Sous Vide Recipes

It’s National Food Safety Month, how about adding some sous vide recipes to your collection to celebrate? Since 1994, the National Restaurant Association has set aside September to focus on food safety issues such as cross-contamination risks, time-temperature control and personal hygiene.

Whether you are a chef, kitchen manager or just someone who loves to cook, take advantage of National Food Safety Month and consider innovative ways to create specialty dishes like sous vide to cook the perfect steak.

What is Sous Vide?

Sous vide allows you to cook food vacuum sealed in plastic. This is generally done with a water bath using an immersion circulator. It takes longer for the food to cook, but sous vide creates an even heating environment without robbing the dish of flavor.

Modernist Cuisine states that the sous vide method of cooking allows you to achieve the impossible, especially when it comes to meat. Meat must cook to a specific temperature to be safe. Once you achieve that required level with traditional techniques such as grilling or pan frying, half the cut is overcooked.

With sous vide recipes, you slow cook, so the meat is tender and moist throughout. You get a final product cooked to perfection without the risks associated with undercooking.

Your Basic Sous Vide Steak

This sous vide method will work for any steak recipe. Set your water bath to the right temperature based on the level of doneness you prefer. ChefSteps suggests:

• 129 degree F for rare

• 135 degrees F for medium-rare

• 140 degrees F for medium

• 147 degrees F for medium-well

• 158 degrees F for well-done

Vacuum pack the steak and cook it in the water bath. Larger steaks, around 2-inches thick, will take several hours. You can’t overcook the meat as long as you keep the water temperature consistent.

Time to Sear the Steak

Once, the steak cooks to the proper temperature, remove it from the water and open the bag. Your goal now is to sear the steak, so the outside is crispy, because the inside is already cooked. Pan-sear it in the natural juice from the bag, place the steak over an open fire or use a torch to char the outside.

Seasoning your Steak

This is where you get to have a little fun and maybe create a signature dish. Every chef has his own special seasoning tricks for beef. With sous vide, season the meat before you seal it into the bag and then after you sear it.

For example, a healthy dose of kosher salt and pepper before vacuum packing the meat will enhance the flavor as it cooks. When you are ready to sear, add one tablespoon of butter to the bottom of a skillet and add in an additional tablespoon of vegetable oil.

Adding a Final Touch

Try mixing up a special flavored butter to top off the seared steak. As it melts, the seasoning will soak into the surface. Serious Eats offers a recipe for a parsley butter that works well with the sous vide cooking technique. Mix together:

• 4 sprigs of thyme

• 2 tablespoons of chopped parsley

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 1 minced garlic clove

• 1 teaspoon of zest from a lemon

Top each steak with a dollop of the butter before serving.

Sous vide is right for mainstream beef cuts, but is especially effective for touch products like chuck roast, brisket or rump roast. It is an easy technique to master and one that can’t go wrong.

Safety is always an issue when you are cooking meat. Celebrate National Food Safety Month by learning sous vide recipes and make cooking beef that much safer.