Sous vide coooking is a dynamite way of cooking foods to perfection. Sous vide, which is French for 'under vacuum' is a method of sealing foods in an bag with all air removed, and then cooking them under water at a constant, low temperature. A sous video immersion circulator is used, which circulates the water and keeps it at a constant temperature. I use an Anova Sous Vide Immersion Circulator. I will post a link below.
When cooking meats using the sous vide method, you will usually quickly sear or brown the meat in some fashion after cooking. Nobody wants a pale-looking chicken breast, so it is necessary to brown meats afterwards. Cast iron skillets are great for putting the finishing touches on meats cooked sous vide, and I also utilize a blow torch from time to time. The grill also works amazingly well for steaks.
So why cook a steak with the Sous Vide method? Let's say that you like your steak cooked to a doneness of medium. Usually, to get a steak to medium, it will have a temperature gradient. The steak will be closer to well/medium well towards the outside, and then only medium in the very center. When cooking sous vide, the entire steak can be medium – not just the inside. After cooking sous vide, the steak is seared quickly on both sides so that you have a beautiful color and crust, but it is completely medium on the inside. Sous vide cooking is incredible for consistently nailing the internal temperature of your steak. If I want an internal temp of 135ºF, I might stop cooking sous vide at around 128º-130ºF before searing. After the quick sear, I should be close to 135º.
One other great thing about sous vide cooking is that it helps tremendously with timing a meal. If you want to wait until your gusts arrive before putting the final sear on your steaks, they will hold in the sous vide cooker for up to 2-4 hours at that same temperature. Because the water in the tank is constant, the internal temperature of the steak also remains constant. You don't want to hold much longer than that because the longer you go, foods tend to get mushy. If I need to hold foods in my sous vide tank, I try not to go over two additional hours.
These 2" strip steaks were rubbed with olive oil and then seasoned with Caribeque Seasoning & Rub Company Beef Rub.
The steaks were then put in vacuum bags with a little Worcestershire sauce, vacuum sealed, and then cooked sous vide at 129° for 2:45 using my Anova sous vide immersion circulator.
They were removed them from the bags, dried them by patting with a paper towel, and rested for about 10 minutes. I built a fire with Kingsford charcoal and oak wood in my 22" Weber kettle grill using my Vortex (Link posted below).
The steaks were quickly seared on all sides, and then allowed to rest for an additional 5 minutes or so. They were sliced, topped with crispy chopped bacon, and served with a Cabernet and beef reduction made in the pan with the bacon fond.
I built a nice sous vide tank out of a polycarbonate Cambro, but you do this in just about anything that is deep enough to submerge the food. So, a stockpot will work just fine. For long cooks, the use of some type of lid keeps evaporation of the water to a minimum. I have seen ping pong balls used in lieu of a lid.
Sous vide cooking is not just limited to meats. It is great for desserts, sauces, vegetables – the possibilities are endless.
Learning Sous Vide
There is a bit of a learning curve to sous vide cooking. It is important that you use good resources for cooking times and temperatures because you don't want to harm your family with incorrectly cooked foods. One very valuable resource for me was http://douglassbaldwin.com. He also has some pretty good video demonstrations.
Links:
Anova Sous Vide Immersion Circulator: http://amzn.to/2xdzOd2
Vortex: http://amzn.to/2xINo9J
