Sous vide chuck roast and the smoker

#21

Thanks Mike, I’ll keep that in mind. - Will also try your suggestion of dropping the temp too. (Just can’t make it too rare or else the wife won’t eat it.) I know I’ve heard some folks mentioning cooking stuff for many, many hours. And I think the book does indeed show a few things with recommendation like 24 hrs. etc. But these I think were roast or Briskets, etc. - So I will have to play around some more to see how things come out.

Thanks again

(Oh, and we did find the thermometers since then, so I can now double check the next time to ensure the temps are correct. Needed it recently to check the temp when I cooked the Duck on the Rotisserie)

(Running from stupidity) #22

This.

(Mike W.) #23

What cut of meat are we talking about? I assumed a chuck roast. Am I mixing up threads.

#24

It was a Top Sirloin I believe? Either that or NY Strip. One of the two. (Those weren’t listed specifically in the book, but as I said, most the temp/settings for most/all steaks were pretty much the same.)

(Banting & Yudkin & Atkins & Eadeses & Cordain & Taubes & Volek & Naiman & Bikman ) #25

Have done many chuckies, both just smoke and wrap and sous vide, smoke, wrap or sous vide smoke and sear.

With sous vide, you always start with the end in mind. Time is tenderness, temp is doneness. So, medium rare with a braisey type pullableness is workable with something like 135x48-72. That produces a steaky type texture that pulls. If you want something more traditionally textured, 155xwhatever Kenji came up with will generally work. I generally will just smoke the chuckie to get that texture, and then wrap with liquid to power through the stall, then pull and add the liquid back.

(Mike W.) #26

Ah ok. For steak I like 129 and then a HOT sear. You would prob enjoy 135-140 for medium.

#27

Yeah, I prefer to cook steaks on the grill overall, but you have to watch how fast they can cook up when the fat starts licking up the flames. Or you can also cook the fat right off of them! (I damn near over-cooked some about a week or so ago. It was quite dark, and my only light was very dim, so couldn’t see well.) They were Still good, but were a little crispy. :grimacing: Wife actually broke her fast, because she’d been wanting some grilled foods and after smelling it all cooking, decided to join my Son and I. :smile:

I would love to be able to quick flame-seared the steak after being cooked Medium or Medium/Rare in the Sous Vide. I usually get steaks about an inch thick, so definitely want it to stay pink some. - Thinking even if 130-135 kept it more rare, the wife may be able to deal with it with a nice searing? Or maybe just cook hers a little extra? But not on the direct flames. … Think that would be the best of both worlds.

Think I will try some experimentation this weekend. … Thanks again.

(Mike W.) #28

One thing I do is buy a bunch of steaks on sale and immediately bag and sous vide them all at 129. Then when I want sneak I take them out of the freezer and thaw them in the sous vide and then onto the grill. You can make them whatever doneness you desire by adjusting your grill time. Coincidentally this is also what high end steak houses will do to save time :wink:

#29

Thanks! :+1: That’s a very cool idea. - Actually I was going to ask you guys something very similar to this, but been busy and didn’t get to get back to the computer until just now. … I too buy big cuts of meat and Vacuum Seal them all, but was going to ask how you guys season your Steaks before putting them in the Sous Vide? Because I didn’t know if you could put on the seasonings, and then seal them. But the only alternative would be to thaw them and take them out the bag, then season and reseal them to go into the bath. … So would this work with your method? Meaning, seasoning them and Sous Vide them, and then freeze them? If not I can always add it while heating, but have been wanting to season them while they are in the bath.

Also, how long do you initially cook them at 129, before freezing? Any set times I mean? … Thanks again.

(Mike W.) #30

I dry brine nearly every single piece of meat I cook for AT LEAST 24 hours. Beef, chicken, pork. All of it. Then I bag it and sous vide. There is lots of science to prove that the only “seasoning” that penetrates the meat is salt. Any seasoning I do, is post sous vide. Fresh cracked black for a steak before searing, or rub for a pork shoulder all gets done right before my finishing step.
I “fully cook” everything. Meaning if I were planning to eat it immediately it would be ready.

#31

Good information and good to know. Thanks again for the advice, appreciate it… Experiments will definitely be commencing sometime here soon. :slight_smile:

(Mike W.) #32

Please keep me informed!

#33

Well, decided to break my Fast today just over 68 hrs., so dropped in two different Steak types into a SV bath. … Set it at 130, knowing I would fire up the grill for searing. And ran it 3 hrs, since I have an Eye-Glass appointment and didn’t want to break too close to this, for obvious reasons! :grimacing: … So I did a 1/2 Top Sirloin and 1/2 London Broil. (These were actually very big cuts, so these halves were cut in half again after their bath. Which helps for quick flipping job on the grill ) But I also wanted to compare the two cuts.

Seared them at 550-600 degrees, with nice flames. Did them 3+/- minutes on each side and made sure they all spent some time directly in the flames. They both came out nice, but the Top Sirloin with the nice fat outer was great. Came out nice and lightly charred! … And yes! They both were still nice and pink inside! So I must have done something on the last ones, maybe over cooking while searing? … So thanks again, the wife said she really liked the way they came out, so I think she may be more on board with not over-cooking them, but cooking them right. :smile: … Here’s some pics, if you didn’t see them on the What did you Keto thread.

2 parts of the London Broil on the Left, Top Sirloin on the Right… Bottom right is the one on my plate.

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Thanks again, appreciate the assistance…

(Mike W.) #34

Looks awesome! Great job.

#35

Yep, came out nice this time. Like I said, maybe it was me searing them in a pan that cooked them through? Either way, I think I will stick with the 130 for now, and just quick sear to keep the pink inside. :slight_smile:

(Central Florida Bob ) #36

Beautiful! Especially that sirloin bottom right.

Edit to add: I’m temporarily without a grill. Or “between grills”. I might have to try a SV steak and the cast iron frying pan.

#37

Yeah, gave that one a little extra time in the flames. … I think the perfect Steak for me, is pampered on the inside and somewhat flame tortured on the outside. And I LOVE the Fat when it gets that crispiness to it. :smile:

(Central Florida Bob ) #38

This isn’t really related to this thread, except for it’s my attempts to get good at sous vide.

Cooked my first steak, a T-bone steak. Two hours at 133, then seared in cast iron pan with coconut oil (“unscented”). We both thought it turned out well, but I’d prefer it to look like @Digital_Dave’s.

T-Bone-SV
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I need to get a grill. Last summer, I was looking at Weber kettle grills for both an additional way to smoke things and grill. I figured I’d wait till the fall because they’d be on sale. Apparently, they almost never go on sale.

#39

That looks good. I think steak in general always do. :slight_smile:

(Central Florida Bob ) #40

I finally got around to making sous vide beef short ribs, finished on the smoker.

Best smoked short ribs I’ve ever made. Twirled on the fork like spaghetti. Very easily pulled or served as sliced beef.

The funny thing is that something screwed up in my cooker overnight last night and I didn’t really go by the recipe. It said to cook at 172 F for 14 hours, so I figured I’d have the ribs into the water by 8 last night, out at 10AM and then into the smoker by 11 or 11:30.

When the cat (Master) had me up to feed him at 6:30, I was shocked to find the unit had shutdown earlier and the temperature had dropped to 112/113. I think what happened is that with the temp that high, even with some foil over the top, too much water evaporated and the unit turned itself off. The water level was pretty much at the “MIN” level marker. Based on how little had evaporated between 8 and midnight, it’s hard to imagine it all could have evaporated in under 6 hours, but we’re talking a lot of water and there’s simply nowhere else it could have gone.

I filled the pot with water and started over; it was at 172 for another three hours. I think it lost about 3 hours out of the 14. Two for shutting off early and one for restarting.

After about four hours in the smoker, I was taking some spot internal temperatures, and I’ve never felt beef short ribs that tender. Literally like putting the probe into softened butter.

BestShortRibs
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That’s just putting a fork into the top and twisting it a little.