On 4/2/2017 at 6:35 PM, Smithy said:I have a question about sous vide cooking that I did 2 days ago and finished yesterday. I bagged a tri-tip steak and cooked it at 120F for around 6 hours two nights ago, then chilled it thoroughly. Yesterday afternoon I removed it from the refrigerator and (I thought) allowed it to come to room temperature while I assembled other elements for our dinner: relish of cooked onions and red peppers as well as smoked peppers; fresh tomatoes; shredded cheese; cilantro; tortillas. The intent was to dry, season and sear the tri-tip in a very hot pan to get good browning, but still have a rare interior. That's one of the benefits of sous vide, yes?
The pan began almost dry, with the barest film of oil. (I had oiled the meat before adding a rub.) The left-hand photo above was taken after the meat was browned and while the interior was warming; the bag juices went into the pot at that point. The meat's interior took much longer to rewarm than I'd anticipated. It doesn't look overdone (by much) in the right-hand photo above, but take a look at the collage below:
We had no complaints about the taste or texture, but I'd have liked it rarer. It cooked too much during the rewarming phase.
Next time, what should I do differently if I have to cook in advance? Rewarm in the sealed bag, using sous vide circulator, before the sear?
I agree with all the follow up advice. Retherm in the bag slightly below cooking temp, then take out, sear, etc.
I will also add: It looks like to me, from the amount of juice that is left on your cutting board , that you neglected to properly rest your steak. Resting after the sear if you've sous vided something is less important than, say, when you roast or pan roast something (gentler cooking, not as hot, etc), but since you admitted you overcooked your meat when you went to sear it, it probably got too hot and needed to rest.
What color is all that juice on your board...? Red...lol, that is where your color went.
Also, if you are using previously frozen meat, that can lead to a lot of water/juice leeching during cooking and/or reheating.
Also also, if you have a huge piece of meat like a tri tip or something, don't be afraid to warm and sear in smaller pieces. You could easily have cut that sucker in half and cut down on the time it takes to heat it back up, thereby possibly preventing you from overcooking it. Just a thought.
