This post has been sponsored by the New York Beef Council. All opinions are my own.
Sous Vide is a great way to cook your steaks for perfectly even cooking. By immersing vacuum sealed steak in a temperature controlled hot bath, you can slow cook your steak to the desired degree of doneness. The end result will be the most delicious, melt in your mouth tender steaks you have ever eaten!
Recently I had the opportunity to attend a one on one session with Chef Patrick, courtesy of New York Beef Council. I met Patrick last year at another event held by New York Beef Council and after one of our sessions on social media, the idea was born to get together and teach each other. I want to share with you some of the things Chef Patrick taught me about how to cook Sous Vide!
Two ways to do Sous Vide Steak
There are two ways you can cook your steaks when doing Sous Vide. You can sear the steak before you vacuum seal it, or, you can sear it after it comes out of the circulator. There is no better way to do this, it is all about your personal preference. I will reveal to you which one I preferred at the end of this post!
Chef Patrick's Tips on Searing your Steak
- Overseason your steaks before searing. This is due to the fact that when you sear then remove the steak from the skillet, the residue left in the pan has kept a lot of the seasoning you added to your steak. This is great when doing a pan sauce as there is seasoning in the pan for your sauce.
- Don't use olive oil, it has a very low smoke point. Recommended oils to sear with are canola, sunflower, or avocado oil.
- Use a base seasoning "SPG-123" 1 part salt, 2 parts pepper, 3 parts granulated garlic.
- Don't get too close to the meat when seasoning. This causes the seasoning to clump up on the meat. Rather, raise your hand high in the air and let the sprinkles fall over the meat to evenly distribute the seasoning.
- Be sure your pan is hot before you add the oil and use only enough to coat the bottom of the pan. You should hear a sizzle when putting the steak in the pan.
- The steak is ready to turn over and sear the other side when it no longer clings to the pan when you try to flip it. If it sticks, let it sear longer.
What you need to Sous Vide
- Chef Patrick recommends the Anova Culinary Sous Vide Precision Cooker for home cooks. This is very affordable and easy to use.
- Vacuum Sealer Bags.
- Vacuum Sealer.
- Sous Vide Container.
Layer the steak with herbs and butter in the vacuum sealer bag.
- Prepare your flavors, shallots, herbs, and butter.
- Place a layer of flavoring ingredients in the bag.
- Steak goes on top of ingredients in the bag.
- Place another layer of flavoring ingredients on top of the steak.
- Seal with the vacuum sealer.
- Place in Sous Vide Container
- Walk away and let the Sous Vide do its job!
What to do once your steaks have been cooked.
- If steaks were seared before cooking, you can remove from bag and assemble the plate. We did decide to put an additional sear on the steak that we pre-seared. Can you tell which steak below was pre-seared and post-seared?
- If steaks were not seared before cooking, you will want to brown them following the instructions in the recipe card.
- Prepare a pan sauce. Remove the shallots and herbs from the vacuum sealer bag and place with butter in a hot skillet and simmer for a few minutes. Remove any sprigs of herbs from the pan prior to serving.
So, what was my preference, pre-sear or post-sear? I felt that the post seared steak looks more appetizing to me. The pre-seared steak still ended up being seared after it was removed from the sous vide. When I make my own sous vide steak at home, I will definitely be doing a post-sear!
I hope you will decide to give Sous Vide a try! The precision cooker is very affordable (think Christmas gift!!) and the steak was so tender and delicious, cooked to absolute perfection!
Don't forget to Pin and Share How to Sous Vide Steak!
Be sure to check out Beef it's for Dinner for more Sous Vide tips!
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📖 Recipe
Sous Vide Steak
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Ingredients
- 1-½ to 2 lbs steaks or 1 large ribeye
- Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
- 2 fresh thyme sprigs
- 2 fresh rosemary sprigs
For Finishing Steps:
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
- 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
- 3-4 fresh thyme sprigs
- 3-4 fresh rosemary sprigs
- 1 small shallot sliced
- 2 whole garlic cloves smashed
- Coarse sea salt such as Maldon to finish
Instructions
Preparing to Sous Vide:
- Pre-heat Precision Cooker to desired final temperature.
- Very Rare to Rare: 120F
- Medium: 135F
- Medium-Well: 145F
- Well Done: 156F
- Season generously with SPG-123 (See Notes)
- Slide herbs, shallots, and butter into a vacuum sealer bag.
- Place steak on top of herbs.
- Slide more herbs, shallots, and butter on top of steak.
- Seal the bag with vacuum sealer. If using a zipper-lock bag, seal using water displacement method.
- Drop the bag in the water bath, making sure not to block the intake or output sections of your precision cooker. If properly sealed, steak should sink.
Finishing Steps (Stovetop):
- Remove steak from bag and place on a paper towel-lined plate. Pat dry very carefully on both sides.
- Over very high heat, place a heavy skillet over the hottest burner and preheat until it starts to smoke.
- Add 1 tablespoon canola oil in hot skillet.
- Gently lay the steak in the skillet using set of tongs. Add 1 tablespoon butter.
- After 15 seconds, flip the steak so the second side comes into contact with the pan. Repeat, flipping the steak every 15-30 seconds until it has developed a nice brown sear, about a minute and half total.
- Using tongs, pick up the steak and rotate it so the edge is in direct contact with the skillet. Continue to cook, rotating steak along the edge until all edges are browned. About another 45 seconds total.
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