One Sous Vide Bath, two different tastes for steak

[Chris Hennes]

With the temp? I use a sharpie...

[flightcook]

Chris,

Just bought a pack last night to try. I was thinking, I got one on a white shirt one time and it would not come out in the wash, might stay on a vacuum bag through a couple hours in hot water.

Next weekend I have my first attempt to make steaks for a crowd, probably about 8 to 10 people and that probably means at least 4 different finish temps. Should be fun, if not, there is always take out pizza.

[Shalmanese]

Sharpie works great but an alternative method is to get a box of colored paperclips and color code the bags based on temp.

[Robert Jueneman]

Anyone know offhand how long a cook-chill piece of SV meat will last in the fridge?

Mike

I covered this recently in the sous vide thread.

The short answer is that cooked food should be consumed within 72 hours if held in ordinary 5C/41F refrigerated conditions, or frozen indefinitely.

See the US Food Code at http://www.fda.gov/F...51.htm#part3-6.

Parts C and D of section 3-502.12 deals with cook/chill and sous vide preparations, and are particular interesting. I'll delete sections that only apply to commercial processors:

C) Except for fish that is frozen before, during, and after packaging, a food establishment may not package fish using a reduced oxygen packaging method.

D) Except as specified under ¶ (C of this section, a food establishment that packages food using a cook-chill or sous vide process shall:

(2) Ensure the food is:

(b) Cooked to heat all parts of the food to a temperature and for a time as specified under § 3-401.11.

(d) Placed in a package with an oxygen barrier and sealed before cooking, or placed in a package and sealed immediately after cooking and before reaching a temperature below 57°C (135°F)

(e) Cooled to 5°C (41°F) in the sealed package or bag as specified under § 3-501.14 and subsequently:

(i) Cooled to 1°C (34°F) within 48 hours of reaching 5°C (41°F) and held at that temperature until consumed or discarded within 30 days after the date of packaging; or

(ii) Cooled to 1°C (34°F) within 48 hours of reaching 5°C (41°F), removed from refrigeration equipment that maintains a 1°C (34°F) food temperature and then held at 5°C (41°F) or less for no more than 72 hours, at which time the food must be consumed or discarded;

(iii) Cooled to 3°C (38°F) or less within 24 hours of reaching 5°C (41°F) and held there for no more than 72 hours from packaging, at which time the food must be consumed or discarded; or

(iv) Held frozen with no shelf life restriction while frozen until consumed or used.

(h) Labeled with the product name and the date packaged.

I find that the Brother label maker does a great job, and the label stays on even after immersion in the water bath. The labels produced by my MV-35XP chamber vacuum stay on OK in the freidge or freezer, but come off when cooking.

[sculptor]

I'd clip off a top corner but I'm pretty sure that wouldn't work for some types of bags...

[pbear]

I don't think she will notice the temp, only the color. if it is pink and not red she is happy. (I once dunked her prime rib into the au jus so she would not see how red it was and she was perfectly happy - it is just a color thing with beef for her.

Given this, I will respectfully disagree with the other posters. They're giving you good advice on how to coordinate two different objectives as to texture (MR vs. M), when what your wife cares about is color. Frankly, I don't think she would like a steak SVed to 140 degrees then browned. It'll be pinker in the middle than she likes. That's the nature of SV. To see this, look at the pictures for Keller & Co.'s sirloin recipe in Under Pressure. They SV to 139.1 degrees, then sear. I'm guessing that's too pink for her.

Instead, I would go with your original alternate idea of SVing both steaks to 131 degrees, then browning hers a little longer. Won't take 5 to 7 minutes - more like 3 to 4 - though it'll take a few batches to get the timing right. Nor will this lose all, or even most, of the advantage of SV. Instead of cooking the steak from chilled, you'll have a big head start on target temp. So, a little more of a gradient, but not much. And the color, I think, will be rather more to her liking.

Just my $0.02's worth.

[Todd in Chicago]

I usually use a sharpie and mark whether or not the bagged item is cooked, product, and additions to the bag. Sometimes the date or origin.

So bags might look like:

cooked - Bari Chix breast - thyme/butter - 140

**Note - Bari is the name on an Italian butcher where the chicken was purchased.

And I ofent improvise and make other small cryptic notes on the bag. ;-)

Cheers...

Todd in Chicago

[flightcook]

I have worked out cooking two steaks and I do have to put hers on the grill for a few minutes. I even tried one at 155 and it was dry like a well done steak but it was still pink; she thought I was serving her a raw cow.

Now I have a larger problem. Having guests over and asked them ahead of time how they like their steak, I was shocked when the answer came back well. They will be looking for a grey steak. I am thinking I probably need to cook it to 155 and let it stay on the grill a few minutes longer. Has anyone else done a Sous Vide Steak to well?

Mike

[lame username]

I'm afraid you need new friends as well. Some open-minded folks you can guide to the light, some you have to rethink your menu for. I save my prime steaks for friends/family that appreciate beef in the rare to med-rare range. You could also look into "beer-cooler" sous vide to give you a second, concurrent temp option; especially for the well-done portions.

[flightcook]

<<<I'm afraid you need new friends as well. Some open-minded folks you can guide to the light, some you have to rethink your menu for. I save my prime steaks for friends/family that appreciate beef in the rare to med-rare range>>>

I agree but my goto steak for company is prime sirloin from Costco, it is under 8 bucks a pound (was 6.00 not too long ago), so it they want it over cooked, at least mine will be good. The prime filets and Rib Eyes are only for those who will eat it med rare (and my wife who gets it however she wants it - I just leave it on the grill longer)

I now have two baths to make this trial easier to bear. (Actually, I used this as an excust to get two. I use a Sous Vide Demi for daily meals and I have a Sous Vide Magic I use with a full size food warmer when I am cooking for a crowd.

[lame username]

Congrats on having the means to do two Sous Vide preps at different temps (and reasonably priced prime beef). I think you've solved the problem as best as one can. And now you can have protein and vegetables ready to plate without juggling when it's just the two of you.

[pastameshugana]

I also am a fan of "Cook much, chill, freeze, re-heat".

What seems to work for me is to look in my FREEZER and say....hmmmm....tonight for dinner for my wife and I....I'll take out 1 pkg of a steak previously cooked at MY temperature, 1 pkg of steak cooked to my WIFES temperature, a pkg of carrots with butter and vadovaun curry, and a pkg of diced parsnips with salt, pepper and butter. All previously cooked to the desired temperature. Everything goes frozen into the SV at 130...

Todd - as a father of five who rarely gets the time to do the 'fancy' cooking he wants except in micro-bursts - you've finally given me a compelling reason to get a SV. I've loved the idea, the control, the 'gadgetiness' of it all, but I could never quite nail the practicality of it to a specific rung in our budget, now you've done it! (I'm sure my wife will be thrilled that I've got a 'legitimate' reason for a new toy).

I have to say, that makes brilliant sense. Also with 1/2 of our kids (okay, 2/5, no divided children here) being chili heads like me and the other two sissies, I can imagine all sorts of variations on recipes.

A million thanks!

[Dan Rose]

Having guests over and asked them ahead of time how they like their steak, I was shocked when the answer came back well. They will be looking for a grey steak.

... have you considered dining by candlelight?

/only partially kidding... reduced light might help, or you could put in a colored bulb for funsies.