Sous vide cheap cut steaks coming out consistently dry and pale (Baldwin time/temps)

[paulraphael]

I'm talking about ethics, not health. I'm a carnivore, but am willing to go out of my way to reduce cruelty to animals. I consider steak a luxury food, so don't feel entitled to it at any price. That's an attitude that's going to be reflected in my posts here and in my blog. 

[FeChef]

I had some frozen boneless short ribs I threw in the sous vide yesterday and noticed one of the three bags had filled with alot of blood/juices from the meat. I checked the bag to see if there was a leak just incase, and the bag was fine. These short ribs were from various sources. None of the short ribs were salted. They all went in at the same time, at the same temp (134F). Why has one seem to have expelled more liquid then the others? Going back to topic, This i believe is why they are turning out dry and pale.

[weedy]

I'll leave that experiment to someone else. For one thing, I'm interested in the responsible raising of livestock, so even though I don't have a lot of disposable income, I avoid cheaply-raised meat. I would rather eat steak less often and eat the good stuff. And I would much rather eat a cheap cut from well-raised steer than a rib-eye from one that's been tortured by mass-production. I'm not a zealot about it, but I do what I can, when I can. And when buying food that I consider special occasion food (like steak ... especially in this quantity) it's always going to be a time when I can. 

 

absolutely.

right with you

[pep.]

I had some frozen boneless short ribs I threw in the sous vide yesterday and noticed one of the three bags had filled with alot of blood/juices from the meat. I checked the bag to see if there was a leak just incase, and the bag was fine. These short ribs were from various sources. None of the short ribs were salted. They all went in at the same time, at the same temp (134F). Why has one seem to have expelled more liquid then the others? Going back to topic, This i believe is why they are turning out dry and pale.

 

Could have to do with how the animal was treated during slaughtering. For pork and poultry meat, there's a defined condition called "PSE" that leads to excessive water loss. Don't know about beef, but there could be something similar going on.