first time sous vide some steaks question

zman51 said:

I plan to sous vide a 1.5" ribeye and a couple filets that are 2" ish. Could anyone tell me what temp to sous at and how long to expect it to take. I plan top sear on BGE after.

thx

http://www.douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Tender_Meat

I do everything at 132. I put them in the bath 1-2 hours prior to planned searing time. I like to set the egg up for indirect and throw in baked potatoes at the same time I’m starting the SV. When the potatoes are done I pull the indirect piece sear the steaks. Make sure the steaks come out of the bath and cool about 10 minutes before searing or it’s easy to overshoot them if the sear  isn’t fast enough. 

I usually go 500 - 600 degrees for the sear

zman51 said:

Thanks all. What is a good searing temp without possibly hurting the gasket?

You can leave the dome open to finish sear, you want heat and a number of flips to avoid an overcook, besides, if you are constantly opening and closing you are eventually going to lose your forearm hair or eyebrows from a flash back. 

I like to sear just to brown before the SV, Tres Booblay bath, dry the steak, some rub  and then into a smoking hot CI pan for about 30-45 seconds a side. Using clarified butter, ghee, gives a neutral high smoke point oil to help browning. One or two hours in the bath is all you need. Final sear using CI is also great, depends what else you are doing on the egg, but once the novelty wears off, getting sear temps uses too much lump for the couple of minutes maximum you use it. Too little time for the smoke to work any magic. CI for finish or a torch works just fine. 

unoriginalusername said:

Why bother with sv.... the egg can deliver the results

While Egg sears steaks are fine, SV eliminates any "grey" meat between the seared crust and the rare interior. There's also a plus, because the SV can safely hold a tough steak long enough to tenderize it.

unoriginalusername said:

Why bother with sv.... the egg can deliver the results

Here is one reason.......I was doing 2 spatched chickens yesterday at 400 direct. While they were on, I SV'd a couple of ribeyes to 132 IT. I was able to start the ribeyes 2 hours before and just leave them in the bath till the chickens were done. Then I cranked up the Egg and seared them off at 650. Very convenient to be able to have a 3 minute sear and perfectly done ribeyes after taking the chickens off. 

gdenby said:

While Egg sears steaks are fine, SV eliminates any "grey" meat between the seared crust and the rare interior...

@gdenby, I don't want to quarrel with you, because I have a lot of respect for your knowledge and experience, and I always read your posts with great interest, and I've learned some things from you!  Not at all trying to be disrespectful!  But I want to challenge you a little on this.  I think a reverse sear can do EXACTLY the same edge-to-edge goodness as SV.  Check out this picture @Kevinboatright posted recently, NO SV, just Egg:



And here's one of mine from a while back, and OK, there's some gray, but not much!  I've seen more gray on some folks' SV-then-seared pics!  If you sear at 600° or higher, you can get a very good sear in 1 minute per side, and that just isn't going to go very deep into the meat:



I finally broke down and bought an Anova, but haven't used it yet for steaks.  Maybe if I do I will be raving about SV for steaks, but I don't think edge-to-edge pinkness is something you need SV for.  Reverse sear, all done on the Egg, does that just fine.

If it's a good quality steak, is there any other advantage of SV?

jtcBoynton said:

Sous vide also gives you greater flexibility in timing the meal preparation. Throw the steak in the bath and then work on other items.  I often find that I have less precise timings for how long it will take to prep the other items for the meal.  Just makes it easier to get everything done at the same time.

THIS..........main reason I use SV when preparing a large meal with many sides. 1 minute sear per side and you're done. can't mess it up.

Theophan said:

gdenby said:

While Egg sears steaks are fine, SV eliminates any "grey" meat between the seared crust and the rare interior...

@gdenby, I don't want to quarrel with you, because I have a lot of respect for your knowledge and experience, and I always read your posts with great interest, and I've learned some things from you!  Not at all trying to be disrespectful!  But I want to challenge you a little on this.  I think a reverse sear can do EXACTLY the same edge-to-edge goodness as SV.  Check out this picture @Kevinboatright posted recently, NO SV, just Egg:



And here's one of mine from a while back, and OK, there's some gray, but not much!  I've seen more gray on some folks' SV-then-seared pics!  If you sear at 600° or higher, you can get a very good sear in 1 minute per side, and that just isn't going to go very deep into the meat:



I finally broke down and bought an Anova, but haven't used it yet for steaks.  Maybe if I do I will be raving about SV for steaks, but I don't think edge-to-edge pinkness is something you need SV for.  Reverse sear, all done on the Egg, does that just fine.

If it's a good quality steak, is there any other advantage of SV?

My thinking, I sear and don’t get any grey either. Just crust and medium rare 

There is something, about giving steaks time over fire.  Those PAHs burning off, create some wonderful flavor compounds.  Flavor you will not get from a griddle or skillet or torch sear. 

Pork and chicken on the grill pick up some of this grillmami, but not as pronounced as beef.   Charcoal grilled hamburgers vs smashburgers is a fine example.

I like to go lower on the water bath to give more time on the grill, about 3-4 minutes on the sear.  This recent cook was in the water bath for 2 hours at 107.  For backstrap or thicker steaks, I like to go higher, 117.

It might look slightly gray, but that's a fat layer here, should've cut more before taking the pic. 

Try both, find what you like best.  The only time I get pi$$y is if it's medium. 


Hth