Sous Vide Steak: The best steak you've ever had.

So you've heard of sous vide cooking. It's not something new. If you haven't though, let me bring it home to you. In my book, it's the best way to cook meat. The basic principal is you cook the meat in a water bath that is the temperature at which you want the meat to end, so for example for medium rare steak, I let the steaks cook in a water bath that was 125 degrees. Higher for poultry and pork, of course. But even those meats don't require very high temperatures (140 or so) to cook yet kill bacteria, the process is actually referred to as pasturizing because the meat stays at that temperature for longer periods of time (an hour, or more). I love this process because it also has lots of wiggle room. So let's say you want your steak to be perfectly cooked at 7, but your guests are late... not a problem with sous vide, you just let it sit at the same temperature and it will never get over cooked and will still be perfect when your guests arrive.

So let me step you through the process. First, don't go cheap on the meat and expect great results. I got some USDA Prime NY strips, cut thick, about 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 each. They were nicely marbled, which is key to tenderness and flavor. So before cooking, I liberally seasoned them with a mesquite steak seasoning (which had salt, so I didn't add more) and liquid smoke. The sous vide machine was preheated to 125 degrees, and I vacuum sealed the seasoned steaks in a single bag. I've seen similar preparations with each steak in its own bag, but I didn't see the need here since there are only four.

And into the hot water bath they go. As you can see, since they are vacuum sealed really well, they sink so there's no need to weigh them down (which I've had to do with not so well sealed meats, my bad).

After about two and a half hours in the sous vide machine, I took them out and drained them, from there they went onto a very hot grill to sear the outside. This part is key, upon removal from the sous vide machine the entire steak is medium rare, so you can imagine the outside isn't very appealing. So the idea is to sear the outside, giving grill marks and that distinct grilled flavor, while leaving the inside a consistent medium rare. I didn't get a photo of the grilling process, I was a little busy because throwing an already cooked steak on a super hot grill only requires a minute or two each side, and has to be closely monitored so it's not overcooked. In the presentation below, I paired with some steak appropriate sides and covered the steak with a beef demi-glace.

As you can see in the below photo, the outside of the steak is only slightly more cooked and colored, while the remainder is a perfect medium rare.

And that, friends, is one of the best steaks I've ever cooked, or eaten.