- So you've probably heard of the technique called sous vide. So today I'm gonna get into the details on how to easily sous vide a steak and just give you a run through of what it really means to
sous vide a piece of meat. (cheerful music) So sous-vide means under vacuum. So when you're using this technique, what you do is you vacuum
seal a piece of meat, it could be anything, but here we're specifically talking steak. And then you put it into a water bath. So I here I have this water bath set up and this is my emergent circulator. So I set this circulator to the exact temp that I want this steak to be internally, and this heats the water and
maintains a flow of water to constantly keep this
water bath at 131 degrees. So first thing I'll do a
little salt and pepper. The whole idea behind this cooking method is that perfect internal temperature that you literally set this machine to where you want it to be and it'll cook it through and
through to that temperature and then you just put a little
sear for flavor development and to build that nice crust at the end. Then next, I'll get this vacuum bag open. I like to tuck the sides of the bag around that way I don't get any smears on the bag which would possibly prevent
it from getting a proper seal. Now go in with the steaks. And then I've got a piece of rosemary I'm gonna put on either side of the steak. So the idea behind the seasoning now and then the rosemary
is that'll help infuse the flavors while this cooks. And we'll put it into the vacuum sealer. Now you could use a Ziploc bag, but today we're gonna
specifically talk vacuum sealing because that is the true
technique behind sous vide. Ziplocs do work for a shorter cook, but I really wanna go into
the vacuum seal method. (vacuum humming) Now the first thing I always do is check to make sure
that my seal is complete and there's no gaps. If there are gaps, you could either cut below
this seal and re-vacuum seal, or you might be able to just throw another quick seal on that bag. But you do not want any gaps because either water could get in or juices could out in the
water and murk up your water, you don't want that to happen. But at this point, what
makes this great is this goes right into this water bath and then you're done for now. You just let that cook for an hour plus. And the great thing is, you can wait an hour and a half, you can wait two hours, and you're still gonna have
that same internal temperature. So at this point, I might go about making
the rest of my meal, any other prep I have to do. And this just keeps that
temperature at a nice constant. That way the steak
doesn't become overcooked and you can just let it go. So I've let these sous vide now for about an hour and a half. It's a good time. I know that at that point
they've cooked through. You can go even longer than that, but I wouldn't go more than four hours. Four hours will start to change
the texture of the steak. You'll start to lose that
real nice steak-like texture. So I will pull these out
and I wanna pat 'em dry. Because you have created
a little bit of juices lost in the bag. Which is okay, that doesn't
mean they're overcooked. So what we're looking at here is technically a reverse sear technique. We're cooking the steak
through completely, and then we're applying
the superficial sear which not only makes it look
much nicer than they do now, but it also adds a ton of flavor. So this, the sous vide process is for getting that perfect cook and infusing some of this flavor. But then that sear will really get you that crust and the final depth of flavor that you're looking for in
a nice pan seared steak. So I'm gonna set this on
the very highest setting, because I am not looking
to really cook the steak, it's just for this final sear. So I will go in with each strip steak. All right, we got some good sizzle. All right, and I'm
gonna keep this rosemary that I was cooking with before, because what I will do is when I flip these, I'll
put this rosemary, butter, and this chunk of garlic into that pan. Because then that'll add
a little more flavor. And I would rather just finish
with this garlic at the end than have it ride throughout because I want just a
little hint of garlic, I'm not trying to cook a garlic steak. So at this point, I'm
going for about one minute on each side, that's it. Any steak that you would
normally cook high fast heat you can do the sous vide technique, set it to your desired doneness. If you like medium well, you
can set it for medium well. So 131 is what I'm doing for medium rare. So now I got that, I'm gonna sear this fat side a little bit. I'll use the shape of the
pan to my advantage here. And then we'll flip it right over and I'll go in with the
butter, garlic, and rosemary. Fat has crust up a little bit, browned. And with that side and with that side. Butter, rosemary, garlic, right. And now I'll just give a
quick check on my sear, 'cause I know my doneness is perfect. All right, and that's it. I'll pull these off, get 'em on to here. Even though they did a slow cook and were essentially
resting that whole time they were in that sous vide, I just introduced high fast heat to 'em. So I don't wanna slice into them right now because you kind of, all those juices they kinda redistributed or were kinda settling and mellowing out during this cooking process. Started to move fast again. So we wanna give them then
just a miniature rest, have patience, wait to cut into it because if you want your
steak perfectly done, let it rest for about five minutes. All right, so now we have
our finished product. So I'm gonna go right into this. This is kinda the moment of truth here. So we'll get a little slice off this end. All we'll show that nice pink center. And then see how perfectly done it is? It's like end to end medium rare. There's very little gray happening, you don't get that bullseye effect that you can sometimes get
when you're cooking off just direct heat and trying
to maintain your heat. This keeps a perfect doneness and then you're just applying
that sear for look and flavor. It's new techniques which I
always love playing around with. So if you liked this video, please share, comment, and check out some of our other videos on different techniques that we have here in the Test Kitchen. (cheerful music)
