Steak: one step closer

blind99

No thanksgiving leftovers so here's a steak. I'm getting closer to my perfect steak. This one went sous vide at 131. Then dried, seasoned with kosher salt and pepper, then a light brush of grapeseed oil. On the small for a sear, with the lid open at least 3"

I want solid mahogany crust and an even warm pink inside. This was pretty darned close. 

tikigriller

That is High Quality Steak House Material right there!!!! Now I wish I was cooking a steak right now instead of a Pork Chop.

GregW

Looks great. I've had good results using Sous Vide. I set the bath at 100 Degs and cook for an hour or so depending on the thickness.
Using the lower bath temp allows the steak to spend more time on the egg helping to develop a good crust.
It looks like you had excellent results using the higher 131 Deg temp.
It also looks like a very good quality of beef also, I bet it was delicious.

blind99

@tikigriller thank you sir - I tell ya, I'll put a good pork chop up there with any steak, any day. 

@gregw thanks! I'm still learning the times and temps of the sous vide. I love the flexibility it gives me. No more timing everything else around the meat. Steak was a random piece I had vacuum packed in my freezer, dropped into the sous vide. It was very tasty!

bhedges1987

Lookin top notch. 

tikigriller

blind99 said:

@tikigriller thank you sir - I tell ya, I'll put a good pork chop up there with any steak, any day. 

Well it's an SRF Chop...so it shall be tasty indeed I'm sure!

blind99

tikigriller said:

blind99 said:

@tikigriller thank you sir - I tell ya, I'll put a good pork chop up there with any steak, any day. 

Well it's an SRF Chop...so it shall be tasty indeed I'm sure!

I hope it's getting the egg treatment and that you'll post it. I still haven't ordered anything from SRF but it looks like great stuff. 

@bhedges1987 thanks!

Judy Mayberry

If you want a solid mahogany crust, put on a cast iron pan to get nice and hot. use some oil or butter, and let that meat get nice and crusty without flipping it all over the place--like so many men do--and then do the other side. I love char and this was the best method I've ever used.

lousubcap

Great result right there.  Congrats.

pgprescott

World Class! Bravo!!

bgebrent

That looks fantastic!!  Great technique brother.

Foghorn

Outstanding. 

JustineCaseyFeldown

solid mahogany is the hallmark of a dry aged steak. Begins browning immediately, because there is less water in the flesh that needs to be driven off before it can go all maillard on you 

northGAcock

Blind....let me know when you finally get that steak right....I'll be right over. Looks like you are there to me.

JohnnyTarheel

Brother Blind that is one mighty fine steak!!!

NPHuskerFL

Looks great!  But, for me anymore on anything sans a bone-in I prefer a CI pan or skillet sear and usually skip the pepper until the plating.  

Paul B.

looks awesome!!  Grapeseed oil - can't beat it!!

blind99

@JustineCaseyFeldown I'm not sure if my cooking technique is getting better, or if it's the sous vide.  I notice the SV results in a lot of liquid loss.  Maybe that's helping with the drying? I don't know if it causes any more liquid loss than the first stage of a reverse sear.

@johnnytarheel @bgebrent @Foghorn @lousubcap @pgprescott thanks!  @northgacock come on by!

@Judy Mayberry you totally nailed it.  i flipped that darned thing like crazy!  i'll try the CI again sometime - I used to use it a lot to sear in ghee.  one issue is surface area- i have to use the large to fit my CI pan.  The small egg is such a nice size for searing a few steaks and cooking for a few people.

blind99

@NPHuskerFL  thanks friend!  i used to think people were getting great crust by covering the steak in heavy salt and pepper and other seasonings before the sear.  i was obviously wrong.

@Paul B. I started using it recently.  along with ghee, it's my high-heat go to.  i like that it has almost no flavor of it's own.  

JustineCaseyFeldown

@blind99

i bet that is part of it. And you said you pat dry. 

Good looking steak

blind99

JustineCaseyFeldown said:

@blind99

i bet that is part of it. And you said you pat dry. 

Good looking steak

thank you sir

i was toying with other ways of dessicating the steak quickly, like using the polymer inside a diaper.  that just seems offputting though.  someday i'll give dry aging another go. i'm still smarting from my first try / epic fail.

Eggcelsior

Judy Mayberry said:

If you want a solid mahogany crust, put on a cast iron pan to get nice and hot. use some oil or butter, and let that meat get nice and crusty without flipping it all over the place--like so many men do--and then do the other side. I love char and this was the best method I've ever used.

Flipping often keeps the meat from getting bands of grey that is the hallmark of a steak left alone for 2-3 minutes. You still get the same crust since each side is getting the same amount of sear time.

JustineCaseyFeldown

@blind99

epic fail? I don't remember that

has to be a temp issue? Because it is so easy, even i can do it. 

Little Steven

GregW said:

Looks great. I've had good results using Sous Vide. I set the bath at 100 Degs and cook for an hour or so depending on the thickness.
Using the lower bath temp allows the steak to spend more time on the egg helping to develop a good crust.
It looks like you had excellent results using the higher 131 Deg temp.
It also looks like a very good quality of beef also, I bet it was delicious.

I agree with the method but it isn't really sous vide. I say that because it may scare off some folks from trying it. We used to call that the " hot tub" method. It doesn't require vacuum sealing and can be done in a pot with hot tap water. You aren't cooking it just warming it up. 

JustineCaseyFeldown

^what he said. 

hot tubber here. I don't sous vide, even though I think it is a pretty cool concept

but i do hot tub steaks

Paul B.

Hot tub steaks....  Awesome... Picked up on the grapeseed oil a while back and I think it is a no brainer when cooking (my super market has two brands of grape seed oil and 36 of olive oil.....).  I have never used Ghee I looked it up - mind sharing the benefits?

Little Steven

Ghee is just clarified butter that's been cooked a while to give it a nutty flavour. Same benefit as using clarified butter. Higher smoke point

blind99

@Paul B. what @Little Steven said.  Ghee has a nice high smoke point so it doesn't burn like butter does if you go hot.  But it's got a lot of flavor, unlike the grapeseed oil.

@JustineCaseyFeldown  Last year I took a nice bone in rib roast and put it in my beer fridge.  I thought it was keeping the temps OK, around 35.  It turned into a putrid mess.  I didn't have it on a wire mesh, so maybe some of the liquid grew bad bugs?  After I smelled and saw what was going on I elevated it.  And when I thought it was done I trimmed the parts that had been touching the liquid.  It still smelled awful.  I tried trimming the outsides and it was still awful.  Maybe I'll give it another go this winter.

Little Steven

You generally age whole primals. The rack would help cause it allows air to circulate around the meat. 

JustineCaseyFeldown

if you didn't have it elevated, then you had a wet surface somewhere.  not good.

needs to dry.  if it dries, it dies.

you can age a roast.  sub primal is ideal.

blind99

@Little Steven @JustineCaseyFeldown what cut would you recommend for a beginner, that would fit in a beer fridge?