Sous vide - wagyu entrecote and saddle of venison

[Anonymous Modernist 16092]

Hi there,

First of all thanks for taking the effort to read this post (my first on this forum) and your answers.

I have been using Sous Vide for a while now, but given I wanted to learn the techniques a bit better first, educate myself on the safety aspects of working with sous vide (bacterial growth in combination with low temperatures) etc, I have been working on the safe® side of the spectrum, ie temperatures of 70 degrees (celcius) and higher for cuts like Pork Belly, Chicken (actually did that at 80 degrees) etc.

For an upcoming dinner I am going to prepare a premium piece of Wagyu and a saddle of venison. Clearly, I do not want to prepare these at 70 degrees

The way I plan to prepare them, having read about the minimum and maximum times for these cuts is equal for both, being:

- meat will come directly out of a cold fridge (say 3 degrees C)

- sear the Wagyu and Venison in a very hot pan to give it a nice browning all around, as well as kill any bacteria on the surface of the meat

- immediately vacuumseal the meat (clearly each cut in its own bag... I have two sous vide machines, so they will also each go in their own bath)

- vacuum bag then goes into sous vide at 55 degrees celcius for 4.5 hours each

- based on the thickness of the cut, it will take circa 1.5 hours for the meat to reach 55 degrees and then the other 3hours is to pasteurize

- after 4.5 hours take meat out of the Sous Vide, char it above a wok-burner at very high heat (only a couple of seconds) and then it will be immediately served

Now, assuming that we will work in a hygienic way, avoiding cross contamination or contamination after the second step where we have seared the meat at very high heat all around, is there anything wrong or risky with the above way of preparation?

Thanks a lot!

Regards,

Michel

[Anonymous Modernist 5246]

Mia_1977

There are many options based on the plan you present but I would not vacuum the protein after the sear. I would put them individually in bags and submerse them in an ice bath until chilled. Warm proteins can boil under vacuum and become dry. You could also add some butter or other oil to the bag before adding it to the ice bath right after your main sear to add flavor and fat to the Venison. Other aromatic can also be added as well.

After you have cooked them to the point of pasteurization, you could then also let them rest at room temperature for 15 minutes or so and then again in an ice bath to chill. Doing this you can prep these proteins in advance, and just a simple 20 to 30 minute reheat 55 C will bring them back to temp and ready for service.

Other than that I see nothing wrong with your thought process. You may also wish to use any juices that are in the bags for a quick sauce.

There are also many more options this is just my 2 cents.

RED

[Judy Wilson]

You can also sear the meat after you've cooked it sous vide. Many people prefer that to searing before cooking sous vide.

[Anonymous Modernist 310]

Searing before and after give a very good sear. You can use siploc bags to put it in the bath directly after the sear. Ideally you can lower the temperature a few degrees at the end before going the second sear to prevent overcooking.