Sous Vide Steaks Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How long do you sous vide steaks? ›

Set the immersion cooker temperature 5-10 degrees below your desired doneness and sous vide for a minimum of one hour and up to 3 hours depending on the size and quantity of the steaks.

Q: Can I add aromatics, like herbs or alliums, to the sous vide bag? Yes, you can. I like to add thyme or rosemary sprigs, along with sliced shallots or garlic cloves, to the bags with my steaks during cooking. Adding the same aromatics to the pan as you sear the steaks will bolster that flavor.

A good example of this is flank steak or sirloin. Both cuts can be just heated through and served, but extended cooking can tenderize them slightly more, resulting in a much more tender steak. Most of these cuts can benefit from a 5 to 10 hour time in the sous vide bath.

However, because sous vide requires the utmost precision, one wrong step and you can easily overcook your food, ending up with meat that has a rubbery consistency. The last thing any novice chef or food lover wants to do is splurge on a perfect cut of meat, only to have it come out lackluster — or worse, inedible.

The short answer is that it's very tough to predict exactly how spices are going to react in a sous-vide bag. I've found that if I want spice flavor, it's better to rub the spices into the meat after the sous-vide cooking phase and before the final searing phase.

Here at Sous Vide Tools we often like to add a small amount of butter to the bag and find that for best results, flavoured butter works really well to add a little something extra during the cooking process. Our preference is to place butter into the bag itself, rather than on top of the product.

To start with it is handy to remember that marinades don't work as well on cooked meats, or meats that will cook quickly due to the fact that the surface proteins will alter and lock out the marinades. To avoid this you should start marinating the meat before beginning the cooking process.

Flank steak is one of my favorite cuts to sous vide. This lean, sometimes a little on the tough side, steak benefits from a low and slow cook and a hot sear. I love to do an herby salt to season this steak, but a marinade is also a great way to go.

For example, many chefs recommend that sous vide steak should not be cooked for longer than four hours because the connective tissue begins to break down and the steak can become mushy. If the recipe says to cook something for between one and four hours, it's probably not recommended to cook it for 12.

To get a better sear

Using an ice bath can also improve the taste and appearance of your meat after cooking it sous vide. Once your meat is done, it's important to sear it to get that lovely browned colour and flavourful crust.

Is 2 hours long enough for sous vide steak? ›

Option to leave the steak in the sous vide for up to 4 hours for ultra-tender steak, but 2 hours is just perfect, as well! Both will come out medium-rare. Grilling directions: You can also sear steak on the grill by heating the grill to 450ºF and searing the steak on each side for 1 minute.

There is one, albeit slightly risky way to tenderize a tough cut of sous vide steak without it starting to resemble pulled pork. For a 1 inch thick steak, cook it at 121 deg F for 2-4 hours before you cook it to the final temperature.

All you've got to do is clamp a large binder clip on the bottom of the bag, then slip a heavy spoon into the mouth of the clip. The head of the spoon will keep it from falling out, and the weight should keep your food submerged. For especially stubborn bags, you can add a few spoons.

In the kitchen, you have to produce flavor, and then lock in that flavor. This is why we sear the meat before cooking sous vide. During the cooking process, the flavors are enhanced and reach the core of the steak. Finally, the flavor is secured in the meat during the chilling process.

Most food pathogens grow fastest a few degrees below the temperature that they start to die. Most food pathogens stop growing by 122°F (50°C), but the common food pathogen Clostridium perfringens can grow at up to 126.1°F (52.3°C). So in sous vide cooking, you usually cook at 130°F (54.4°C) or higher.