Confession time, I never ice bath/freeze post sous vide. I don’t see the point, gray band is never an issue with a properly hot pan/grill. Recent 30 hour Charles roast for evidence, ignore tuna it was just a sear.
Confession time, I never ice bath/freeze post sous vide. I don’t see the point, gray band is never an issue with a properly hot pan/grill. Recent 30 hour Charles roast for evidence, ignore tuna it was just a sear.
by Sandusky_D0NUT
14 Comments
dapperpappi
Ice bath is more important for food safety if you’re not finishing and serving right away. If you are it’s completely optional.
Slick88gt
Ice bath is a complete waste of time, kinda sad so many people insist upon it and newbies will waste their time with it. The key is like you said – a properly hot pan, but also making sure the meat is dry.
dhdhk
I mean your photo doesn’t really mean anything if we can’t see the quality of the sear. I’ve never done there ice bath, but I believe the point is it gives you more time to get a good crust.
ie your crust could have been better if you iced it before
StinkyBalloon
So you just sous vide it and put it in the fridge? Or do you sear right away?
If it’s a steak or something, if you cook it right out of the sous vide it’s still holding that temp, so throwing it on a grill or whatever you’re doing it’s going to keep cooking ( raise the internal temperature)
Idk, still learning myself
wooking
For sir Charles the sear isn’t as important.
LookDamnBusy
Neither do I, to me it seems a waste of time and effort not commensurate with any improvement. I mean, I’m fine with this:
I use ice bath only if it then goes to the fridge, if it goes directly to the sear I don’t see any point.
Professional-East-29
I agree 100% I want my food hot!
WarpGremlin
As soon as you pull the strak from the water it cools. It takes about 5 minutes for my gas camp stove to get from ambient to “fire of a thousand suns” hot, and that’s plenty of time for the surface to lose enough degrees before the sear.
MostlyH2O
Me neither and you’re totally right.
This subreddit is full of insane rituals that make basically no difference in the final product.
swankyoctopus
If I’m searing right away (which is pretty much always, I just take the bag straight from the SV and run it under cold water in the sink (still bagged).
After they are cool to the touch it’s easier to take the steaks out. I dry them off while I pre-heat my cast iron and then sear with butter and some vented chef’s presses.
Crust has been much better (i.e. deeper and more even color) as a result and it doesn’t add any more time to the process.
talanall
There is no point to using an ice bath as a preliminary step in trying to get a good sear. It is useful for cook/chill/reheat/serve processes, where you are using sous vide as a way to batch out meals for some time in advance of consumption.
An ice bath does not get you a meaningfully better crust. You get a better crust by drying the surface of the meat, and then putting it into contact with the surface of something that is extremely hot and that has enough mass to STAY extremely hot. For most people, that ends up being a very hot cast iron pan.
An ice bath does enhance food safety. It ensures that you swing through the “danger zone” above 39 F (3.9 C) and below 126.1 F (52.3 C) as quickly as possible. This helps prevent your bagged food items from becoming an incubator for botulism.
Lots of people on this sub think otherwise, but that’s because a lot of people on this sub don’t know anything about thermodynamics. Or food safety.
twill41385
r/steakortuna…more like r/steakandtuna
Hulk_Hagan
Meh, I’ve tried straight to pan for steaks and found the ice bath prevents overcooking. I can spend a little more time getting that perfect crust without risking raising the internal temp. Glad it works for you not to, but myself and others have found it works better to include the ice bath.
14 Comments
Ice bath is more important for food safety if you’re not finishing and serving right away. If you are it’s completely optional.
Ice bath is a complete waste of time, kinda sad so many people insist upon it and newbies will waste their time with it. The key is like you said – a properly hot pan, but also making sure the meat is dry.
I mean your photo doesn’t really mean anything if we can’t see the quality of the sear. I’ve never done there ice bath, but I believe the point is it gives you more time to get a good crust.
ie your crust could have been better if you iced it before
So you just sous vide it and put it in the fridge? Or do you sear right away?
If it’s a steak or something, if you cook it right out of the sous vide it’s still holding that temp, so throwing it on a grill or whatever you’re doing it’s going to keep cooking ( raise the internal temperature)
Idk, still learning myself
For sir Charles the sear isn’t as important.
Neither do I, to me it seems a waste of time and effort not commensurate with any improvement. I mean, I’m fine with this:
https://preview.redd.it/cegado3cf4ie1.jpeg?width=4032&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=e02ffdb68904cb84ddf89fe3eedd0c65ce2146b5
I use ice bath only if it then goes to the fridge, if it goes directly to the sear I don’t see any point.
I agree 100%
I want my food hot!
As soon as you pull the strak from the water it cools. It takes about 5 minutes for my gas camp stove to get from ambient to “fire of a thousand suns” hot, and that’s plenty of time for the surface to lose enough degrees before the sear.
Me neither and you’re totally right.
This subreddit is full of insane rituals that make basically no difference in the final product.
If I’m searing right away (which is pretty much always, I just take the bag straight from the SV and run it under cold water in the sink (still bagged).
After they are cool to the touch it’s easier to take the steaks out. I dry them off while I pre-heat my cast iron and then sear with butter and some vented chef’s presses.
Crust has been much better (i.e. deeper and more even color) as a result and it doesn’t add any more time to the process.
There is no point to using an ice bath as a preliminary step in trying to get a good sear. It is useful for cook/chill/reheat/serve processes, where you are using sous vide as a way to batch out meals for some time in advance of consumption.
An ice bath does not get you a meaningfully better crust. You get a better crust by drying the surface of the meat, and then putting it into contact with the surface of something that is extremely hot and that has enough mass to STAY extremely hot. For most people, that ends up being a very hot cast iron pan.
An ice bath does enhance food safety. It ensures that you swing through the “danger zone” above 39 F (3.9 C) and below 126.1 F (52.3 C) as quickly as possible. This helps prevent your bagged food items from becoming an incubator for botulism.
Lots of people on this sub think otherwise, but that’s because a lot of people on this sub don’t know anything about thermodynamics. Or food safety.
r/steakortuna…more like r/steakandtuna
Meh, I’ve tried straight to pan for steaks and found the ice bath prevents overcooking. I can spend a little more time getting that perfect crust without risking raising the internal temp. Glad it works for you not to, but myself and others have found it works better to include the ice bath.