gift of 2 50 day aged pat LaFrieda bone in ribeye thoughts please

Darby_Crenshaw said:

sorry.  my steak in a ziploc bag in warm water for twenty minutes isn't sous vide, by definition, actually.

pouring kerosene in my gas tank is not fueling my car, either.  i mean, sure, it looks the same, but the technique is different, the results aren't intended to achieve the same thing, and i am not achieving the same thing.

other than that, you are right.  exactly alike.

sous vide, when you are going to drag out the french pronunciation and proper terminology, involves a bit more in-depth thinking and concern for temps, time, vacuum, etc.  it (the current craze) began with the molecular gastronomy fans, and involved some hard core stuff, especially extended cook times, which do not merely warm the meat and take out the chill.

so let's clarify.

gramps said "leave the steak out until it gets to room temp".  except, it never does get to room temp.  not in an hour even.  but gramps had it right IN CONCEPT.

years ago, before people became food pansies, Morton's would have that evening's steaks sitting out in a frigging pile.  all night.  lined up and truly room temp. they don't do that anymore, as far as i know.

well, when the wife asks for steak, and i don't want to wait for the dry aged stuff to thaw and then another few hours later, hit room temp, i do what some hackers used to do BEFORE people started buying sousvide equipment. something Cook's Illustrated recommended.

immersing the COLD steak in hot-ish water with a change or two if necessary.  this took the chill out.  but it wasn't long enough to do much more of anything, like going full-tilt and doing a steak at 123 degrees for 48 hours.  those two chunks of meat are fundamentally different after their respective time in the bath.  one guy is beating the clock and warming the steak, to finish it with a sear.  the other guy is trying to achieve something else.  you'll have to ask him.

Cook's Illustrated DID say that they were also of the mind that warming the steak, even for that brief period, helped get the enzymes going (the ones responsible for aging and breaking down proteins, the same enzymes that are working in sous vide).  but they acknowledged that the brief period was only going to marginally improve the flavor that way.  the real benefit was even cooking, due to heat not needing to continulally blast itself at the meat trying to raise the frdige-cold core to "done" temps, while overcooking the exterior.

if you don't warm up a thick steak, it cannot be cooked with a sear AND evenly across the cross section unless you cook it in two steps:

-leave the steak out for a couple hours to get to "room temp", then grill it (gramp's method)

-sear first at rocket temps, rest while the grill is cooling, and then back on to roast slowly until done (T-rex)

-reverse that: roast slowly, then sear hot (X-ert, on the old forum, or what folks now call 'reverse sear')

-warming it quickly in warm/hot water with no controls, in a ziploc back ,for a short period  (hot-tubbing)

-or, in addition to warming the steak, submerge it at controlled temperatures for extended periods to limit bacterial growth (pasteurize it) while ALSO developing whlly new flavors gained by breaking down flavorless proteins into amino acids, AND tenderizing it (by virtue of the protein breakdown), and THEN sear to finish

even using a sous vide machine just to hot tub isn't "sous-vide".  it's using a formula-one car to go get groceries.  having the equipment doesn't make it "racing"

the guy who actually does sous vide, is the only one doing sous vide.

Thatgrimguy said:

Focker said:

Little Steven said:

Focker said:

Darby_Crenshaw said:

re cooking faster...

i brought my last 60-day steak to a weekend with four fat f***s, to go fishing.  it was a rib eye.  we had a couple others that we bought fresh to fill out the plates.

i put them on (a gasser) at the same time.

the fresh ones steamed, and would not flip.  they remain stuck until the water steams off and the grill marks form.  about four or five minutes into the searing, the dry aged one got flipped.  uniformly carmelized brown all over, with grill marks.

the fresh ones were still stuck, pallid light brown. grey, wet.  the dry aged one sizzling on the upturned surface, as the fat continues to fry.

four minutes later or so, the dry aged one came off, to rest.

the fresh ones still not ready to flip, and flaring like a banshee, to boot (again, a gasser)

hot tubbing is not sous0-vide.  it just takes the deep chill out of the steak, and you sear to get the crust and color/flavor. 

the dry aged stuff cooks quickly, don't pooch it

Can you explain how the cooler, crock pot, and the old school replacing water(greeneggers) hacks are not a form of sous vide?

I think you are doing a little more than "just taking the deep chill out of the steak".

By definition, it is all sous vide....
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sous-vide

Sous vide means under vacuum. Hot tubbing doesn't require the vacuum.

Neither does sous vide. 

It's semantics for sure.. but the word Sous Vide translates to  under vacuum. The water bath part isn't actually "sous vide" The sealing in a vacuum bag part is... And you can't do most of the recipes that sous vide was created for without said vacuum. You will get people sick.