The Perfect Steak

[Owly055]

I've finally perfected it.............. I like Chuck for it's flavor and texture and marbling, but unfortunately though a good chuck is in my opinion right up there with the very most expensive cuts, and preferable to many of them in many ways, it tends toward toughness.

I've finally achieved the perfect steak as of this morning when I had steak and eggs for breakfast as I often do. Here's the process I used:

1: Freeze the steak solid
2: Deep Fry just enough to brown the surface nicely........... straight out of the freezer
3: Vacuum seal in a food saver bag with preferred spices and a healthy dollop of
Mesquite liquid smoke (cheap at Walmart)
4: Sous Vide cook 48 hours @ 130F
5: Remove and serve

Who ever heard of deep fried steaks??????????

The result is a lovely medium rare steak infused with spice and a hint of smoke flavor, brown on the surface as if grilled, and melt in your mouth tender. The steak is medium rare all the way from one surface to the other with no gradation, and wonderfully moist.

I did a bunch of them together........ 2 family packs. The others go into zip lock bags in the freezer, and will be brought out as needed, and simply dropped in 130F sous vide for an hour prior to serving.

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

You deep fry a frozen steak? And you sous vide for 48 hours? That seems like overkill. I tend to sous vide my steak for about 2 hours Ziplock back rosemary and thyme and butter. 134*F. Take it out pat it season it and sear it browned with butter in a skillet and herbs.

I prefer rib-eyes to just about anything, although I did do a nice fillet and chateaubriand a last month that went over extremely well as a pre-sear, and post sear prior to serving.

 

[Owly055]

You deep fry a frozen steak? And you sous vide for 48 hours? That seems like overkill. I tend to sous vide my steak for about 2 hours Ziplock back rosemary and thyme and butter. 134*F. Take it out pat it season it and sear it browned with butter in a skillet and herbs.

I prefer rib-eyes to just about anything, although I did do a nice fillet and chateaubriand a last month that went over extremely well as a pre-sear, and post sear prior to serving.

Seems radical doesn't it.............. Chuck cooked 48 hours rivals rib eye for tenderness, and exceeds it for flavor in my opinion. Deep frying it frozen kept the brown on the surface, and sealed in the moistness, allowing it to be served right from the sous vide to maintain that prefect pinkness surface to surface. The spice package was a shake of Costco Sweet Mesquite.
My purpose was to avoid any internal browning that is inevitable in any sear process. Tougher cuts of meat continue tenderizing as long as 48 hours, more tender cuts cannot be cooked that long or they will lose texture. Sous Vide is a highly individualized process. In this case I cooked a small steak first to assess the tenderness of it. It was quite tough, hence the 48 hour process.

H.W.

 

[thekraken]

Interesting. How was the crust after the sous vide, you didn't firm it back up after the bath?

 

[Owly055]

Interesting. How was the crust after the sous vide, you didn't firm it back up after the bath?

It was firm enough that it didn't need to be "firmed up".....I put a fairly hard crust on it at the beginning with this in mind. It was a good deep brown, which brought out the malliard reaction and produced excellent flavor.

The real beauty of the process for me is that I can freeze these, and toss them back in the sous vide for an hour or so at 130 as I need them.


The inspiration for doing this was my "Mad Experiment" thread in which I experimented with room temp preservation of meat after searing it and cooking at 135 for 48 hours in a sealed bag. 2 of the three spoiled, which is an excellent success rate for a first try experiment. I'm assuming botulism on those two. All 3 were stored at about 80F, and the target was 3 months of warm storage which expires February 14. The third remains unchanged in warm dark storage, and I expect it to be edible, though I do not intend to eat it, just to compare it to the one that was frozen (control).
Those steaks were flame seared, and were also chuck steaks. Flame does not penetrate deeply into cracks, etc like hot oil does, so I intend to do a repeat using deep fat instead of flame searing, in the expectation that the success rate will be far higher, perhaps as much as 100%. The vacuum seal bags will be stored in starsan, the steaks dropped right into the bag filled with starsan, and the liquid dumped out before sealing. That's about as sanitary as I'm able to make things.


H.W.

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

I might have to get my hands on some Chuck Steak. I usually do Chuck roasts with the method you suggessted (minus the freezing part).

 

[Owly055]

I might have to get my hands on some Chuck Steak. I usually do Chuck roasts with the method you suggessted (minus the freezing part).

I often buy chuck roast and cut it into steaks if there's a sale on it. I personally prefer steaks over roasts because there are not left overs. With roasts, the left overs are good enough hot or cold, but if you reheat, you inevitably lose the medium rare I love so much. I like my meat with some moo left in it. For a single guy, steak just makes more sense. That is if you don't mind cooking it.

H.W.

 

[Auger]

The perfect steak is one I don't have to cook for 3 days.

 

[Kent88]

Or keep a grill on low, place thawed steaks on grill, cook 7 minutes per side, then another 3 minutes per side. Sometimes I'll marinade or brine them, but when I have good beef I feel like there is nothing to hide.

But I like my steaks well done. I grew up on a farm where we raised steers, I'll cook them as done as I dang well please. And they taste darn good.

 

[Owly055]

The perfect steak is one I don't have to cook for 3 days.

I guess you and I see it differently. This process produces steaks that I freeze, and can be brought, thawed, and brought to serving temp fairly quickly and painlessly.

You can buy $9 per pound steaks, and throw them on the barbecue....... which is a satisfying process, but results in a medium rare steak that is medium rare through only 2/3 to 1/2 of it's thickness because of the way the heat is applied. On a barbecue you get a "gradient", you also get a less moist product.

With my process, the steak is done on the outside, with the desired malliard reaction browing giving the surface the characteristic flavor we seek when cooking steaks, but inside it is uniformly cooked to perfection from surface to surface, moist, pink, tender, and juicy, and flavorful............ and cheap.

With the $6 per pound of savings, I can buy malted grains and hops, brewing hardware, and various other things. The cost of operating the sous vide is trivial as my stock pot is heavily wrapped in insulation and covered with an insulating lid, it takes almost nothing to maintain 130F in that environment.


H.W.

 

[Owly055]

Or keep a grill on low, place thawed steaks on grill, cook 7 minutes per side, then another 3 minutes per side. Sometimes I'll marinade or brine them, but when I have good beef I feel like there is nothing to hide.

But I like my steaks well done. I grew up on a farm where we raised steers, I'll cook them as done as I dang well please. And they taste darn good.

To each his or her own.......... I've found that meat is most tender as it passes from rare to medium rare, and gets drier and tougher as it passes to medium and done. The process eventually reverses if cooked "Swiss" for many hours, but it then lacks any resemblance to meat as I know it.

With sous vide, you can cook to any level, and by extending the cooking period, and having the meat sealed in a bag, it will retain it's moisture and steadily tenderize. I believe the browning is best done in advance, very briefly, and very hot, by whatever process.

H.W.

 

[TorMag]

You should be banished from the internet. Seriously, you lost me at liquid smoke. Steak was never meant to be cooked in a bath of water. Real men cook steak on fire. The Baby Jesus of Steak cooking is weeping at your sacrilege. Shame on you.

 

[thekraken]

You should be banished from the internet. Seriously, you lost me at liquid smoke. Steak was never meant to be cooked in a bath of water. Real men cook steak on fire. The Baby Jesus of Steak cooking is weeping at your sacrilege. Shame on you.

Sous vide steak, finished on a 1000F rocket engine hot flame, the absolute best steaks I've ever had... You gotta open your mind (and taste buds) to new possibilities.

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

You should be banished from the internet. Seriously, you lost me at liquid smoke. Steak was never meant to be cooked in a bath of water. Real men cook steak on fire. The Baby Jesus of Steak cooking is weeping at your sacrilege. Shame on you.

Dude I used to think the same thing. But seriously, best steaks I've ever had were not had at pricey steak houses, I've made them sous vide in my own home. Baby Jesus of Steak, would embrace this entirely. You can cook your steak perfectly every time.

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Bon apetite did something similar to this is 2015. all Owly has done is replaced roasting with sous vide, and forgone the second fry.

 

[Cyclman]

I char on the grill, then finish on a rack in the oven (cooked to 120 degrees). Similar concept, I would think.

 

[TorMag]

The perfect steak is reverse sear on the BGE

 

[GilaMinumBeer]

Someone should invent a toaster oven for cooking steak.

 

[Auger]

Someone should invent a toaster oven for cooking steak.

I smell a Shark Tank proposal.

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

Someone should invent a toaster oven for cooking steak.

They did create one for bacon...

Most professional steak houses put their steaks under a salamander broiler. Its the easiest and most efficient way to get a perfect sear on a steak in a commercial setting.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

I personally don't like most tender cuts of steak done sous vide... It's just a texture thing. It's a lot harder to perfectly grill a steak to medium rare and actually get a nice sear, but for that I use TorMag's method above and do a reverse sear on my Kamado Joe.

If I'm going to my specialty butcher and spending exorbitant amounts of money for top-quality meat, I'll reverse sear it. Not saying sous vide is wrong, but it just doesn't do it for me there.

But this is a whole different deal. This is cheap--but tough--flavorful meat that usually can't be cooked outside of BBQ (low and slow WAY past well done to get to tender) or braised (low and slow WAY past well done to get to tender). Heck, the genesis of BBQ was to take the cheap cuts of meat that a lot of poorer people couldn't afford and find ways to use them and make them delicious. Necessity is the mother of invention.

The only way to tenderize those cuts of meat is temperature and time. BBQ or braise is high temperature and a fair bit of time. Sous vide is lower temperature and a LOT more time. But unlike BBQ or braise, you end up with a cut of meat that can still be medium rare and just as tender as the high-dollar steaks.

I call that a win.

 

[Redlantern]

Aged Delmonico 1-1/4" thick -

Salt rubbed and dry aged in fridge for a week

Seared over charcoal - both sides, 2 min

Offset cooked at 170 for three hours over charcoal

Finished with a little salt, fresh cracked pepper and drawn butter.

Served with another steak just like it

 

[thekraken]

I personally don't like most tender cuts of steak done sous vide... It's just a texture thing. It's a lot harder to perfectly grill a steak to medium rare and actually get a nice sear, but for that I use TorMag's method above and do a reverse sear on my Kamado Joe.

If I'm going to my specialty butcher and spending exorbitant amounts of money for top-quality meat, I'll reverse sear it. Not saying sous vide is wrong, but it just doesn't do it for me there.

But this is a whole different deal. This is cheap--but tough--flavorful meat that usually can't be cooked outside of BBQ (low and slow WAY past well done to get to tender) or braised (low and slow WAY past well done to get to tender). Heck, the genesis of BBQ was to take the cheap cuts of meat that a lot of poorer people couldn't afford and find ways to use them and make them delicious. Necessity is the mother of invention.

The only way to tenderize those cuts of meat is temperature and time. BBQ or braise is high temperature and a fair bit of time. Sous vide is lower temperature and a LOT more time. But unlike BBQ or braise, you end up with a cut of meat that can still be medium rare and just as tender as the high-dollar steaks.

I call that a win.

Oh man, I'm the complete opposite of you! When I buy the expensive stuff at the butcher shop I just don't want to take the risk of screwing it up when I know I can get it perfectly done sous vide. I actually enjoy the texture more anyway.

After nothing but positive experience I was SUPER excited to try and sous vide bbq. I've attempted both porkbutt and brisket a few times, sous vide for 24-48 hours and finish smoking on the BGE for a few hours. They just haven't been great, not bad but not special either. I much prefer traditional smoked bbq at this point. (I'm always open to trying new things though)

 

[thekraken]

Aged Delmonico 1-1/4" thick -

Salt rubbed and dry aged in fridge for a week

Seared over charcoal - both sides, 2 min

Offset cooked at 170 for three hours over charcoal

Finished with a little salt, fresh cracked pepper and drawn butter.

Served with another steak just like it

Yes, steak makes the best side accompaniment to steak! I also like to marinate my steaks in steak for a few days.

 

[betarhoalphadelta]

Oh man, I'm the complete opposite of you! When I buy the expensive stuff at the butcher shop I just don't want to take the risk of screwing it up when I know I can get it perfectly done sous vide. I actually enjoy the texture more anyway.

Like I said, to each their own...

In my opinion, tri-tip is the perfect "tweener" meat here. Tri-tip when done perfectly on a grill--and then sliced correctly and thin enough--is absolutely amazing. I've gotten good enough at tri-tip that on the grill is my go-to. That said, I cooked one for my girlfriend's parents and absolutely NAILED it, and a week later totally botched one.

However, if it's not done perfectly it can end up tough, and either way it's an irregular shape, which makes it harder to cook evenly no matter how good you are as a cook. If you do 12 or 24 hours sous vide, then a quick sear, you end up with a super-tender cut, and the cooking method is basically foolproof.

I prefer the grilled method, but I'm not opposed to doing the sous vide from time to time to change it up.

After nothing but positive experience I was SUPER excited to try and sous vide bbq. I've attempted both porkbutt and brisket a few times, sous vide for 24-48 hours and finish smoking on the BGE for a few hours. They just haven't been great, not bad but not special either. I much prefer traditional smoked bbq at this point. (I'm always open to trying new things though)

I haven't tried sous vide BBQ yet... I've been talking about doing it with a brisket but haven't gotten around to it.

I have done baby back ribs and short ribs, though.

The baby backs were good but I did 48 hrs at 147 degrees and they were too done. They were more falling off the bone than I'd like. Rather than smoked they were sauced and just put on the grill long enough to caramelize the sauce. I'd drop them to only 24 hrs in the future.

Short ribs, however, are amazing. I also did 147 for 48 hours and then seared them in a pan, and they were so tender and delicious. Simply put, it is *impossible* to get that result on a BBQ or braise. I still like some smoked short ribs from time to time, but I like these too.

 

[passedpawn]

There's nothing better than a tenderloin roast, coated with tarragon and S/P, roasted briefly over a fire, the cooked to med rare. The one I did for Christmas was memorable. Melt in yo mouth.

Ribeyes tonight, over coals.

 

[schematix]

I have yet to have a sous vide steak that is half as good as it is grilled to the right temperature. But i am referring to good steak here (rib eye, filet, ny strip).

I have a 2lb super marbled chuck roast in the freeezer awaiting a treatment similar to this. Hope it turns out well because i can make some well done chuck roast that tastes phenomenal, even though its gray edge to edge.