Sous Vide cooking is all over Pinterest these days. Sous Vide or “under vacuum” cooking has been the ‘go-to’ style of professional chefs for decades. Now that we know we can create a professional style meal in the comfort of our homes, the rest of us are catching up!
What is Sous Vide?
Sous Vide [sue–veed] may sound fancy and mysterious but it’s not as scary as you think. Essentially, food is placed in a plastic pouch, submerged in a pot and cooked low and slow in a temperature-controlled water bath. The constant temperature makes it nearly impossible to overcook your food, so it comes out chef’s kiss every time.
Vive la difference!
What is the difference between cooking a steak sous vide vs. traditional grill? Well, steak cooked on a grill is pink in the middle and grey around the edges. A steak cooked sous vide is an even pink all the way through, then quickly seared on each side for a beautiful brown crust.
If you’ve ever ordered a steak at a fancy restaurant and it was a consistent pink throughout the whole piece of meat, it was probably prepared sous vide. You may also notice that your food is consistently moist, juicy, and tender – other telltale signs that it was cooked sous vide.
This style of cooking is also tailor-made for busy people because you can set it and forget it. Just place your meat or veggies in a vacuum-sealed bag, toss it into a water bath and then get on with the rest of your day.
Endless Menu Options
Plus, the options for sous vide cooking are seemingly endless. Pork or chicken are a wonderful option but so are fish, vegetables and even eggs.
No matter what you choose to sous vide, you can rest assured the results will be exactly the same and easily repeatable. Since its time controlled there’s no poking with a thermometer, no cutting and peeking, no jabbing with your finger—just perfect results every single time.
What Equipment Do You Need?
- Sous Vide Immersion Machine, also known as an immersion circulator.
- Large pot
- Vacuum sealer and Vacuum seal bags. You can also use a gallon-sized freezer bag instead of vacuum sealing.
- Weighted magnets or binder clips to keep the bag submerged.
Vacuum seal your food in a bag. Next, simply immerse the sous vide machine in a pot filled with water. Drop the bag into the water and hold it to the side of the pot with some binder clips. Set the time and water temperature—and you’re done!
With sous vide cooking, it's absolutely vital that your bags stay submerged and that trapped air bubbles are pushed to the top of the bag and away from the food. This is the only way to guarantee that your food is heated properly, which is important for both food safety and quality.
Some Pro Tips to Get You Started
If you don’t have a vacuum sealer, place your food inside a zipper-lock bag, then seal the bag, leaving just the last inch or so of the seal open. Next, lower the bag into the pot of water. As the bag gets lowered, water pressure will push air out of the bag through the small opening you've left. Just before the bag is completely submerged, seal off that opening and pull the whole bag out of the tub.
If your bag is properly sealed, the meat should sink, and binder clips will help hold it to the side of the pot. But if your bag insists on floating, no problem. Place a bowl on top of it to keep it down.
How to Sous Vide a Steak
Take it from us – it’s the only way to eat steak. It’s as easy as 1-2-3 and turns out perfectly cooked every time. The temperature of the sous vide bath during the initial cooking phase is what determines the final doneness of your steak.
New York Strip, Ribeye, T-Bone or Porterhouse have been known as the best cuts of steak for sous vide but, any cut will do. Just be sure the steak is at least 1 inch thick.
You can vacuum seal steaks side-by-side in the same bag or place them in separate bags and cook together.
After the sous vide is done, we suggest searing the steak in a smoking hot pan for 30-45 seconds per side for restaurant-quality goodness. Searing the meat helps develop flavor and color and helps render and soften its fat.
Sous Vide Steak Recipe
Season, sous vide and sear. It's that simple to cook the juiciest, most tender and deliciously perfect restaurant-quality steaks every time.
Prep: 30 minutes
Cook: 2 hours
Total: 2 hours 30 minutes
Cooking temperatures
- Rare 125˚ F
- Medium Rare 130˚
- Medium 140˚
- Well Done 160˚
INGREDIENTS
- 2 New York strip steaks, ½ - ¾ lb. each
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 2 fresh thyme sprigs
- 2 fresh rosemary sprigs
- 2-3 cloves garlic, minced [optional]
- 2 tablespoons of butter
- 1 tablespoon of olive oil
INSTRUCTIONS
- Prepare the sous vide water bath by filling a large pot with water. The pot needs to be large enough to hold your steak and the water needs to be deep enough to hit the water line on your sous vide.
- Place your sous vide machine into the water bath and set to your desired temperature and time [from 1.5 – 3 hours]
- Season the steaks. Salt and pepper both sides. Place 1 tablespoon of butter on top of each steak along with garlic, rosemary, and thyme.
- Place the steak in a vacuum-seal bag and seal. Now you’re ready to add it to the water bath.
- At the end of the cooking time, remove the steak from the water bath with its herb and butter seasoning and place on a plate.
- Meanwhile, heat a skillet over high heat. When the pan is hot, add a tablespoon of olive oil. When olive oil is fragrant [about 10 seconds], place steak in the pan. Sear for no more than 1 minute per side and immediately remove from heat.
- You can also finish the steaks on a very hot grill. Sear no more than 1 minute per side.
- Serve with your favorite vegetable side and bon appetite!
Sources
https://www.brit.co/beginner-guide-to-sous-vide/
https://www.seriouseats.com/first-thing-to-cook-with-sous-vide-immersion-circulator-essential-recipe...
https://www.tastingtable.com/1144823/everything-you-need-to-know-about-sous-vide/
https://saltpepperskillet.com/recipes/sous-vide-steak/
https://fitfoodiefinds.com/sous-vide-steak/
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