Steak Dinners

[dinny_g]

My other half likes hers medium-ish whereas me and the nipper are both prefer a rare steak

I now just buy large pieces of meat and butcher ours twice as thick as hers so the same cooking time does different doneness.

Must try a few of these other techniques though. I normally have filet and just do 2 or 3 minutes to sear then add garlic, herbs and butter and finish in the oven...

[unzippy]

Sous Vide and then deep fry.

Trust me

[Nefarious]

Just googled sous vide cooker. Seems like a lot of effort for something you could do with a pan in a few minutes anyway.

Sous vide literally opens up a whole new world of possibilities:

Try a blade steak (or some other tough cut) at 55C for 2 hours, then sear - it comes out better than a supermarket sirloin!
Ribs. Oh my god ribs. Dry rub them, sous side for 24 hours, add wet marinade and finish in the oven. I don't know away way other than this to mimick long slow barbeque cooking at home.
55 degree salmon. It's like a new meat. It's simply not possible to get fish safely rare like this in the oven, and the texture is quite different to regular salmon.
Sous-vide eggs - want a perfectly cooked white with a bursting liquid yolk? 62.5C in the water bath and they're 100% perfect 100% of the time
Stuffed chicken - want cheese stuffed chicken without overcooking the meat, or all the cheese running all over the baking tray. Stuff, wrap in cling film, vac-bag and sous vide for an hour at 63C (quick flash in a butter pan afterwards for colour).

Oh, and for those already experimenting with water baths - you can also pre-sear. The sous vide process amplifies flavours already present in the bag (hence go light on marinate flavours) - pre-searing turns up the meaty taste.

[GG.]

Great suggestions - thanks Nef.

[unzippy]

Just to add, what steak are you marinading?

Because if your steak needs marinading you need to get better steak.

[Nefarious]

Just to add, what steak are you marinading?

Because if your steak needs marinading you need to get better steak.

One I quite like doing is basically a variant on a boeuf bourguignon. I use what are known locally as Glasgow fillets - there isn't a directly equivalent in English butchery, but it's basically a bigger version of a blade steak (shoulder, for those at the back).

Sear the meat first, then make a light sauce of smoked bacon, mushrooms (both very finely chopped), a little tomato puree and red wine. I use a little garlic too, but be careful with garlic in the sous vide - it sometimes comes out a bit funny (especially if its the primary flavour). Bang everything in the vac bag and leave it to do its thing for 3 hours.

When it comes out, remove the steaks, add a big knob of butter to the marinading liquid and biltz to a smooth sauce. Tatties, veg, job's a good'un.