Pre-Cooking Steak in a bag, Any suggestions?
I tried something on the weekend, and it seemed to work well, so I thought I'd ask for comments.
We'd planned to make steak for dinner, and it happened to come in a vacuum-packet plastic. So before opening the bag I dropped it into some hot water (about 170F) for a couple hours. The temp obviously fluctuated a bit, but I topped it off with hot water from time to time.
I like my steak "lightly seared", so pretty much "blue". So out the bag, into a bit of oil, then into the (very hot) pan. Maybe 60 seconds each side (probably not even that much). Out. Rested. Eat.
It was very soft - and perhaps predictably "warm through" - which was different as "blue" can end up being quite cold. Was very tender though.
So to my question - any suggested improvements on the technique? Would it benefit to keep the steak in the water longer? (I'm thinking of trying a 24 hour period next).
One down side is that marinading of the meat (in the bag) isn't possible - so good quality meat with good flavor is a must.
Best Answer
You've basically re-invented sous-vide cookery for steak. Steak is about the easiest food to cook sous-vide. You can find a lot of resources describing it on the web, but here's a few notes
1) 170F for 2 hours undoubtedly left your steak very well-done. Not a problem if that's how you like it, but also not necessary. You can get medium rare by cooking in the 130-135F range for two hours. Cooking sous-vide below 130F (necessary to get steak rare) is not recommended for safety reasons, as temperatures that low can encourage the growth of dangerous bacteria.
2) With sous-vide, there's no need to rest a steak after searing it. Resting grilled steaks is necessary to give heat time to move from the outside of the steak to the center, and actually get it cooked to the desired temperature. With sous-vide, you already did that in the water.
3) With an impromptu sous-vide setup like yours, you probably don't want to cook for more than a few hours. You risk your temperature getting too low overnight, and then you're down in the bacteriologically dangerous ranges. You can get some great effects cooking longer (I had 24 hour marinated skirt steak last night that was amazing), but you should probably do so with powered equipment. There are home sous-vide machines available (a bit pricy) or you can build your own. There are dozens of different rigs described on the web. I built mine for about $100.
4)Longer cooking times are better for tougher cuts anyway. If you're just looking to do ribeyes and strips, then two or three hours is fine.
5)You can marinade, but obviously not in supermarket bags (unless the supermarket marinades, e.g. pork tenderloin). To do so, you either need to purchase a vacuum sealer (not too expensive), or be clever with drawing air out of ziploc bag and sealing it very tightly.
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How do you cook pre packaged steak?
Here's a step-by-step guide on how to cook steak: Rub the steaks with high heat cooking oil. Season both sides with salt. Heat your cast iron or stainless steel pan to medium-high. Test if the pan is hot enough by putting a little water in the pan, once it sizzles you are ready to go.How do you cook steak in a bag?
Prentiss advises taking your steak out from the fridge about one hour before you're going to cook it, and setting it on a roasting rack. (This is also the best time to season it with salt, ideally medium-grain sea salt, he says. More on that below.)DINNER IN A BAG
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Answer 2
As others have said, this is sous vide. One thing to remember is that sous vide meats are generally bagged right before they go into the water bath (often with flavourings and aromatics). If you buy meat from the butcher in a cryovac bag, it's very likely to have been wet-aging in that bag for some time, which can cause some really funky, smelly compounds to be created. It's a signature smell of cyrovac'd meat - it's not a nice smell, and it dissipates quickly on contact with air, but I wouldn't want to cook in a bath of it.
So, suggestion - if you like this technique (and it is an awesome one), buy a vacuum-bagger, and re-bag your meat before you bath it!
Sources: Stack Exchange - This article follows the attribution requirements of Stack Exchange and is licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0.
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