How do you start/season your steaks? What's on the menu tonight?

[tRidiot]

Yeah, I've never heard of that, either, but I'ma have to look it up. Oh well, back to packin'.... this house ain't gonna move itself.


<edit> Hmm.... or maybe I'll procrastinate a bit more and look up some YouTube on sous vide.

 

[tRidiot]

Try the sous vide method of cooking a steak. My wife likes her 2" thick fillet medium well, and IMHO that is the hardest steak to cook. I never could get it cooked well enough in the center without turning the outer part of the steak into crispy charcoal.

Since I've done the sous vide, it comes out perfect every time. Takes longer, but it works.

Ok, dennis, got some questions.

I looked up this video on YouTube. It is a 2" thick bone-in ribeye... cooked MR still.

It seemed he had a bit of money in equipment there.... a sous vide water cooker/water oven, as well as the pouches and vacuum sealer, then the blowtorch. Is this what you do?

For those who haven't watched, sous vide is essentially seasoning your steak, sealing it up in a waterproof vacuum bag, sucking out the air, then putting it in a specified-temp water bath for a period of time. This guy did 132F for 2 hours. Had it seasoned with some garlic butter stuff.

Then he took it out and used a blowtorch to sear the outside all over... guessing around 5-10 minutes worth of work for that. End result was a very nicely-cooked medium-rare ribeye.

But I am wondering about how much it would cost to set that up? Looks like you can get a "water oven" for around $200 or so... personally, I'd probably skip the blowtorch and throw it in a cast iron for a few minutes or on the grill to get some nice charcoal/hickory flavor or whatever.

Dennis, what temp do you cook at to do the more well-done steaks? And do you use a water oven, or have you managed to perfect using a simple stock pot and constantly checking the temp? Do you use the blowtorch method, or your cast iron for finishing? I am wondering about the blowtorch... I would wonder about a "propane" kinda flavor from torching it directly like that for a significant period of time? Kinda like people who use a ton of lighter fluid on their charcoal? I don't use lighter fluid at all just for this reason. I use a chimney to start my coals.

Incidentally, I finally figured out how to use a chimney like it's supposed to be done, lol. All this time I've been putting those little Weber paraffin cubes inside with the charcoal and trying to get it to light, never seemed to work quite as well as I thought it should. Now I am setting the chimney (completely full of charcoal) up on two bricks to elevate it about 2.5" off my concrete patio, then placing a pair of paraffin cubes under the domed and vented portion of the chimney's bottom and lighting them. They burn for about 8-10 minutes, which gets the bottom layer of coals glowing hot, then it sits another 20 minutes or so to let the fire work its way up the chimney. When flames are poking out the top and the top briquettes are getting ashed on the edges, it's read to pour into my charcoal grill filled with hardwood lump charcoal.

It works amazingly! I never knew how to use a chimney properly until I looked at Weber's site and it explained it. I'll never do it the hard way again! lol

 

[dennishoddy]

I don't use all of that fancy stuff. Put the steak in a quart zip lock, submerge in water until all of the air is out of the bag.
Meanwhile I heat a pan of water on the stove using a digital thermometer so that the water stays at the temperature you want the meat. Then drop the steak into the pan and let it sit in there for an hour.
It will never get more done than what temperature you keep the water.
Several options when it's done. Sear it with a MAPP gas torch.(never use propane)
Use the cast iron pan method, or get the grill mega hot, and put it on the grill for a quick sear.

 

[Old Fart]

I have always been a sear then slow cook man myself.

 

[Blinocac200sx]

Salt, pepper, and a wee bit of sugar. I put a little bit of pipe tobacco on the coals before I put the steak on a screaming hot grill. Cook till it's just right, with a hot red/pinkish center.