Southwest Ribeye Sous-Vide

It was Cinco de Mayo and I was hungry for meat. I decided on Boneless Black Angus steaks for dinner. I purchased 3 very large steaks for the family which were over 2 inches thick and exceeded 4 lbs. These babies were big. I first dry brined the steaks for a short while but I wish I had more time for the salt to penetrate deep. You see I had gotten off work at 2 pm and was rushed for time to do this correctly. My goal was too dry brine the steaks and cook them Sous-Vide. Again I wish I had more time.

I  decided to keep this recipe simple so I added traditional ingredients. In addition to salt and pepper I added, Cumin, Thyme, Hatch Chili and Chipotle chilies. Normally I would add some garlic and onion but I knew I was making a Chimichurri sauce to accompany the steak which has a lot of garlic or at least mine does.

All Vacuumed sealed everything up and refrigerated the meat until ready for the water immersion. I added butter because I thought this would help distribute the flavors of the other ingredients but I have read that this is not all that helpful. I am going to try this again without the butter. I just chopped up the Chilies and added them to the bag.  

Machine set and Food submerged.

So while the food was cooking I made the Chimichurri sauce. This sauce is so simple to make and changes every time I make it. In a large food processor I combined 2 large handfuls of Cilantro, 4-5 green scallions, one large Tomatillos, roasted Jalapeno, zest and juice of a Lime, salt, pepper, cumin, Mexican Oregano, fresh garlic and finished it with olive oil. Had I thought of it I would have added avocado for texture. Basically add whatever you want to it and make it yours. Make a red one and add tomato products. 

After three hours the steaks were done but could have used another 2 hours to tenderize. I ran out of time because of my schedule. 

As you can see there is no browning or Maillard reaction. This is one of the limitations to the Sous-Vide method of cooking but easily rectified by using a torch, skillet or grill. It only takes a minute or two. One of the most important steps prior to browning the meat is to dry them off otherwise it will not brown. 

These are pics of my masterpiece. Did it come out perfect? Nope!!! 

• They needed to dry-brine a whole lot longer.
• Cooked for 3 but needed 5-6 hours.
• I needed more time in my schedule.
• Next time no butter.
• More Hatch chilies!!!!!

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