Got this Australian wagyu, I just got an immersion circulator so I’d like to try sous vide. Normally I reverse sear so I have no idea what I’m doing. It’s about two inches thick.
What temp and how long should I cook this at?
Do I still do an overnight salt brine in the fridge?
Do I add a fat to the bag with it or just herbs? (I’ve seen what yall say about butter so I’ll save that for the basting)
If I only want to eat half should I cut it in half before or after I sous vide? Feel like I can just sear the half I want and save the other half for the next day?
Thanks for your help!
by notsafeforviewing
24 Comments
You should post this on r/steak, just kidding I’m the one who told you to come here lol. I’m not going to give advice because I never cooked a piece of meat this nice sous vide
I would reverse sear this personally
I’m going to guess half the people will tell you to just sear it. No sous vide.
If you’re only going to eat half, only cook half. That’s my opinion.
Season it first, then put in a vac sealed bag.
129 @ 4 hours.
Remove from bag, and put on wire rack – pat dry with paper towels, both sides.
In a hot pan, add your butter/oil and sear it about 45-60 each side. Don’t for get the fat cap side. You should see a great crust after each sear.
Enjoy!
https://preview.redd.it/5m48hnjwgaqe1.jpeg?width=1170&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=958a97df41df3f02536bc8a9c29bb0d7a6f42c87
Yes to the salt brine / dry brine
137 f. 3 hrs
Just herbs.
Cut before and vacuum seal and freeze unused portion.
First of all what a nice piece of meat you have there!
Second I know from browsing this sub that high fat content is going to be 133-137 range. 137 is what a “club” here does to fatty Ribeyes. I would go 128° 2-2.5 hrs.
Do the salt brine, there’s no damage from doing it but you can also salta it, put it in the bag and let it sit overnight.
NO. Do not add fat to the bag. Fat is a carrier of flavor, it carries it into the steak but outwards too. Also, it already is fatty enough.
I would divide them in two bag. Place them both in the SV bath. Sear & eat one and the other one sear tomorrow.
Hope this helps!
I wouldn’t sous vide this at all – the melting point for all that lovely fat is quite low. Slice it into ½” thick pieces, lightly salt and pepper, then sear at high heat and eat it rare, like you would with foie gras. It’ll melt in your mouth – not the plastic bag :). If you google you’ll find similar comments I’m sure… that looks almost A5 level of awesome, so enjoy!
Edit: and split with 2 other people… super rich
I think it’s worth dry brining. No, you don’t need a fat in there – I personally like to keep it simple in there – salt, pepper, and garlic powder. Sous vide at 137 for 3 hours, then into the freezer for 10 mins a side after drying with a paper towel – save the bag juice for later.
Then piping hot pan with avocado oil, sear the fat strip first, then about a minute a side, flip, add butter and herbs (thyme and rosemary for me), turning down the heat to medium, and baste until perfect crust. Take them out and add fresh mushrooms, cut to taste, and saute until the moisture comes out, add your favorite red wine and more herbs, turn down the heat again, and add bag juice and a little water. Scrape the bottom of the pan for all the flavor, and simmer until it’s perfect for you.
I used to be a wagyu sear purist, until I tried the Alinea method
135F x 60min. It’s so fatty that having it rendered is way better imo
https://www.crowdcow.com/blog/how-to-sous-vide-a5-wagyu?srsltid=AfmBOoprQdndUw4C5DITrCCPbfRoi9pl071Rfnsryd7PnTxXUqWYs1-w
How much was that piece of meat? Looks like A4 or A5 and that’s a pricey item to be doing something for the first time. Lol I’m just messing but let me tell you what I would do and you can adapt.
IF YOU HAVE TIME.
1. Pat the meat dry because we are going to dry brine it. like you should always do with steak. 😆 some people don’t do that.
2. Salt It very well since it’s 2 inches thick. Do not use iodinized table salt. Kosher or any thick non-iodine salt will be great. The salt will not dissolve on the fat so don’t worry about it later when we get to cooking. Do a good layer of salt but not too thick. This is 2 inches/50mm.
3. Place the salted meat on a cooling rack or balled up aluminum foil to get air under it and place on a plate or something to catch meat juice. Put it in the bottom of your fridge uncovered. We want that surface to dry out as much as possible and pull the dissolved salt water into the meat.
4. Leave it in the fridge uncovered for less than 24 hours. Over night is great.
5. When ready to cook. Pull it out. Season it with pepper and/or garlic powder if you want and vacuum bag it if you got that. or just use the zip lock bag partly submerged in water to force the air out. Look it up if you need a video.
6. For my midrare steaks, I do 135⁰/57⁰C and since it’s 2″/50mm. Id cook it for 2 hours. I usually do 90 minutes for slightly thinner 1.5″/37mm steaks but that’s me.
7. When it is done, pat it extremely dry and sear the crap it out of it. You really won’t need any oil, tallow or butter as higher marbled wagyu has ton of fat to render and will be GBD (golden brown delicious) in no time. Not sure what other methods you have for sous vide but this right here is cheap and works prefect.
https://a.co/d/7k3kKi0
If you don’t have time to dry brine then just start at step 5 and salt it then.
Hope that helps. Adapt how you like for yourself or let others add their suggestions and tips.
I just did a Tri-Tip strips that was REALY marbled (USDA Prime), about as thick, just not as wide. I did mine at 137 for 3 hours. Let the steaks rest in the bag for 1/2 hour to cool down. Pan seared in cast iron, veg. oil, butter, thyme, and garlic. Really nice crust on the outside. One of the strips I though I overcooked on the sear cause it was pretty crispy. Turned out absolutely PERFECT!!! A little less than medium all the way through. Texture was great. If I had that steak you have, I would do it exactly the same. Oh, and I put a sprig or two of thyme in each bag. Was great. Good luck! We’ll wait for a follow up!
Season it before putting it in the bag. Sous vide at 134. If you aren’t going to eat the whole thing, cut it in half. You could sous-vide the other half if you plan on having it relatively soon, put it in the fridge, then gently warm it up and reverse sear it.
I had an A5 Prime Rib that we cut into steaks. First one we did sous-vide at 128 and it wasn’t as great as I thought it would be. Second time did it at 134 and in all honesty, was probably the best damn steak I’ve had in my life… and I’ve been to business outings at some very upscale steak houses. I would not sous-vide at 137 for a steak like this. And I honestly believe 128 is still too low.
130f 3 hours – cool down – quick sear
I think just look up a video on how to grill/pan fry this instead of sous vide. Sous vide really is just overkill for a cut like this. There is so much fat in it there’s no need to really cook the meat except to render the fat. And a cut that big should feed the whole family.
Edit: Just elaborating on why it’s overkill: you’re going to sear it anyways so might as well just skip the sous vide part of it. You get a hard sear on all sides, potentially all sides, and you’re good to go.
Is there a particular reason you want to sous vide?
Chef with experience cooking waygu. If it’s thick like this Aussie wagyu then by all means both reverse sear and sous vide will give you great results with minimal risk of overcooking. You may want to leave it rare but I urge you to cook it at least medium rare to medium. Japanese wagyu on the other hand will not be found cut so thick. so you definitely want to sear the thinner stuff in a pan quickly.
I feel it necessary to point out the higher temp method of cast iron searing, flipped every 30 seconds to a minute on that thick piece will still produce a steak with better flavor than the sous vide version just from the enhanced crust. Fat content will protect the meat from over cooking, just keep your instant read thermometer handy! Hope this helps
Advice is just don’t
Why are you people using a Sous Vide on Wagyu? Wagyu’s prized for its insane marbling and melt in your mouth texture. Sous vide cooks low and slow, which is great for tough cuts or precision doneness but Wagyu ain’t tough, and it damn sure doesn’t need a warm bath to reach perfection. Too much time in that bag and the fat will render out too much. Just put it on a grill or cast iron.
Sous Vide isn’t a good idea.
[https://blog.thermoworks.com/cooking-real-japanese-wagyu-steaks/](https://blog.thermoworks.com/cooking-real-japanese-wagyu-steaks/)
Fat in the bag gets you steak flavored fat, not fat flavored steak. I would to Salt over night, then pepper and granulated garlic in the bag, then 125F for 1 hour per inch, pull out of the bag, dry and sear super hot for 120 second on a side. can use that 2 minutes to butter and herb baste if you want like a reverse sear
It should be a crime to use the word wagyu. Around here they call it Texas wagyu and charge premium prices. The USDA feds allows for it, like they do fake Parmesan cheese made in Wisconsin and not in Italy, its origin. A crime.
My first advice is to trim your nails
I would take the path of least resistance.
Salt generously. Bag it. 137f for three hours.
Take out, pat dry, smear both faces with a thin layer of mayo, sear in a ripping hot pan not more than a minute each side. Proteins in the mayo will brown and make sure you get a great crust. It’ll brown so quick you don’t need to muck around with resting/cooling/freezering. Just blast it.
Slice, eat.
Probably not the most 100% perfect optimal way. But if you’re a first timer this is idiot proof and more than gets the job done.
Isn’t this beautiful? Suggestion to cut into smaller pieces and sear on grill/ hibachi/ hotstone and then try it with just 1) salt, 2) butter and seaweed, 3) dashi, sugar and vinegar mix. Yum.
*posts a screw in the hammer subreddit* aight how big of a hammer should i use to smash this ?