I got some choice ribeyes from Kroger the other day and put them in the water bath for 2 hours at 129.5 degrees. Seared on each side for 1 minute in cast iron. About 1.5" thick. After cooking the steak was barely pink. It had the texture right but the color was off. Thought it might be a calibration issue and checked it with another ribeye from Kroger and the same thing happened (I bought a few at the same time). Checked the water temp with two other digital thermometers and all were within .1 degree of each other.

What would cause this? Steaks were also not very tender. Had a slight gristle to them.

Also, second steak was 2" thick. Same color problem.

A: Choice doesn't mean much. You gotta have decent marbling. It can be rated Select (lower than choice) but if the marbling is better, get the Select. The steaks you selected might not have been ideal.

B: 129* is on the edge between rare and mid rare. Once you pull it out of the bath and then sear in the pan, you were probably pushing 140 which is into the Medium range once you factor in carry over. So a pink center is about right.

Try sous videing at 120, then searing. That should bring it down to a more mid rare center. Also, get a well marbled steak and that'll help with heat evenly distributing throughout the cut and will cut down on the hard fat (gristle).

won't let me edit my post..

140 with carry over might even be into the Mid Well range depending on the cut. A thick cut like you used will retain the heat quite well so it might have carried over 10-12 degrees. You could have simply cooked it too much.

I have never had this problem before and it was my understanding (could be wrong) that sous vide steaks need very little resting and the temps do not rise after pulling from the bath.

It doesn't have carry over from the sous vide but that ripping hot cast iron skillet certainly does.

Also as stated before it could just be an issue with the cuts you wound up with. Sometimes lots of beef just aren't as well marbled as we'd like. Try a steak from H-E-B or Randall's and see if the problem persists.

FWIW I usually rest the steak around 5 mins before I sear the hell out of it.

I've also read that resting isn't necessary but sometimes the steak comes out of the bag looking more like what your experience was than when I have allowed to rest and then seared.

I've seen this in some of my steaks as well. If you devour them right away they stay kind of a grey hue. But if you cut them and let some air get to the the exposed surface it'll pink up if you let it. Did some 1 1/2" rib eyes this weekend that behaved this way. They were still medium rare flavor and texture wise, just didn't hit the color right until they rested after being cut. Did you use fresh or frozen steaks?

Frozen. They were $4.99 a pound a few weeks ago and bought about 20 or so. Vacuum sealed and frozen.

Mine were frozen as well, that may be the reason for the delayed myeglobin reaction.

I've noticed this on steaks as well. If you let them sit for a bit, they will regain their pink color.

Is there a lower limit for steak I should stay above? I've been going 124F on sous vide, but love to sear a nice heavy crust. I've been ending up with a slightly more done finish than I prefer . . . that I attributed to the sear.

I would lean towards freezing being the cause... I bought 80# of prime ribeye a little over a year ago and have been steadily working my way through them. They were vaccum sealed and although they didn't taste appreciably different there was a definite change in the color of the steak.

Also could be the prolonged storage in the absence of oxygen... This has piqued my curiosity. I might have to do some testing next time steaks go on sale. You know... For science.

phideaux_2003 said:

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A: Choice doesn't mean much. You gotta have decent marbling. It can be rated Select (lower than choice) but if the marbling is better, get the Select. The steaks you selected might not have been ideal.

B: 129* is on the edge between rare and mid rare. Once you pull it out of the bath and then sear in the pan, you were probably pushing 140 which is into the Medium range once you factor in carry over. So a pink center is about right.

Try sous videing at 120, then searing. That should bring it down to a more mid rare center. Also, get a well marbled steak and that'll help with heat evenly distributing throughout the cut and will cut down on the hard fat (gristle).

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At normal searing temps, doing 1 min per side on a 129 deg 2 " thick steak will still stay well within the med-rare range. I would guess at the center it won't rise more than a couple of degrees.

Sous vide at 120 is asking for bacterial growth and food poisoning. There are others on this board that can weigh in on the min safe temps, but my recollection is that it is 129.5.

The culprit here is either the meat itself or the freezing of it.

Whoop04 said:

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phideaux_2003 said:

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A: Choice doesn't mean much. You gotta have decent marbling. It can be rated Select (lower than choice) but if the marbling is better, get the Select. The steaks you selected might not have been ideal.

B: 129* is on the edge between rare and mid rare. Once you pull it out of the bath and then sear in the pan, you were probably pushing 140 which is into the Medium range once you factor in carry over. So a pink center is about right.

Try sous videing at 120, then searing. That should bring it down to a more mid rare center. Also, get a well marbled steak and that'll help with heat evenly distributing throughout the cut and will cut down on the hard fat (gristle).

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At normal searing temps, doing 1 min per side on a 129 deg 2 " thick steak will still stay well within the med-rare range. I would guess at the center it won't rise more than a couple of degrees.

Sous vide at 120 is asking for bacterial growth and food poisoning. There are others on this board that can weigh in on the min safe temps, but my recollection is that it is 129.5.

The culprit here is either the meat itself or the freezing of it.

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You can go as low as you want without too much danger. You just can't/shouldn't cook longer than 2-3 hours at these low temps. At temps above the 127-130 range you can cook pretty much indefinitely with no risk of bacterial growth.

I got an Anova a couple of months ago and have been sous vide'ing most every protein just to try. Maybe I'm doing this wrong but to me a Ribeye just didnt work very well. Of maybe I should say I thought a standard cook on my BGE was better. I have been much happier with the results of a thick filet. The internal fat in the Ribeye just didn't seems to do what I expected. I'm using what I would normally cook on the BGE. Thick Prime1 steaks and searing in cast iron after for a crust. I'm also a couple of degrees warmer at 133 dF and 1.5 hours.

I've found filet and ribeye cap to be excellent via sous vide.

Whoop04 said:

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phideaux_2003 said:

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A: Choice doesn't mean much. You gotta have decent marbling. It can be rated Select (lower than choice) but if the marbling is better, get the Select. The steaks you selected might not have been ideal.

B: 129* is on the edge between rare and mid rare. Once you pull it out of the bath and then sear in the pan, you were probably pushing 140 which is into the Medium range once you factor in carry over. So a pink center is about right.

Try sous videing at 120, then searing. That should bring it down to a more mid rare center. Also, get a well marbled steak and that'll help with heat evenly distributing throughout the cut and will cut down on the hard fat (gristle).

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At normal searing temps, doing 1 min per side on a 129 deg 2 " thick steak will still stay well within the med-rare range. I would guess at the center it won't rise more than a couple of degrees.

Sous vide at 120 is asking for bacterial growth and food poisoning. There are others on this board that can weigh in on the min safe temps, but my recollection is that it is 129.5.

The culprit here is either the meat itself or the freezing of it.

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2 hours at 120, which is the line between blue and rare, then seared in a pan for a crust, finished in the oven until internal temp of 135-138 factoring in carry over... I don't see a problem here. It produces perfect results every time.

phideaux_2003 said:

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Whoop04 said:

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phideaux_2003 said:

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A: Choice doesn't mean much. You gotta have decent marbling. It can be rated Select (lower than choice) but if the marbling is better, get the Select. The steaks you selected might not have been ideal.

B: 129* is on the edge between rare and mid rare. Once you pull it out of the bath and then sear in the pan, you were probably pushing 140 which is into the Medium range once you factor in carry over. So a pink center is about right.

Try sous videing at 120, then searing. That should bring it down to a more mid rare center. Also, get a well marbled steak and that'll help with heat evenly distributing throughout the cut and will cut down on the hard fat (gristle).

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At normal searing temps, doing 1 min per side on a 129 deg 2 " thick steak will still stay well within the med-rare range. I would guess at the center it won't rise more than a couple of degrees.

Sous vide at 120 is asking for bacterial growth and food poisoning. There are others on this board that can weigh in on the min safe temps, but my recollection is that it is 129.5.

The culprit here is either the meat itself or the freezing of it.

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2 hours at 120, which is the line between blue and rare, then seared in a pan for a crust, finished in the oven until internal temp of 135-138 factoring in carry over... I don't see a problem here. It produces perfect results every time.

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why not just bump up the cooking temp in the water bath a few degrees and then skip the oven trip?

I am wondering that too. I doubt the fat is rendering as well at 120 vs 129.

If it's an oxidation problem due to freezing, should I leave it out to thaw exposed to air and rebag for cooking?

Whoop04 said:

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phideaux_2003 said:

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2 hours at 120, which is the line between blue and rare, then seared in a pan for a crust, finished in the oven until internal temp of 135-138 factoring in carry over... I don't see a problem here. It produces perfect results every time.

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I don't doubt that a steak done this way can produce good results, but what is this method accomplishing?

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Sous vide helps with several things, only some of which apply to different cuts.

• consistency of cooking: much harder to over or undershoot the desired target temp, since the final sear is so short. You also get the pink color from edge to edge vs a gray zone near the surface with blue centers.
• flexible timing: since the sear is short, you can just leave steaks in the bath if there's a delay in the ETA for serving. This also helps multitasking when prepping the sides.
• longer cooking tenderizes the meat without going to well done. This is my favorite part. You can get tender medium rare flavorful meals from cheaper cuts like chuck. This is the one that isn't relevant here.

biobioprof said:

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Whoop04 said:

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phideaux_2003 said:

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2 hours at 120, which is the line between blue and rare, then seared in a pan for a crust, finished in the oven until internal temp of 135-138 factoring in carry over... I don't see a problem here. It produces perfect results every time.

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I don't doubt that a steak done this way can produce good results, but what is this method accomplishing?

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Sous vide helps with several things, only some of which apply to different cuts.

• consistency of cooking: much harder to over or undershoot the desired target temp, since the final sear is so short. You also get the pink color from edge to edge vs a gray zone near the surface with blue centers.
• flexible timing: since the sear is short, you can just leave steaks in the bath if there's a delay in the ETA for serving. This also helps multitasking when prepping the sides.
• longer cooking tenderizes the meat without going to well done. This is my favorite part. You can get tender medium rare flavorful meals from cheaper cuts like chuck. This is the one that isn't relevant here.

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I think our question is, why the trip in the oven after the sear.

For me, I use the water bath for bringing several steaks up to temp at the same rate very consistently. I can also allow the seasoning or marinade (in the case of chicken or pork) to do its magic for a bit.

The sear obviously creates the lovely Maillard we all love.

The finish in the oven is simply an even, consistent and faster method for getting the steaks to the desired finished doneness. It's quicker at getting to the desired internal temp than the sous vide. Additionally I can use my armored cabled meat thermometer probes in the oven to ensure exactly what temp my cuts are at. Can't do that in the sous vide bag.

My results every time without fail:

I don't doubt the results, just skeptical that it's any better than sous vide at 129 then sear. Considering the (slight) moisture loss in the oven and then (slightly) less better fat rendering at a 120 bath, it's conceivable it's a (slightly) worse result, but one requiring an extra step. Pic looks good though.

phideaux_2003 said:

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For me, I use the water bath for bringing several steaks up to temp at the same rate very consistently. I can also allow the seasoning or marinade (in the case of chicken or pork) to do its magic for a bit.

The sear obviously creates the lovely Maillard we all love.

The finish in the oven is simply an even, consistent and faster method for getting the steaks to the desired finished doneness. It's quicker at getting to the desired internal temp than the sous vide. Additionally I can use my armored cabled meat thermometer probes in the oven to ensure exactly what temp my cuts are at. Can't do that in the sous vide bag.

My results every time without fail:

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So, like for multiple steaks off different donenesses?

Correct. Multiple steaks, of different doneness.

schmendeler said:

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biobioprof said:

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Whoop04 said:

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phideaux_2003 said:

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2 hours at 120, which is the line between blue and rare, then seared in a pan for a crust, finished in the oven until internal temp of 135-138 factoring in carry over... I don't see a problem here. It produces perfect results every time.

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I don't doubt that a steak done this way can produce good results, but what is this method accomplishing?

---

Sous vide helps with several things, only some of which apply to different cuts.

• consistency of cooking: much harder to over or undershoot the desired target temp, since the final sear is so short. You also get the pink color from edge to edge vs a gray zone near the surface with blue centers.
• flexible timing: since the sear is short, you can just leave steaks in the bath if there's a delay in the ETA for serving. This also helps multitasking when prepping the sides.
• longer cooking tenderizes the meat without going to well done. This is my favorite part. You can get tender medium rare flavorful meals from cheaper cuts like chuck. This is the one that isn't relevant here.

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I think our question is, why the trip in the oven after the sear.

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Oops. Lol.

Edit: although the results look nice I'm not buying the rationale about the oven being faster or more consistent.

phideaux_2003 said:

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Correct. Multiple steaks, of different doneness.

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This can be done with with sous vide. Cook one at 140 for an hour. Cool water temp to 129 and drop in the other one.

biobioprof said:

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Oops. Lol.

Edit: although the results look nice I'm not buying the rationale about the oven being faster or more consistent.

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I didn't say it was more consistent. I just said it was consistent. It's more even and consistent at bringing a steak to finished temp than trying to do so unidirectionally in a pan. It's also much quicker than trying to bring one steak up to 140 from 129 via a sous vide bath.

I like my steaks all done for the entire family at roughly the same time.

Trying to sous vide one steak at 129, then get the water to temp and sous vide another steak from 129 up to 140 would take a little time. It's a matter of 5 min in the oven.

Whoop04 said:

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phideaux_2003 said:

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Correct. Multiple steaks, of different doneness.

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This can be done with with sous vide. Cook one at 140 for an hour. Cool water temp to 129 and drop in the other one.

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Drop in the 129 steak raw? So one steak goes to 140, then comes down to 129 for another two hours while the second steak comes up to temp? Nah, I'll just stick to my method. Less fuss.