How long and for what temp to get it just past rare and not med rare?

130 for an hour per inch give or take. Rest then salt and pepper and sear.

How long let it rest?

Doesn't need to rest. That's the beauty of sous vide.
I do 128, but that's me. Also, serve it with a well-aged Bordeaux or Cote-Rotie.

I soak in worcestershire sauce for a few hours, then vacuum seal with salt and pepper on the meat in the bag. It goes into the water at 135 for about 2 hrs...then straight onto a sear plate @1300 degrees for a minute or two. Which is basically one 360 roll to sear the entire cut. Comes out great!

I like to let things rest 20-30 minutes so the outside dries and takes a better sear quicker. It also lets the outside cool a little so that the sear doesn't penetrate the meat with higher temps as deeply. Resting after a sous vide bath has nothing to do with the usual fiber relaxation that grilled meat does.

I do bacon wrapped medallions for 1-2hrs at 125 then pat dry and sear. It's so good. Unless I just get nostalgic for dry hockey pucks in breading, I won't ever chicken fry them again.

EagleFordEarl said:

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I do bacon wrapped medallions for 1-2hrs at 125 then pat dry and sear. It's so good. Unless I just get nostalgic for dry hockey pucks in breading, I won't ever chicken fry them again.

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You're a smart man. Save chicken fried venison for a cut out of the ham.

I rest maybe 10-15 minutes so the sear doesn't over cook. But I suppose you can just sous vide to less temp but you are guessing at that point.

My wife got a sous-vide for Christmas. Man I can't wait to try this! Sounds fantastic!

I do 129 for 4 hours then dry it and sear in smoking hot cast iron with a little bacon grease.

It. Good.

Why such differences in times?

Seems like somebody is over cooking or someone is under cooking.

But I don't know anything about it so...

That's what's great about it.....you can't really overlook it. 130 for 1 hour will be roughly the same as 130 for 4 hours.

You can over cook backstrap via sous vide. Don't go over about 2 hours or texture will break down.

That makes no sense.

Just because it isn't high heat doesn't mean you can't over cook it.

Sous vide cooking will never get above the temp you set it to. So if you set it to 130, it will never get hotter than that. So while you can't over cook in terms of done-ness, you can over cook for texture and structure. So you could go too long and the meat is still perfectly med-rare but the muscle fibers will have broken down too much and it will be mushy.

I'm not that familiar with sous vide, do you cook the back strap in the plastic bag or directly in the water? Plain water or seasoned water?

In a bag.

marr710 said:

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You can over cook backstrap via sous vide. Don't go over about 2 hours or texture will break down.

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This is true but it really takes a long time to notice significant differences in texture. A few good break downs available online to google on steak texture at 2,4,8,12, and 24 hours.

No real difference on 2-4 hours. 2 is pretty standard and what I do with individual steaks. With larger roasts I go a bit longer.

We cook ~2" backstrap filets at 129 for no more than 2 hours with only salt, pepper, and bit of olive oil in the bag. I remove them from the bag, pat them dry, and then sear them over coals that are between 400-500 F for about 2.5 minutes each side.

As a poster correctly stated above, there are textural implications to cooking it too long. Here's an in depth guide to cooking sous vide steak if you want to see the differences between temps or cooking times.

Enjoy!

Y'all have fun with all your parasites and bacteria cooking game at that low of temps. I set my sous vide at closer to 135 to be absolutely safe. No way in hell I'm cooking at 120.

Any advice on doing the loin sous vide? Or any other way?

If you're up for cooking it sous vide, then I think as the other guys said about an hour or so per inch probably would be good.

Somewhere around 130 seems to be the consenus.


The way I have been cooking backstrap for the past two years mainly is cutting the strap into medallions about an inch thick and seasoning with S&P, garlic and onion powder. Then sear in a hot skillet for 1-2 mins per side to get just past rare, then set the meat aside and cook a sauce.

The sauce is red wine and jam/jelly based. Start with a few tablespoons of butter, melt it in the pan and throw in some wine (cooking with red wine - if you don't want to drink it out of a glass don't cook with it!) (as much as you want but, I typically use about 4 ozs), then spoon in some BERRY based jelly, jam, or preserves, I go a little heavy on this and use a raspberry jam. I cook this down and add in rosemary, red wine vinegar (two splashes), and olive oil about a tbsp.

Cook the sauce at med high temp stirring constantly, until it thickens up and cooks off most of the alcohol. then throw the backstrap pieces back in there to warm them back up (or not). Typically my sauce is almost boiling hot and the steaks are not super hot. Serve the steaks and spoon the sauce over them, I don't serve the steaks and sauce together due to individual tastes.

You can do the same with the tenderloin just need to limit the cook time and watch closely.

Cromagnum said:

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Y'all have fun with all your parasites and bacteria cooking game at that low of temps. I set my sous vide at closer to 135 to be absolutely safe. No way in hell I'm cooking at 120.

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130F is a pretty well established safe temperature. IIRC most bacteria starts to die around 120-125F so you already have a built in buffer at 130F.

I use 130F as my low temp on any cook that is going longer that 3-4 hours. But I routinely cook fish and other meats at 115-125F and haven't ever had an issue.

Sous vide at 132 (a little high because the wife is @ 32 weeks), rested ~30 minutes, salt/pepper/avocado oil, seared ~600F for 60 seconds a side. Food safe. Delicious. Even my five year old loves it.
[url=https://ibb.co/30774X0][/url]

Huh. I'm "working from home" tomorrow and have a backstrap in the freezer. Seems like now I've got something to do.

Any new thoughts on this? I have a back strap that I am going to sous vide for dinner tomorrow.

I've seen some overnight marinades with lots of ingredients, but also some salt & pepper only recipes.

I do 125 for 4 hours, dry it, salt pepper rub, sear in smoking hot cast iron with a little pad of butter.

Cromagnum said:

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Y'all have fun with all your parasites and bacteria cooking game at that low of temps. I set my sous vide at closer to 135 to be absolutely safe. No way in hell I'm cooking at 120.

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There's nearly nothing living that can last an hour at 120. And I only say nearly nothing because I'm sure there is something out there, but I have doubts it lives in a doe in west texas.

Cromagnum said:

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Y'all have fun with all your parasites and bacteria cooking game at that low of temps. I set my sous vide at closer to 135 to be absolutely safe. No way in hell I'm cooking at 120.

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There are time/temp graphs all over the 'net that show the min time for safety for a given temp. IIRC, there are different tables for different meat types (beef, poultry, etc.) Not sure if you'll find one specific to venison, but I'd think for a certain temp, the safe time for venison would be somewhere around the average of the safe times at that temp for beef and pork.

What is a good sous vide set up? Best brand, model, etc.?

Did some quick searches and realized that most are just a wand type insert, so would need a container to go with it. I guess you also need a vacuum sealer for it? Any recs for one of those as well? Will any vacuum sealer work or do you need a certain type for sous vide?

normaleagle05 said:

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I like to let things rest 20-30 minutes so the outside dries and takes a better sear quicker. It also lets the outside cool a little so that the sear doesn't penetrate the meat with higher temps as deeply. Resting after a sous vide bath has nothing to do with the usual fiber relaxation that grilled meat does.

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This.

If you treat the meat well after the kill and when processing it most deer under about 3.5 will be tender and tasty without marinade or anything.

That being said, I like to make a compound butter with fresh-cracked black pepper and smear it all over the backstrap or tenderloin. Then salt it. Sous vide at 120, generally for a couple hours. Then let it rest, pat it dry, and again coat liberally with coarse salt (kosher or sea salt are good) and fresh-cracked pepper. Then I use more butter in the skillet with a chunk of garlic and sear the backstrap just long enough to get a good crust.

jpb1999 said:

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What is a good sous vide set up? Best brand, model, etc.?

Did some quick searches and realized that most are just a wand type insert, so would need a container to go with it. I guess you also need a vacuum sealer for it? Any recs for one of those as well? Will any vacuum sealer work or do you need a certain type for sous vide?

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I have the Anova.

- I didn't have a dedicated container for the first couple years and just used a big stock pot without issue.

- if you don't have a vacuum sealer you can use heavy-duty freezer zip-loc bags but you need to get all the air out as much as you can before sealing so you get even heating.

- any sort of vacuum sealer will work; I have an older model of this Food Saver and have zero complaints: FoodSaver FM3600

I got the ChefSteps Joule and a 12qt plastic bucket that has a lid with a hole in it for the Joule. I like this setup a lot. The Joule app is really helpful on temps and cook times for different meats when you are getting started.

I always use ziploc bags and empty the air out by using water displacement method.