Redneck Sous-Vide: Ribeyes

[Rodney]

Hey everyone-

I decided to try this sous-vide cooking method. If you're not familiar with it, here's some info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sous-vide
http://www.seriouseats.com/2010/04/t...k-of-lamb.html

So, I gave it a shot. First, I picked up a couple of 1" thick ribeyes and put some steak rub on 'em. I put them in gallon ziploc bags, with a thermometer probe in the center of one of the steaks. I prepared a water bath at about 145 degrees in a styrofoam ice chest, and dipped the bagged steaks into the water. I monitored the temperature of the steak and the water, adding boiling water to keep the temp up. This would work better in a nice plastic ice chest and a better water-to-meat ratio (see the link above where the guy cooks a rack of lamb this way). When the meat reached 137 degrees, I took it out and broiled it in my oven (it was almost midnight and I didn't want to bother with the charcoal grill, and the gas grill probably wouldn't have been as hot as the broiler). Unfortunately, the broiler wasn't quite hot enough to have the desired effect (even at the top rack position), but it was still the best steak I've ever cooked. That's not saying much though, as I've historically had pretty bad luck with steak.

Here are some pics:

My redneck sous-vide setup. Yes, there's water in there... it's hard to see. Thermometer is showing the temperature of the steak in the foreground.


Thermometer is showing water temp here. This is early on, before I added more boiling water to take the temp to about 145.


The ribeyes after they reached 137 degrees internal temp, ready for the broiler.


After broiling. A little more done that I'd have liked, and I didn't even sear them as much as I'd have liked to.



It was fun trying something different! Even though they weren't ideal, like I said, they were the best steaks I've ever done, and it was a great midnight snack! Next time: Better ice chest with more hot water in it, and a sear done over a raging hot, fresh from the chimney batch of coals. You know... the kind that you can't get within 2' of without getting scorched skin.

Anyone else try this method?

-Rodney

[Markbb]

Not on a steak.....

[Crazy Harry]

looks good, I may try that

[Ron_L]

Very clever! If you do it again try stopping the sous vide process at a lower internal temp (I would say 120 - 125) and then sear over the chimney. You'll probably hit medium rare on the nose.

[Chef Jim]

Read a post about a food tv steak come that had some done this way. Sounded strange but it looks like it worked.

[Vince B]

Thanks for posting the link to the food lab. I just read the link you posted and also the link in there for prime rib. Man that is some interesting stuff. I added that site to my favorites for future reference.

One question tho, I wonder if allowing the meat to come up close to room temp would help on the consistency a bit more when using this sous-vide method? It seems to me when I do this with steaks(not using sous-vide) and do a reverse sear I get much better results. Just a thought. Vince

[SirPorkaLot]

Thanks for posting. Interesting read, but this statement on wiki concerns me a bit, and would probably keep me from trying it.

Clostridium botulinum bacteria can grow in food in the absence of oxygenbotulinum toxin, so sous-vide cooking must be performed under carefully controlled conditions to avoid botulism poisoning. and produce the deadly

[Paulmark]

Originally Posted by Ron_L

Very clever! If you do it again try stopping the sous vide process at a lower internal temp (I would say 120 - 125) and then sear over the chimney. You'll probably hit medium rare on the nose.

^^^^^ I agree^^^^ But very cool...your next step will be liquid nitrogen to make desert

[Ross in Ventura]

Here is the way I do it



Ross

[Vince B]

LOL @ Ross!

[MOS95B]

Very cool. it's almost like science.

Which means I HAVE to try it. Stuff that requires a lot of thinking (or looks like it does) bugs The Missus...

[platys]

Carla Hall tried that same thing on top chef, but it didn't work out well for her. :)

My problem is that I like my steak mooing, so I might as well just sear the thing right off.

[bigabyte]

It sounds like it's safe as long as the meat gets to 131* within 4 hours. I like Ron's idea of letting it heat up slowly in this bath for maybe a couple hours until it hits like 120, then a quick sear on each side to hit 140.