"Sous vide" is French for "under vacuum" and is a style of cooking where food is placed in a water bath that is set to a certain temperature and remains constant so the food cooks thoroughly and evenly. To create a water bath you need an immersion circulator, which is simply the device that will heat the water and cause the water to circulate. I have the Anova brand that was given to me by my parents this past Christmas. I can say that without a doubt it has been one of my favorite and easily most used gifts ever (and it hasn't even been 2 months). The Amazon link for it can be found HERE, but there are other models to choose from if that one doesn't suit your fancy.
Now I'm aware that it's not a cheap purchase and mine was a gift, but knowing what I know now, I would absolutely buy it again and again. I honestly think every home cook should own one. Those who are avid cooks and really love to spend time in the kitchen will lose their cookies over how perfect their food comes out. And those who struggle in the kitchen and really hate to cook will lose their cookies over how little effort it took to make such a great meal. I'm not kidding when I say that whatever you are making comes out perfect every time.
Since this post is about steak, I'm going to use steak as my example. Let's say you want to have medium rare steak for a special dinner one evening. Well steaks are an expensive cut of meat and you don't feel super confident about being able to cook it just right. In the past you've cooked it too long and it was overdone and tough OR you didn't cook it long enough and while the outside looked good the inside was still practically raw. Plus you've got sides to prepare with this meal, laundry to do, kids to look after, a dog that needs walking, phone calls to make, etc., and you just don't have the time or patience to stand at the grill or over a stove to babysit steaks and make sure they come out right.
If you've got an immersion circulator, you just set it up in whatever stock pot you normally use, let it come up to temperature while you prep the steaks (aka season them and place in a freezer safe ziploc bag), and when the water is ready place them in the pot. Now here comes the best part. The steaks have a range of timing where they can be taken out of the water bath. A New York strip is done at one hour but can be left in up to two to four hours depending on the temperature. *There are charts, graphs, and all the information you could ever want about this online.* This allows plenty of time to prepare the rest of your meal or take care of the other things you've got going on. When it's time to eat, the steak is removed from it's bag and seared in a volcano hot cast iron pan or on the grill to get that crust on the outside.
At first it may seem crazy to cook your steak for over an hour when it can be easily done in 20 minutes, but other than the prep and final searing, the entire cooking process is completely hand off leaving you free to do whatever else you want. And here's the kicker: every, and I mean EVERY, single time the steak will come out exactly as planned. There is no guesswork, mess ups, got distracted and it overcooked situations happening. In just under two months we have had several steaks and each one has been perfectly and evenly cooked.
We've also cooked chicken, pork chops, salmon, lobster, and eggs. Next up is lamb and vegetables and I'm reading a beautiful BOOK to learn more. Sous vide has been a life saver this past week as we've begun eating foods that follow the Whole30 guidelines. In a nutshell, Whole30 is only eating "whole", natural foods while cutting out dairy, grains, legumes, alcohol, sugar, and more. The idea is that by completely eliminating these things you can reset your body, change long standing habits, and learn what foods make you feel like crap by slowly reintroducing them after the 30 days. If you'd like to learn more HERE is the place to start looking for info.
I plan to share more about my Whole30 experience in future posts, but the main point here is that it requires a lot of cooking. And I mean A LOT, as in every meal has some element that has to be cooked and since take out isn't an option, you're going to be eating almost all home cooked meals. Thankfully all the food that is compliant is delicious meat, poultry, seafood, eggs & other fats, lots of veggies, and some fresh fruit. It's not easy to quit pizza, but who doesn't love a big plate of steak with roasted potatoes and asparagus?
Because there is so much cooking to be done, meal prep and planning ahead are the absolute key. I will admit that it takes a lot of time and patience, and trips to the grocery store take a little big longer the first few times. I've been preparing all of our lunches and some dinners ahead of time and cooking the proteins with my immersion circulator has taken a lot of stress out of the process. I cooked 8 chicken thighs at once for 4 days worth of lunches for my husband and I. Even when I was cooking this steak for dinner I was cooking a cut of top sirloin that would go in our steak salad later in the week. This past Sunday it stayed out on the counter almost all day cooking several different types of meat all while I went out doing other things. And can we talk about clean up? Basically none. Throw away the plastic bag and pour out the water bath. Done. I guess you have to clean the skillet that you sear the steak in, but since I've been cooking in large batches I just wipe it out and use it to sear the next thing (thighs or pork chops); overall so many less dishes.
Top sirloin that was cooked at the same time as the strip.
INGREDIENTS
steak (New York Strip)
kosher salt
black pepper
aromatics of choice (garlic, rosemary, thyme)
oil with high smoke point (canola, avocado, safflower)
butter (clarified butter, ghee)
INSTRUCTIONS
1) Set up immersion circulator in a large pot of water. Set temperature to 130 degrees Fahrenheit for medium rare. Turn on and allow water to heat up.
***I bought a 12 quart heat safe food storage container because I needed more room than my round 8 quart pot offered, but really any large pot or dutch oven will do. There is no need to purchase any extra equipment (unless you want to).
2) While water heats, season the steaks liberally with kosher salt and black pepper on all sides. Don't be shy with the salt. If desired, use garlic or fresh herbs. I like one sprig of thyme and half a clove of garlic for each piece of meat.
3) Place seasoned steaks and any other seasonings in a freezer safe ziploc bag. You can also add a drizzle of olive oil in the bag, but most of the time I leave it out.
***It's a misconception that you need a vacuum sealer to cook sous vide since the word means "under vacuum", but a plastic freezer safe bag will work just fine.
4) Make sure as much air as possible is removed from the bag and it is sealed tightly. When the water is up to temp, lower the bag in and ensuring the steaks are completely submerged. I use large binder clips to secure the bag to the side of the pot just to make sure it doesn't float around too much.
5) Set a timer for an hour or up to four depending on how long you need to leave it in.
6) When the timer goes off remove steak from bag. The juices can be discarded or used to make a pan sauce. Save the garlic or any herbs.
7) Begin heating a cast iron skillet. The skillet should be incredibly hot, to the point where a drop of water sizzles and evaporates almost immediately. Add a drizzle of oil to the pan. Olive oil will not work here. It has to be an oil that can withstand high temperatures. I prefer avocado oil.
8) Use a paper towel and blot off any excess moisture on the surface of the steak. It will sear better if it's not too damp. Add a another light sprinkle of salt and pepper to each side.
9) Place the meat in the skillet and allow it to sear for one minute. Don't move it around or mess with it other than to make sure it is making even contact wit the bottom of the pan.
10) Using tongs, flip the steak onto it's fatty edge and sear for about 30 - 40 seconds to before rotating to the other edge and repeating.
11) The last flip will be to the other flat side where it will sear for another full minute.
12) At this point turn the heat off and the steak can be removed to rest or a large chunk of butter (clarified butter or ghee for Whole30 folks) can be added with the garlic and herbs. The butter will melt instantly from the heat of the pan and the garlic/herbs will infuse the butter. Tilt the pan towards you so that the melted butter pools at the bottom and use a spoon to splash it up onto the steak. This is called basting and it adds even more flavor to your steak.
13) Baste the steak for just under a minute, being careful not to over cook it. Remove steak from the pan and allow to rest for about 5 minutes.
14) Slice the steak against the grain, meaning that you find which way the muscle fibers are going and cut opposite of those instead of parallel with them or you could serve the steak whole and allow the individual to cut their own. Before serving sprinkle on a little bit of flaky sea salt such as Maldon or even a little fleur de sel to give it that restaurant quality pop!
I served this steak with a black peppercorn aioli.
Whole30 compliant mayo: (from Whole30 book/website)
Place one large egg in a food processor with 1/4 olive oil, juice of half a lemon, 1/2 tsp of salt and mustard powder. Blend together for about 10 seconds. Then with the motor running slowly drizzle in one cup of olive oil until all emulsified.
To make aioli:
Place one cup of mayo in food processor with one small clove of garlic, a squeeze of lemon juice, salt to taste, dash of cayenne, dash of paprika. Blend all together then stir in pepper to taste. I set my pepper mill to the coarsest grind so there are larger pieces.
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