Since we’ve been cooking Bryan’s (and other steaks) sous vide for the winter, I’ve been wondering whether the appearance of the finished steak is compelling us to cook it more than grilling. The reason I ask the question is that Modernist Cuisine suggests there will be a color change to the meat from the cooking method and the qualitative and empirical evidence from our experiments seems to indicate that there is a difference in texture and appearance at the same internal meat temperature after sous vide and grill cooking. In addition to the texture and appearance changes, Patti thinks there is a substantial taste difference that factors into a desire to cook the sous vide steak longer.  She calls the taste “hoofy” until it is seared well and this is probably caused by the concentration of flavors that occur from sous vide cooking. This is a long-winded way of questioning whether we should cook the steak to a lower temperature in the water bath to maximize dining enjoyment. jpeats: A perfect NY strip steak from Bryan Flannery. I love my local suppliers but Bryan’s beef is unparalleled. His cuts of California beef run a little smaller, so to compensate he’ll cut them nice and thick for you. This 24-ouncer was at least 4 inches thick, which is great, but does pose problems for cooking in a Manhattan apartment without scaring neighbors or alerting the fire department. So, I cooked this sous vide at 120 degrees for 1.5 hours then flash seared in a blazing hot cast iron skillet. This worked well—the steak was just above true rare, which normally would ruin my day, but in the case of sous vide I’ve found I actually like a few extra degrees. In the background are truffled mashed potatoes and Sine Qua Non “Raven” Syrah from 2006. Of the recent SQN Syrahs, this one seems to be drinking best right now and was perfect with steak.

Since we’ve been cooking Bryan’s (and other steaks) sous vide for the winter, I’ve been wondering whether the appearance of the finished steak is compelling us to cook it more than grilling.

The reason I ask the question is that Modernist Cuisine suggests there will be a color change to the meat from the cooking method and the qualitative and empirical evidence from our experiments seems to indicate that there is a difference in texture and appearance at the same internal meat temperature after sous vide and grill cooking.

In addition to the texture and appearance changes, Patti thinks there is a substantial taste difference that factors into a desire to cook the sous vide steak longer.  She calls the taste “hoofy” until it is seared well and this is probably caused by the concentration of flavors that occur from sous vide cooking.

This is a long-winded way of questioning whether we should cook the steak to a lower temperature in the water bath to maximize dining enjoyment.

jpeats:

A perfect NY strip steak from Bryan Flannery. I love my local suppliers but Bryan’s beef is unparalleled. His cuts of California beef run a little smaller, so to compensate he’ll cut them nice and thick for you. This 24-ouncer was at least 4 inches thick, which is great, but does pose problems for cooking in a Manhattan apartment without scaring neighbors or alerting the fire department. So, I cooked this sous vide at 120 degrees for 1.5 hours then flash seared in a blazing hot cast iron skillet. This worked well—the steak was just above true rare, which normally would ruin my day, but in the case of sous vide I’ve found I actually like a few extra degrees.

In the background are truffled mashed potatoes and Sine Qua Non “Raven” Syrah from 2006. Of the recent SQN Syrahs, this one seems to be drinking best right now and was perfect with steak.

jpeats

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