Before finding this subreddit, I’ve cooked ribeyes at 129 for medium rare. I’m not willing to jump to 137 yet which I’ve seen in a lot of posts. I’m testing 133 today and I’m trying out the J. Kenji Lopez-Alt post on Serious Eats (https://www.seriouseats.com/sous-vide-steaks-recipe). I used both thyme and rosemary, garlic, shallots, and pepper. I’ll salt and pepper it before the sear in a cast iron pan. It’ll be my first time chilling the steak before searing too.
Questions:
– The steaks are 2” thick and I plan to cook it for 2 hours. Do you think 3 hours would be better?
- What are your thoughts on using mayo to sear the steak? Does it make a huge difference? Is it tastier? Is it just a gimmick?
by iamiavilo
11 Comments
The bad news is that you’ll have to try all the variants to figure out what you prefer.
The good news is that you get to try a lot of delicious food in the process 🙂
Maybe I’m just a noob, but I’ve never thought to use mayo to sear a steak. I’ve used it for bread though. I just started using algae oil (it was a gift from my sister) and now I absolutely swear by it. I’d love to know how the mayo works if you end up doing it!
Lol
Mayo is great.
Some redditors here are going to tell you that the garlic in the bag will murder you with botulism.
I would do 136 for 2 hrs. Mostly because you will have a massive texture difference between 133 and 136. Fat wont start to breakdown until 135ish.
133 maybe a bit gristly as fat wouldnt have melted as much.
136 for 2 hours and high high heat sear for 30-60 sec per side.
Re items in the bag – less is more.
I prefer 135-137 to get the fat broken and rendered better
I’d go 3 hours for 2″ steaks. Time = tenderness.
For a ribeye I prefer 129. It gives me more time to sear without going over where I want the finished product to be. I prefer the steak salted before SV to give it time to penetrate. Usually a good base for fattier cuts is .75-1% salt or more. Leaner cuts like turkey breast would be .5% salt.
2 hours should be plenty as long as it’s not bone in.
Mayo in my opinion lends to a sweeter overall flavor profile.
A proper heated pan, steak patted dry, high smoke point oil and a steak that’s not already cooked to your desired temp should give you plenty time to get a great sear. It takes time to perfect your searing skill. In the beginning I even used a MAAP torch to help it along. No it does not leave any flavor. Commercial kitchens usw these torches all day long.
I would do at least 3 hours if they’re really 2”
To me the beauty of SV a ribeye is that you can cook at a high enough temp (138 for me) to render all the fat without the meat drying out at all
>What are your thoughts on using mayo to sear the steak? Does it make a huge difference? Is it tastier? Is it just a gimmick?
I would skip it. It ends up being a lot of work for very little benefit — I can get a good crust using traditional methods (pat dry your steak before sear, hot pan, little to no oil for ribeyes, sear the fat cap first).
You can try it but I would wager you won’t do it twice
56c (132.8f) for two hours on a 2.5lb bone in (about 2 in) ribeye is my go to.