacuumise it and sous vide it the new day?
I love the clarity of ChefSteps recipes, but a few of the steps in this guide are worth questioning in light of what J. Kenji López-Alt and Chris Young have shown.
Oil or butter in the bag
Kenji’s testing shows added fat actually dilutes the steak’s flavor:
“I've seen recipes that recommend adding fat to the bag, though none that offer plausible reasons for doing so... Fat-soluble flavor compounds dissolve in the melted butter or oil and end up going down the drain later. Similarly, flavors extracted from aromatics end up diluted. For best results, place your seasoned steak in a bag with no added fats.”
— J. Kenji López-Alt, The Food Lab’s Guide to Sous Vide Steak (Serious Eats)
Pre-searing for flavor
ChefSteps suggests a pre-sear to build flavor. Kenji found otherwise:
“After repeated testing and anonymous taste tests, I’ve found that pre-searing a steak … serves at most a very minimal role in improving flavor or texture. In most cases, the difference is imperceptible.”
Resting only “a couple of minutes” before the final sear
Chris Young shows that a longer cool-down makes a big difference:
“Finally, and this is probably the thing that will change how you sear the most, cool the steaks before searing. Letting the steaks cool for 20 or 30 minutes drops the surface temperature enough that it takes more time before searing can overcook it.”
— Chris Young, Why Ripping Hot Is Too Hot? (YouTube)
According to this, a 2-minute rest isn’t enough — cooling for 20–30 minutes gives you a buffer against overshooting doneness.
“Ripping hot” pan
ChefSteps says the pan should be ripping hot. Chris Young demonstrates otherwise:
“To summarize, you can sear a great steak at a relatively low temperature around 350 degrees, unless you want some char on the surface, in which case you should use a hotter pan above 400 degrees or switch to a grill.”
He also shows that flipping every 30 seconds for 2 minutes (1 minute per side total) yields the best crust without overcooking.
In summary:
Sous vide is about precision — it makes sense to apply that same precision to the sear as well.
So, what’s your standpoint on the above?
I’d love to hear the reasoning behind your recommendations, given that both Kenji and Chris present fairly strong counterarguments.
