Certified Black Angus Beef in Puerto Plata

[cobraboy]

[Thread Drift]

I bought an 800w Anova sous vide cooker in an after Christmas sale, a serious deal: regularly around $135, I found one for $85 on eBay, new in the box. Anova is one brand and well-reviewed. There are other brands I'm sure are as effective.

You may have heard of sous vide. It's precision temperature cooking with the food in a plastic bag devoid of air and placed in a pot of water until the food is at the precisely desired temperature.

I have used it four times, 3 for beef, once for pork.

I will never cook beef on the grill again. Why? See for yourself, my first try with a 1.75lb. choice ribeye from Nacional in Santiago.

The Anova set up for 130F (I now use 133F, because Alida does not like it so rare). The bottom temp is the setting, the top temp is the water temp. The lighted blue thumbwheel sets the temp. The device both heats and circulates the water. There is a cellphone app that monitors the cooking by wifi (just don't stray too far from the Anova):

The water is at the desired temperature. You can see the steak in the bag with air pumped out. I seasoned it with a little olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary:

Into the water goes the steak for two hours:

Steak is done, ready for the sear:

Searing in a tad of oil, with a butter and crushed garlic baste:

Done, resting 10 minutes before cutting:

You tell me if this looks edible:

I tried this method on a cheap piece of Dominican beef labelled "Delmonico" with *zero* marbling. The only thing I'd do differently is to cook it for three hours instead of two for additional internal tissue breakdown. But even it came out vastly better than *any* local beef I've tried to grill. Ordinarily, this beef would be chewy shoe leather:

I am a convert to the Church of Sous Vide Cooking.


[/Drift]

 

[dv8]

i'm all in for kitchen gadgets (guilty of having way too many) and for good beef but 2 hours per steak is a bit excessive. i'm going to stick to pan/grill for now.

 

[cobraboy]

i'm all in for kitchen gadgets (guilty of having way too many) and for good beef but 2 hours per steak is a bit excessive. i'm going to stick to pan/grill for now.

The beauty is you can prepare the steak well in advance and either just take it out or leave it in the sous vide (the best idea.) It won't overcook. Impossible. Then, at your convenience, sear it. You do NOT have to constantly worry about the grill, whether it's too rare or too cooked.

I know it sounds weird, but believe me: it makes prepping & timing a steak dinner MUCH easier and more efficient.

No matter what, the entire steak is cooked and maintained at the precise level of doneness you want without worrying about time.

The theory is sous vide separates the two components of grilling: doneness & outside crust/sear. In traditional grilling, the two are the same, and you have to take the meat off the grill at the precise time. Too soon and it's too rare. Too long, and it's overcooked. Additionally, a grill has hot spots, and the meat is rarely cooked the same all over. And if a large cut of meat is not the same thickness it's not cooked at the same level of doneness. With sous vide, you cook the entire meat to the doneness you want and sear it to the kind of crust you want.

And just as slow cooking in a crock pot makes meat more tender, sous vide does the same thing. I proved it with a piece of Dominican meat that would end up shoe leather cooking in a pan or grill, and it came out vastly more tender.

It's not for everybody. But if you want to cook best steak ever in your life, it's worth a try.

 

[lifeisgreat]

You may be right, but I have never seen Angus beef in any Jumbos. But have not been in the one in PP. Nacional has Angus beef and is the only one I have found here that has it.

I bought black angus burgers frozen section good..

 

[cobraboy]

(Too late to edit)

With sous vide, you only sear each side in a mega-hot skillet maybe one minute, basting after the flip. That's it.

I use an ancient iron skillet heated on the burner it is hot as possible and the small amount of oil (maybe 2tbs) is definitely beginning to smoke.

 

[2dlight]

I seared two imported Black Angus steaks($700+RD/lb.) from Nacional on a very hot iron skillet yesterday. Seasoned on both sides with salt and ground black pepper the day before and left in refrigerator. Seared with olive oil for two minutes on each side since friend had never eaten rare beef before. Needless to say the steak was a hit and friend is anxiously waiting for a return visit for more. 

 

[william webster]

The one day of salt seasoning in the fridge was a big boost..
longer might even be better

I do the same....