happy birthday to my favorite liberal

[CUDA]

TC

[Tunnelcat]

I'm glad that I rate as your favorite liberal. XOXOXOXOXO!

Since I got the book, Modernist Cuisine, for a birthday present, I made Sous-Vide tenderloin steak for my rare birthday steak dinner, and had cake for dessert, not that I need it. Never had Sous-Vide cooked steak? You're missing out on the best way to cook a juicy, fall apart soft, tenderloin steak.

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2010 ... utter.html

But I use my MAPP gas plumbing torch to do the final searing instead of frying, although a quick dip in a deep fryer might be lovely tasting.

[Duper]

Happy Birthday TC!!

[Sergeant Thorne]

You know MAPP gas burns hotter than propane. I'm going to have to give that a try! Might be my new secret to blackened chicken/steak without overcooking it!

Happy birthday, TC! Are you a year crankier, or a year wiser?

[Tunnelcat]

Hey ST. Here's some info. for you. I cook my 1" to 11/2" thick steaks in a water bath that stays at EXACTLY 136 degrees F for about an hour an a half. If your steak is thicker, cook it for 2 hours. That's long enough for the heat to reach the center of the steak and for it to end up nice and pink. The beauty of this temperature is that you can't overcook the meat. It won't cook any higher than the water temperature, it just stays there at rare.

Use a large stock pot and a candy thermometer to monitor the temperature during the cooking. Heat the water to 136 degrees F and make sure it's stable, THEN put in the steak, already in it's sealed vacuum or ziplock bag. On my electric stove, the low setting works once the cooking temp is reached. Make sure there's no air in the bag for the best heat transfer too. Don't let the steak or bag sit on the bottom of the pot. I have a little rack that just keeps it off the bottom by about an inch, or you can suspend the bag with some other contraption you devise. Just make sure it's fully immersed in the water, but not touching the pan anywhere. Most serious Sous-Vide cooks buy the special water bath appliance for that purpose, but I haven't gotten that dedicated yet.

When you get done, remove the steak from the bag and pat dry with a paper towel. Then use either a very hot fry pan or as I used, a MAPP torch, to just sear the outside of your steak to get that caramelized appearance and flavor. Do it quick enough as to NOT cook the meat inside much further. You want it to look nice and grilled. There should only be a about a 1/16 inch thick brown sear on the outside of the meat. The reason you want to use MAPP or Butane is that they don't impart a chemical flavor to the meat. Propane does leave a bad flavor, so don't use it.

You can use New York steaks or tenderloin, but I love tenderloin. Cooked this way makes it end up really tender. It's almost like eating butter. I also put some seasoning and butter in the bag while the steak cooks in the bag too. The secret to tender is not to let the water bath get over 140 degrees F. As the temps rise, the muscle fiber starts to contract, making it tougher and I've found 136 F to be the best. I know that this method of cooking a steak is time consuming, but the result is well worth it. Good luck.

[Sergeant Thorne]

Thanks for the write-up! I'm keen to try it. And thanks for the heads-up--it makes sense that propane would impart a funny flavor, due to the scent they add to the gas.

[Krom]

Yeah, MAPP gas has a natural odor which fortunately once burned is gone. I found out because a spider decided to build a web inside my torch once, so it wouldn't light properly, and I ended up catching a wiff of the gas before I took the torch apart and cleaned it out. If I were to describe the unburned odor, I'd say imagine the smell of a pile of half decomposed skunks buried in a swamp at >100 degree summer heat and you probably wouldn't be too far from it.

[woodchip]

Happy Birthday TC (belated). You too are my favorite lib

[Tunnelcat]

Yeah, MAPP gas has a natural odor which fortunately once burned is gone. I found out because a spider decided to build a web inside my torch once, so it wouldn't light properly, and I ended up catching a wiff of the gas before I took the torch apart and cleaned it out. If I were to describe the unburned odor, I'd say imagine the smell of a pile of half decomposed skunks buried in a swamp at >100 degree summer heat and you probably wouldn't be too far from it.

Hmmmm. I had a large house spider try to move into my furnace electrostatic filter. Glad I was around when the furnace fired up right then, because the massive short his big, spider body created would've melted the aluminum plates. Sounded like a machine gun going off. Smelled like roasted bug afterwards too. Ick!

[Bet51987]

Happy Birthday TC. Hope you had a good day.

Bee

[Tunnelcat]

Thanks Bee. It's been awhile since I heard from you. How are things going?

[dissent]

Happy birthday, TC. Hope you enjoyed your day.