My First Sous Vide Steak

Earlier I had posted about the Sous Vide gadget that I got for Christmas and it's first use on tuna and now it was time to give beef a try.  Coming off my five day fast, I wasn’t ready to try steak yet, but Bev had a nice looking NY strip she wanted to cook and I wanted to try out sous vide on it.  She likes her steak to be between medium rare and medium so I set the water temp at 135F, based on the various meat charts.

Rather than using a vacuum bag, the instructions say an ordinary plastic bag can be used so long as it sunk such that all of the air is removed, which is what I did.

When it came out of the bag after about 4¼ hours, it was at 134F internal temperature but I was very surprise at the amount of liquid remaining in the bag as I expected none so I dried it with paper towel and seasoned with Montreal Steak seasoning. 

I lightly coated a cast iron skillet with peanut oil and when it began to smoke I added the steak and seared it for 75 seconds on each side which made a nice crust as can be seen it the pan.

When I cut into it, I was surprised at the doneness level for 135F as it was totally pink and I was expecting redder - it was a little more pink than in the shot.

However, the main objective was achieved as the doneness was the same from edge to edge with very little well done around the edge as when cooked with a more traditional method.

Many of the charts list 135F at medium rare and mine was well past that but I forgot to check the temp after searing but can’t imagine it went up more than a degree or two.  I think the above chart temps are still too high - 125F will not be a cool red center for rare - I believe the top steak is medium rare - warm red center.

It was tender and had a good flavor but I was very disappointed in the texture as it was more dry than I thought it should be, which explains the juices left in the bag.

So am I tossing the machine – absolutely not as I will continue experimenting by using a vacuum bag next time and only cooking to 130F.

Photos can be enlarged by clicking on them and the blue words are links.

Have a great day and thanks for stopping by Almost Heaven South.

Larry

1/29/20 event date

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