A POST ABOUT SOUS VIDE
I overheard a guest asking one of our servers recently. “Sous Vide – what is that?” We refer to it as pouch cooking under modified air conditions. So what does that exactly mean -- we seal steaks in specialized cooking pouches and remove the air from it in a vacuum chamber. A Cryo-vac machine lets you do that, it is a type of kitchen equipment which removes the air from pouches filled with food. You might find cryo-vac'd food in the supermarket such as bacon. But usually the food items are totally cooked versus raw. Cryo-vac'd food is naturally preserved by removing the air, without any chemicals. The pouched food is then cooked in a water bath in a device called an immersion circulator which measures temperature precisely and thereby helps you control the temperature of your food.
As a young cook I was taught to check “doneness” with my bare fingers by pressing gently against the surface of the meat and after doing it hundreds of times I was lucky enough to gain the skill of more or less “guessing” the various temperatures. I “guess” I was lucky that the steaks were not returned?!
Cooking sous vide steak (filet mignon, sirloin)
We set our immersion circulator depending on the needs but usually at a temperature range from 130°F – 135°F or rare, med rare if you’d like in more edible terms. A 1”-1.5” steak will bathe for about 20 minutes or even longer at the set temperature. Once you are ready to serve it take the steak out of the bath (and from the pouch) and pat it dry with a disposable paper towel, then season it with salt and fresh pepper and char it on an open fire grill or in a very hot sauté pan for one minute on each side. The quick charring/sautéing process is referred to as the Maillard reaction and will determinate the flavor of the steak (in addition to the fat content of the meat). At this point your steak will be perfectly cooked to a medium rare temperature and with a nice caramelized/charred outside and a perfectly cooked inside (see picture). If you prefer your meat a little more done just set your immersion circulator to the appropriate temperature, i.e., 140 F for medium, 155 F for medium well.
NOTE the meat was rested for one minute after it came off the grill to distribute the juices.
The difference with sous vide
The main difference compared to an old fashioned cooking style in the oven or in a pan is that when using an immersion circulator the meat is cooked throughout in the same temperature and wonderfully moist on the inside and not overcooked on the outside. Also when cooking traditionally there is a large loss of moisture -- up to 20%, because of the dry oven heat which aggressively penetrates the piece of meat. Compare this to the moist pouch method where the weight loss is only about 5% from its raw/beginning weight. All of that moisture remains inside the steak. Another advantage of cooking meat sous vide lies in the flexibility of timing, meaning you can have the pouched and cooked steak (for up to an hour safely) on stand-by in the water bath until you are ready to finish it in a matter of a few minutes, perfectly cooked, char grilled or sautéed.
For the home cook
Don’t have the equipment? Most of you won’t have the state of the art equipment such as an immersion circulator, vacuum or cryo-vac machine or specialist cooking pouches. No problem. I have had great results with Zip-loc bags “sealing” in the various meat cuts. I press the air out of it and then cook it with the help of an electric instant thermometer (for measuring the temperature of the water) on the lowest flame setting on my gas stove at home. The heat control needs a little more attention to stay in your desired temperature range but it is an effective and low budget solution.
Food safety
NOTE: these are not Health Department recommendations. Most likely the Health Department would advise setting the temperature at 10°F-15°F higher because of food safety. But if you order your steak in a restaurant medium rare and the chef cooks it to 145°F you most likely will send it back without even touching it!!
