I had the ribeye steak dry brined with salt in the fridge for 48 hours and cooked it at 134 F for 3 hours. Seared them afterwards on a very hot cast iron pan for 30 seconds on each side. I was expecting pink from end-to-end and was quite disappointed with how thick the gray band was. Also, wasn’t a fan of how gummy the fat was. Any tips? TIA
by Jumpy-Ad3279
31 Comments
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Did you pat the steaks dry before searing? That’s all I got
The garlic has been addressed. No need to beat a dead horse.
I trim the steaks. Remove as much fat as practicable. You can even remove that strip that runs right down the middle, because the cooking process will firm up the proteins in the shape the sealer gives it.
134 is too high. That’s the very edge between medium-rare and medium, and you’re going to sear/broil at the end. I bag and cook at 125f or so.
I also prefer thick cuts, so the interior is beautiful rare after searing.
save the garlic for basting … it never cooks in 130-137* water, just tastes raw. small health concerns in o2 free conditions. same with the herbs… they concentrate flavors on one spot. just s/p/garlic powder in the bag – ymmv
I’m a 137 @ 2 hrs , pat very dry and let cool 5 – 10 min before really hot sear
Some people are going to tell you to sous vide at a lower temp, which I would say is valid for most leaner cuts, as well as ribeyes if you don’t care about chewy fat, but many people find sous vide ribeyes as high as 137 helps render that fat to the point of almost melting in your mouth. However, that cooks the meat to the upper end if not slightly past medium rare and so you need to be more careful about your sear time/temps which you obviously ran into. One tip to help with this is to chill the steak in an ice bath, or more ideally on a cooling rack in the fridge to also help dry it out for a bit before searing. This way more of the time spent searing is bringing the interior of the steak back up to temp, rather than cooking it further.
The other thing is sous vide and reverse searing is more ideally suited to thicker steaks. Based on the pictures these look like thinner ribeyes. I always go for at least 1.5″ ideally closer to a thick 2″. This will make the grey band proportionally smaller.
That being said I have absolutely no idea how you managed to get such a thick grey band with just 30 seconds per side of searing. I’ve gone significantly longer than that plus extra time basting in the pan and not gotten bands that thick, so either your sous vide temp was a bit higher than you thought or your pan was TOO hot (yes that’s a thing). I’d recommend double checking your water bath temp with a thermometer and maybe try turning your pan temp down a touch. Contrary to popular opinion, there is an optimal temperature based on what pan you are using, not just as high as your burners will go hot.
I used to think sous vide was all about getting it to a uniform temperature so it was a nice medium rare when I first started.
Now I know it’s all about keeping it at temperature for a long time to give the fat and connective tissue enough time to breakdown.
You seared these for longer than 30 seconds. If you’re going to do a longer sear leave the steak to cool down for at least several minutes. Patting it dry will also make it sear faster
Ditto the garlic and fat trimming advice. I usually go 130°F for 1:15-2:00 hrs depending on thickness and finish in a skillet w/butter and the aromatics. If someone wants it more done, lengthen the sear.
I’d greatly shorten the brine time – that’s really long for a beef steak.
Steak gets all the attention but I find it’s actually one of the meats I enjoy the least in a sous vide. I find a regular reverse sear (or a cold sear) gives better results with less fuss. The SV makes the biggest difference with chicken breast for me, and being able to do traditionally tougher cuts in a style more akin to steak (chuck, short ribs).
A 48 hour brine if usually too long by a day. You run the risk of curing the steak.
GARLIC IN BAG! BAD!!!!
You can control the sear temp by putting your cast iron pan in the oven at 500 degrees (before you add oil/fat). Hotter isn’t always better. You can also gauge temp by knowing the smoke point of the oil/fat you are using to sear.
I mean, it’s good that you’re asking questions, but 5 mins research and the 1000 posts asking the same would have led you to the same basic starter tips. Rea up, there’s a lot of really important food safety things Thea you need to be familiar with.
I would suggest chilling the meat for a few minutes before searing to fix the gray band problem. Pat the meat dry before searing so you get the heat to the meat right away. Consider a torch.
Gotta sear the shit outta it in a hot pan and butter garlic and rosemary after. Baste it a bit. But needs the crust outside or it’s mush from the sous.
I’m sure I’m going to get people coming at me. But at that temp you shouldn’t use garlic. Garlic has a risk of botulism spores etc. Odds are very low. But definitely one you shouldn’t take if you have a high risk people like children and the immunocompromised.
But also you aren’t really going to cook or breakdown the garlic the way you would otherwise. So it’s not kicking the flavors up.
If you want, you can use the jus from the bag and make a sauce reduction with garlic and create a nice sauce.
But other than that, those steaks look like they will be delicious.
Don’t use raw garlic in the bag
Take the garlic and herbs out of the bag!!!
Nothing penetrates the surface of the meat except salt. Marinades don’t do jack, for example.
The bath isn’t hot enough for the herbs to generate any sort of interesting flavors. You’ll get raw garlic and a hint of fresh herb on the surface of the meat, that’s it.
Build your sauce with those ingredients on the stove and either apply it during plating or on the board. The stove’s heat will allow for significant flavor development.
Personally, I never add anything but the protein to the bag.
This was seared for much more than 30 seconds per side.
What works for me is temp @ 132 F. 90-120 minimum time in water bath. Move to rack in fridge for a 10 minutes prior to searing. Sear for 2 minutes per side in hot skillet (have used tallow or tallow and butter). Use tongs to set steaks on edge to sear about 30 seconds for those edges. I found chilling in the fridge allows the longer 2 minutes of searing to get the nice browning without cooking the meat beyond the desired medium rare.
I’ve had similar texture issues while dry brining before sousvide (though I dry brine for 24 hours or less, with slightly better results). For whatever reason, I don’t think dry brining jives well with sousvide.
Oh my bad I wasn’t aware about the botulism risk of using raw garlic. I just saw a video using minced garlic and thought to myself that it would be ok to use a smashed clove. Will definitely keep this in mind.
137 should help with the fat.
Sear first. Then sous vide.
125 degrees is the sweet spot to me.
I accidentally did it was 130 degrees last time and after searing on each side for 80 seconds it was near medium to almost well done.
You did the garlic
Your sear pan needs to be ripping hot. Make sure you press down on the steak when you put it in the pan.
The grey band is from the long dry brine. I struggled with that for years thinking I just couldn’t properly cook a steak. You’ll notice that although it’s grey it should still be nice and juicy, it just doesn’t look like medium rare. Dry brine for more like 4 hours and you should see results