Sous vide rib-eye steak with DP Cosmic Cow rub seared on MM (with pics)

Stormbringer

So having been gifted a sous vide at Christmas (thanks in-laws) we've been experimenting with it quite a bit. During the week I cooked two ¾inch ribeye steaks. Steaks were rubbed with DP Cosmic Cow prior to bagging. In the sous vide at 55°C/130°F for medium-rare for about an hour. Seared on the MM at 315°C/600°F with CI grid.

Delicious, served with crispy triple cooked chips and green veg. With enough time and for individual steaks, this is how they'll be done now.

Sous vide rib-eye steak recipe ⟹http://wp.me/p7qSlA-490
Sous vide cooking overview ⟹ http://wp.me/p7qSlA-3Ya

Two nice looking steaks (took shots of them with rub but they were crap so left out)


Rubbed and vacuum sealed ready for the sous vide


After an hour, removed from the bags and seared for 15 secs each side, twice. Egg was at 315°C/600°F with CI grid


Served #1 - the level of done is completely uniform


Served #2 - nice cross hatching

blasting

Nice looking steak

JohnnyTarheel

Nailed it!!

Stormbringer

JohnnyTarheel said:

Nailed it!!

Nailing it again tonight ... it's that good, bro.

Stormbringer

Ended up doing a reverse sear last night as the steak was well over two inches thick and big too. It took around 1.5 hours in the MM at 275F to get to medium rare internal temp. Made for an interesting comparison.

TL;DR - sous vide has it's uses, but thick rib-eyes will still be cooked with reverse sear in the MM.

Why?

The meat last night was not quite as evenly cooked as the sous vide steaks (it was close), and also not quite as tender ... although that could have just been the cut of meat. Did it matter that the steak wasn't even and 100% medium rare from crust to centre? Not really. Did the tenderness make a noticeable difference? Only because I was looking for it, if I hadn't been then no.

However, it was the aromas that come from cooking in the MM that were the deciding factor. As it was in the MM for so long, the crust did pick up a lovely smokey aroma that searing for 60 seconds after sous vide doesn't give. Or at least, not for me.

This is a personal thing, we do like red wine with steak, and most of our red wine is mature Bordeaux, Californian Cabernet and some Burgundy. These do go slightly better with steak that has a hint of smoke in it.

So for future cooks of thick rib-eye, I'll stick with the reverse sear approach. We both really like the extra dimension of flavour that comes from cooking over charcoal. Individual rib-eyes, 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick I'll probably still sous vide. But since discovering reverse sear, I don't see that happening.

And the most important thing of all is that SWMBO preferred the reverse sear steak. So that sealed it.

The only exception to this would be where the steak is being paired with meal components that don't go with smoke. Can't think of any off the top of my head.

I suspect though that cooking something like chicken breast would be a different matter. That's the next experiment.

Didn't take any pics, but I guess most folks have done reverse sear so often you have a mental image anyway.

Webass

Here's what I've ended up with after several SV steak cooks.

Ribeyes 1.5"-2" thick. Brush with Duke's mayo and season with Montreal Steak Seasoning. 

Crank up the large to 600+ and sear in CI skillet for 1 minute each side.  The mayo makes a great crust.  I've tried searing on stovetop but got tired of having to tell the alarm monitoring company it's just my cooking. Toss a large glob of Smart Balance (it doesn't burn) and a couple tbsp. of minced garlic into the skillet.  SV individually vacuumed sealed steaks with melted butter/garlic at 131 or 2 hours.

Get the Lg. back up to temp and sear again each side for 1 minute.  Let 'em rest for about 5 minutes.  Used to have leftover steak and now it's "That's all there is folks, there ain't no more."  

Stormbringer

@Webass interesting. Doing it like this, does the final steak have smokey, chargilled flavours? Doing it as you do could seal those flavours in when vacuum sealling and accentuate during the SV process. If so, I'll give it a shot. This has SWMBO's approval.

Two questions - what is Smart Balance? Is your CI skillet flat, or does it have grooves?

Webass

. No smoky taste, more of a chargrilled.  Smart Balance is a "butter spread"  It's in the butter section of the grocery.  My skillet is flat.

GregW

Stormbringer said:

However, it was the aromas that come from cooking in the MM that were the deciding factor. As it was in the MM for so long, the crust did pick up a lovely smokey aroma that searing for 60 seconds after sous vide doesn't give. Or at least, not for me.

This is a personal thing, we do like red wine with steak, and most of our red wine is mature Bordeaux, Californian Cabernet and some Burgundy. These do go slightly better with steak that has a hint of smoke in it.

So for future cooks of thick rib-eye, I'll stick with the reverse sear approach. We both really like the extra dimension of flavour that comes from cooking over charcoal. Individual rib-eyes, 1/2 to 3/4 inch thick I'll probably still sous vide. But since discovering reverse sear, I don't see that happening.

My thought's as well. 
It's hard to beat the prolonged exposure to heat and smoke that reverse sear provides. 
I will say, that Sous Vide is a fantastic way to reheat vacuum sealed pulled pork. To me it's just as good as it was fresh off the egg. If you have a SV setup give it a try for reheating.

Stormbringer

@gregw pro-tip, thanks. Will do that over the summer ... if and when it arrives here.