Steak Sous Vide

Here is how I make steak using the Sous Vide technique.

First, some words about tenderizing meat. Here is an excellent web page which discusses various ways of tenderizing meat.

All About Tenderizing Meat

Traditional meat tenderizers fall short because they don't penetrate the meat and only tenderize the outer surface. Salt, on the other hand, is a wonderful tenderizer. To give the meat added flavor and tenderize it at the same time, I use soy sauce which contains a lot of salt.

Place the steak in a Sous Vide bag. I find that the cheapest one-quart freezer bags in the supermarket work just fine and save you money! If the steak is frozen you don't even need to thaw it.

Drizzle the steak with soy sauce. Optionally, add some baby mushroom slices and chopped scallions.

Squeeze as much air out of the bag as you possibly can and place the bag in the Sous Vide water, set the heater for 128° F and go to bed. That's right, go to bed and get a good night's sleep. Your Sous Vide steak is going to cook for 8 hours or more.

Next make the sauce. Pour 1/4 cup red wine, again, the cheapest wine in the store will do. Add 1/2 tsp minced garlic.

When you're ready to finish the steak, remove it from bag and, in a hot skillet, sear both sides in olive oil. Remove the steak and pour the red-wine sauce into the empty hot skillet. Allow the sauce to reduce until it is almost syrupy. Pour over steak. Sprinkle some thyme over the steak as you would sprinkle salt. The steak will be very tender due to the soy sauce and the long cooking time.