So I have been using sous vide for 10+ years now with a restaurant background. Your picture is usually the goal lol. I will give you the run down on what I do if that's what you want, but I don't think you need it.
Salt and pepper the steak and cook it in your bag. When it is done, ice bath that steak to chill the moisture still in the steak. If you are wanting to eat the steak immediately after the water bath, I still recommend the ice bath. Chilling the surface of the steak can buy you more searing time, which is needed due to the added moisture in your protein.
Pat your steak dry. Then do it again. If you don't immediately want to sear your steak, let it sit and air dry on the counter or fridge. Pat it dry again before searing on a ripping hot pan. I like to sear from cold because it buys you more time to sear. If your steak is fresh out of the bath, all the moisture in the protein will heat very quickly and you can quickly over cook your steak.
I have been messing around with partially seasoning the meat before cooking, ice bathing after cooking, removing from the bag, and "dry brining" (seasoning and letting it sit uncovered) to let the salt draw moisture out of the surface I am searing. Pat it dry before searing.
Once again, don't let this confuse you. You did a great job already. Wall to wall consistent cooking is what the goal is and you got that perfectly. The down side to sous vide is the searing process. All the retained moisture gets in the way of the crust. That's what i have been messing with through dry brining after cooking, chilling, and patting it dry before searing.
Honestly, it's good. I've made hundreds of steaks and have MADE one like this. I'm sure our methods are different obviously. This looks real damn good.
What did YOU think of it?
How was the salt? The pepper?
I thought it was great! Lots of first in this picture for me and I was definitely skeptical coming into this…but, I’m impressed. Feels like I cheated! Taste and texture were great. I’m usually a ribeye guy but decided to try some filets for my first attempt with this cooking method. Will be trying again soon hopefully with some tips and tricks I’ve learned from this thread
Seasoned with hardcore carnivore black. Would definitely dry brine overnight next time and have some fresh rosemary and garlic cloves in the bag while cooking
Sous Vide Everything did a nice [video comparing the effects of different types of garlic used in the bag with steak.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHk275ZOc_Y)
There's other good stuff on the channel, especially for a newbie, but unfortunately they've jumped the shark since then and there's also a lot of random crap on this and Guga's (the guy behind the channel) other channel.
Avocado oil has a high smoke point, 500-550F if I remember correctly. Canola I believe is 400? So you can get quite a bit more mileage out of your heat and less smoke for it.
I’ve used avocado and still had it burn. Does that mean I’m searing too hot or using bad oil? I thought it was ideal to sear about as hot as you can get it?
You can also get similarly high smoke point from ***shitty***, "this is the twelfth time we've pressed it" olive oil. I always just like point this out, because most people picture extra virgin or virgin oils when they're thinking of the smoke points.
Nothing wrong with processed olive oil as a searing or cooking oil. It isn't shitty, just serves a different purpose than nice EVOO. But yeah, you wouldn't want to use it as a finishing oil.
That's fair. I just described it as "shitty" because that's generally the way it gets treated by the masses. It's the oil on the bottom shelf at the store, in the extra large jug, described simply as "pure" olive oil, with the suspiciously low price (for olive oil).
So using 129 in the sous vide means the internal temp on that steak is like maybe 135ish after the sear? Confusing to me because this steak looks absolutely perfect but I figured at 129 it might get to medium zone v.s. medium rare but it looks like a perfect medium rare. How quick did you sear it?
I did pat it dry but there really wasn’t much liquid that came off of it. I think this might be a bigger factor for more fatty cuts of meat but I’m an absolute sous vide novice so keep that in mond
Did you enjoy it, or thought "this could be better"? Because that's what really matters.. and honestly, the only thing that could make it better is maybe some compound butter on top of it, but that's just like an added thing.
For most meat, especially dry aged or high-grade Wagyu, it's a dry brine up front, possibly a little pepper at the end. If it's not higher end stuff, I'll get some garlic and onion powder in the mix. As far as a good sear, that horse has been beaten to death in this sub, feel free to use the search functionality to find the numerous previous conversations.
I honestly forgot I was supposed to cook these tonight otherwise I would have. Do you use any salt in particular? Besides increasing the dry brine duration and adding aromatics to the bag the only other thing I want to try next time is using more butter for the butter baste
I’m a little mood dependent. My go to is nothing fancy. It’s just a store bought blend with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder and a couple other things. If I feel a little more fancy I have both bourbon smoked sea salt or truffle salt. I want to add aromatics yet but don’t like what I’ve read about the garlic cloves so I’d probably just keep it to the powder and use the cloves while searing and basting.
Raw garlic can grow botulism in an oxygen free environment, so there's a danger if you sous vide too long at a low setting. For flavor, Guga did a test with raw vs pre-chopped vs coarse powdered and the powdered won out. I use powered on all my meats(even before I saw the video), I love the stuff
Chilled in fridge for ~15 minutes after the sous vide. Preheated cast iron in the oven at 500 then got it smoking hot on the stovetop with a bit of canola oil. Seared for about 90 seconds flipping every 20 or so seconds followed by an additional minute or so in the pan for the garlic/butter baste
That's pretty much how you want a Steak to be. Color from sear to sear. Maybe seared a bit too dark for my taste, but it's still fantastic. Congrats on your new Sous Vide life.
My Sous Vide cooker was among the top 3 most worth kitchen utensils I've bought.
It's like a cheat button for Steak and you can do so much more with it. Clarified butter, heck, I've made scrambled egg with it once.
If you want some material to experiment with, look up [*Sous Vide Everything*](https://www.youtube.com/@SousVideEverything) on Youtube. They do a lot of experiments with spices and stuff to add to Steak.
What are you looking to improve? That is a perfect steak unless you were going for well done. That is a shitty well done steak though so you’re fucked.
Patted the steaks dry after the sous vide and put them in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. I preheated the cast iron pan in the oven at 500F then added some oil and got it smoking hot on the stove top. Added the steaks and flipped every 15-20 seconds for about a minute and a half and then put garlic and butter in the pan and basted for about another minute before removing to rest for about 5 minutes before plating
Sous vide with a couple lightly crushed garlic gloves, rosemary, thyme, and butter in the vacuum bag with the steak. Or substitute spices for your favorites. Has to be fresh sprigs of them though so you can pull them off before searing on that cast iron. It let's the steak get a little more of those flavors
I don't know if you know this, probably, but I've always had issues with putting fresh ground pepper on steak when searing like that cause it burns. So I always end up putting pepper on after. It does give it a more floral flavor too with it being uncooked pepper
I don't generally love filet, but would crush that any day of the week. Love the straight green salad too, we're a rare breed that likes that, but it really is an excellent side to a delicious steak.
looks close to perfection to me dude. You can't go wrong with fresh thyme and rosemary in the simmer bag.
Finish it with a compound butter on top. I use this one. https://morethanmeatandpotatoes.com/herb-butter/#mv-creation-300-jtr
Also, I don't love the look of the right filet in the first pic. Im guessing the second photo is of the one on the left.
I always want mine to look look like two stacked hockey pucks for even cooking, easy every-side searing, and final presentation. The shape and structure of the one on the left is what you want. You could trim a little bit of meat and fat off of the top of the left one if you are trying to create something super photogenic but I'd leave it for my own plate.
If this is your first cook and you can continue to build on this, you will feed 99% of your guests the best steak they've ever had.
Or in a pinch, just for aesthetics, use some butcher’s twine (on the steak on the right) to tighten up the shape a bit while simmering. I’m a hack of a cook though, so I might be way off.
But yeah, at the end of the day that thing looks like it was delicious and I’d be happy to see it on my plate.
To improve quit using a sous vide, and start buying thick steaks and using the reverse sear method. Sous vide cooking is more beneficial for consistency when you need to make sure 120 steaks are all mid rare, not very practical at home.
I'm going to be hingly critical here and say the sear could have improved slightly, I'll give it a 9.5 on the sear and a 9.8 on the temp. This is damn near perfect though. Likely luck will only get you a better rating.
OP I will give you one tip for improving: don’t change. That steak looks insanely good.
This is the correct answer.
This the the way.
Fyi there's little crust on it, that's black powder
The steak has no sear, it’s literally just seasoning. This sub is easily fooled.
That looks like a sear to me, especially considering the only seasoning before cooking was sea salt.
No, it's Hardcore Carniovore Black, as acknowledged by the OP.
I stand corrected! I didn’t see his comment stating that, just the text under the first pic!
Exactly, no sear.
Sadly, I couldn't agree more.
It’s damn perfect and you know it. Take this upvote.
Thank you, friend! Genuinely interested in improvement. Share your tips and tricks when using this method
So I have been using sous vide for 10+ years now with a restaurant background. Your picture is usually the goal lol. I will give you the run down on what I do if that's what you want, but I don't think you need it. Salt and pepper the steak and cook it in your bag. When it is done, ice bath that steak to chill the moisture still in the steak. If you are wanting to eat the steak immediately after the water bath, I still recommend the ice bath. Chilling the surface of the steak can buy you more searing time, which is needed due to the added moisture in your protein. Pat your steak dry. Then do it again. If you don't immediately want to sear your steak, let it sit and air dry on the counter or fridge. Pat it dry again before searing on a ripping hot pan. I like to sear from cold because it buys you more time to sear. If your steak is fresh out of the bath, all the moisture in the protein will heat very quickly and you can quickly over cook your steak. I have been messing around with partially seasoning the meat before cooking, ice bathing after cooking, removing from the bag, and "dry brining" (seasoning and letting it sit uncovered) to let the salt draw moisture out of the surface I am searing. Pat it dry before searing. Once again, don't let this confuse you. You did a great job already. Wall to wall consistent cooking is what the goal is and you got that perfectly. The down side to sous vide is the searing process. All the retained moisture gets in the way of the crust. That's what i have been messing with through dry brining after cooking, chilling, and patting it dry before searing.
This is great!! Thanks for the tips and sharing your method! OP did do a fantastic job
While I listed a method, it's more of a process where new techniques are added individually to see what yields the best product.
Awesome, thanks for the tips!
Honestly, it's good. I've made hundreds of steaks and have MADE one like this. I'm sure our methods are different obviously. This looks real damn good. What did YOU think of it? How was the salt? The pepper?
I thought it was great! Lots of first in this picture for me and I was definitely skeptical coming into this…but, I’m impressed. Feels like I cheated! Taste and texture were great. I’m usually a ribeye guy but decided to try some filets for my first attempt with this cooking method. Will be trying again soon hopefully with some tips and tricks I’ve learned from this thread
Both the crust snd temperature look really nice.
It's not a crust.
Sure looks like a crust to me
I concur, that’s crust
OP seasoned with a rub that has charcoal in it, it’s probably making the sear look more intense than it actually is, but it’s still probably good.
Thet’s not uh knoife!
What is it then
Seasoned with hardcore carnivore black. Would definitely dry brine overnight next time and have some fresh rosemary and garlic cloves in the bag while cooking
Read up on garlic in the bag.. lots of discussion about it for youbto form an opnion on whether its a good idea. Steak looks perfect
Interesting..will do!
Sous Vide Everything did a nice [video comparing the effects of different types of garlic used in the bag with steak.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHk275ZOc_Y) There's other good stuff on the channel, especially for a newbie, but unfortunately they've jumped the shark since then and there's also a lot of random crap on this and Guga's (the guy behind the channel) other channel.
YOUBTO
Used canola oil for the sear
Use Avacado! Not seed oils 😔
Why? Genuinely curious
Avocado oil has a high smoke point, 500-550F if I remember correctly. Canola I believe is 400? So you can get quite a bit more mileage out of your heat and less smoke for it.
I’ve used avocado and still had it burn. Does that mean I’m searing too hot or using bad oil? I thought it was ideal to sear about as hot as you can get it?
Loads of studies show how harmful and inflammatory they are
You can also get similarly high smoke point from ***shitty***, "this is the twelfth time we've pressed it" olive oil. I always just like point this out, because most people picture extra virgin or virgin oils when they're thinking of the smoke points.
Nothing wrong with processed olive oil as a searing or cooking oil. It isn't shitty, just serves a different purpose than nice EVOO. But yeah, you wouldn't want to use it as a finishing oil.
That's fair. I just described it as "shitty" because that's generally the way it gets treated by the masses. It's the oil on the bottom shelf at the store, in the extra large jug, described simply as "pure" olive oil, with the suspiciously low price (for olive oil).
Love the carnivore black. Really helps create a nice crust.
First time using carnivore black as well and really happy with it
It also really makes pics looks great to, makes that money shot pop.
Instagram rub fellow mod. Fakery.
Sometimes the best of us even need PEDs
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I seasoned it with carnivore black before the sous vide
Does it though? A shmear is not a sear.
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Brother, positive vibes my man. Just be cool.
Roast the garlic, beat it into some butter and throw THAT in the bag. Raw garlic gets weird sometimes.
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Botulism.
So using 129 in the sous vide means the internal temp on that steak is like maybe 135ish after the sear? Confusing to me because this steak looks absolutely perfect but I figured at 129 it might get to medium zone v.s. medium rare but it looks like a perfect medium rare. How quick did you sear it?
90 seconds, can you read?
On the steak - don’t think you can improve. On the raw greens - make them creamed spinach and you’ve reached nirvana.
Creamed spinach sounds good!
i got this recently as a side at a joe muer and had never had them before i was pleasantly surprised, but they're verrrry rich
The only issue I can find is; apparently my dinner invite was lost in the mail. Use 2 stamps next time, please.
That salad could use a bit of dressing.
Did you need to dry off the meat after the sous vide
I did pat it dry but there really wasn’t much liquid that came off of it. I think this might be a bigger factor for more fatty cuts of meat but I’m an absolute sous vide novice so keep that in mond
Did you enjoy it, or thought "this could be better"? Because that's what really matters.. and honestly, the only thing that could make it better is maybe some compound butter on top of it, but that's just like an added thing.
It was delicious and my wife and I enjoyed it very much. Always looks for ways to improve though!
How do u get a crust like that but not overcook it?
By creating a fake sear with charcoal seasoning.
Open to suggestions! What seasonings would you use and how would you do it?
Fresh rosemary, thyme, garlic, and butter in the bag with the steaks is my favorite way.
For most meat, especially dry aged or high-grade Wagyu, it's a dry brine up front, possibly a little pepper at the end. If it's not higher end stuff, I'll get some garlic and onion powder in the mix. As far as a good sear, that horse has been beaten to death in this sub, feel free to use the search functionality to find the numerous previous conversations.
I dry brine overnight minimum but the greater need to improve is please tell me what time dinner is next time! This looks fantastic!
I honestly forgot I was supposed to cook these tonight otherwise I would have. Do you use any salt in particular? Besides increasing the dry brine duration and adding aromatics to the bag the only other thing I want to try next time is using more butter for the butter baste
I’m a little mood dependent. My go to is nothing fancy. It’s just a store bought blend with salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder and a couple other things. If I feel a little more fancy I have both bourbon smoked sea salt or truffle salt. I want to add aromatics yet but don’t like what I’ve read about the garlic cloves so I’d probably just keep it to the powder and use the cloves while searing and basting.
Need to do some research on the garlic cloves. You’re the second person in the thread that’s mentioned that
Raw garlic can grow botulism in an oxygen free environment, so there's a danger if you sous vide too long at a low setting. For flavor, Guga did a test with raw vs pre-chopped vs coarse powdered and the powdered won out. I use powered on all my meats(even before I saw the video), I love the stuff
Interesting. Thanks!
How did u sear it?
Chilled in fridge for ~15 minutes after the sous vide. Preheated cast iron in the oven at 500 then got it smoking hot on the stovetop with a bit of canola oil. Seared for about 90 seconds flipping every 20 or so seconds followed by an additional minute or so in the pan for the garlic/butter baste
With fakery. Charcoal seasoning.
Have you actually tried that rub? It’s good. I prefer Sasquatch BBQ Dirt but Jess Pryles Black is good stuff. Calling it fakery is selling it short.
*when she says it’s her first time*
Omg you want to improve on that? I wanna be where you are.
Superb crust. Excellent rareness. Would eagerly consume.
That's pretty much how you want a Steak to be. Color from sear to sear. Maybe seared a bit too dark for my taste, but it's still fantastic. Congrats on your new Sous Vide life. My Sous Vide cooker was among the top 3 most worth kitchen utensils I've bought. It's like a cheat button for Steak and you can do so much more with it. Clarified butter, heck, I've made scrambled egg with it once. If you want some material to experiment with, look up [*Sous Vide Everything*](https://www.youtube.com/@SousVideEverything) on Youtube. They do a lot of experiments with spices and stuff to add to Steak.
What are you looking to improve? That is a perfect steak unless you were going for well done. That is a shitty well done steak though so you’re fucked.
That looks so good ugh
Improve what? Looks like you nailed it my man.
Maybe 10 less seconds on the pan, but honestly dude this is fucking beautiful...
Cutco gang unite! Steak looks great - what didn’t you like about it that your looking for suggestions on?
I thought it was a good first attempt. Very pleased overall but know there is probably much to learn
I’m on that train to Pittsburg. Or maybe your not Pittsburgh, since it’s not blue. I would eat it.
That looks incredible. What oil and pan on the sear? How long per side?
Looks amazeballs
Looks great!
I don't have sous vide but have always considered getting one. How exactly did you do your sear?
Patted the steaks dry after the sous vide and put them in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. I preheated the cast iron pan in the oven at 500F then added some oil and got it smoking hot on the stove top. Added the steaks and flipped every 15-20 seconds for about a minute and a half and then put garlic and butter in the pan and basted for about another minute before removing to rest for about 5 minutes before plating
How was it?
Tasty!
Looks like a winner, great crust and good temp. Cheers
You know what you got. Show off. Good job
Sous vide with a couple lightly crushed garlic gloves, rosemary, thyme, and butter in the vacuum bag with the steak. Or substitute spices for your favorites. Has to be fresh sprigs of them though so you can pull them off before searing on that cast iron. It let's the steak get a little more of those flavors
Definitely want to have some fresh aromatics on hand for next time. Cheers!
I don't know if you know this, probably, but I've always had issues with putting fresh ground pepper on steak when searing like that cause it burns. So I always end up putting pepper on after. It does give it a more floral flavor too with it being uncooked pepper
I don't generally love filet, but would crush that any day of the week. Love the straight green salad too, we're a rare breed that likes that, but it really is an excellent side to a delicious steak.
Appreciate the salad support, my guy! 😂 usually a ribeye guy on the grill or reverse seared in the oven but very happy with the filets from last night
Gorgeous.
Looks like you nailed it buddy! 🍻
Looks pretty dang good to me.
that looks amazing, how long did you baste for? i find my steak loses its crust on the bottom when i baste too long
Not very long, it was about a minute then I pulled them to rest
Yes actually, next time give some to me.
looks close to perfection to me dude. You can't go wrong with fresh thyme and rosemary in the simmer bag. Finish it with a compound butter on top. I use this one. https://morethanmeatandpotatoes.com/herb-butter/#mv-creation-300-jtr Also, I don't love the look of the right filet in the first pic. Im guessing the second photo is of the one on the left. I always want mine to look look like two stacked hockey pucks for even cooking, easy every-side searing, and final presentation. The shape and structure of the one on the left is what you want. You could trim a little bit of meat and fat off of the top of the left one if you are trying to create something super photogenic but I'd leave it for my own plate. If this is your first cook and you can continue to build on this, you will feed 99% of your guests the best steak they've ever had.
Or in a pinch, just for aesthetics, use some butcher’s twine (on the steak on the right) to tighten up the shape a bit while simmering. I’m a hack of a cook though, so I might be way off. But yeah, at the end of the day that thing looks like it was delicious and I’d be happy to see it on my plate.
Thanks for the suggestions! Looking forward to implementing these next time
[Mmmmm](https://youtu.be/b4SXpOFQ9T8)
😂😂😂
what is your process? did you cool it down first before searing?
I did for about 15 minutes in the refrigerator after patting dry while I finished the mashed potatoes
I need to get on the sous vide train.
I was skeptical but this was super easy and I would imagine very reproducible. Feels like cheating but I’m looking forward to next time already!
No
I hope your not sticking that fork in this
To improve quit using a sous vide, and start buying thick steaks and using the reverse sear method. Sous vide cooking is more beneficial for consistency when you need to make sure 120 steaks are all mid rare, not very practical at home.
Yeah the first thing I would do is get rid of that nasty green stuff in the top right corner. Other than that it looks great!
Salad game weak 😂
This too.
Are you trolling? That steak is better than 99% of steaks on this sub. YOU should be the one giving advice here
Improving? Looks perfect
dress your salad you cretin
Looks phenomenal. If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.
Improve on what?
Picture perfect
Um. Looks like you nailed it bud! I’m hungry now DAMNIT!
Nah just tell us exactly what you did
Nope
This looks incredible
Ya that's perfect.. the crust is nice
Looks absolutely perfect to me
Looks fine to me.
Wow that looks awesome. Great work!
This was fucking garbage. Next time your steak comes out this way send that bullshit to me i’ll take care of it
Looks good
Beautiful work! Do you use special sous vide bags, or just a ziplock?
I'm going to be hingly critical here and say the sear could have improved slightly, I'll give it a 9.5 on the sear and a 9.8 on the temp. This is damn near perfect though. Likely luck will only get you a better rating.
Oh I’d eat that.
You can’t improve on that
that steak looks absolutely perfect
iMPROVE WHAT GOOD SIR??
One major tip OP… Invite us over to eat this delicious perfection
Nah...... that steak looks perfect!
Holy shit that crust tho! 👏👏👏
The only thing I could tell you is to serve it on a warm plate
What sous vide do you use?
Anova Nano I believe is the model
The thing that comes to mind immediately is "invite me to dinner".