Have you Sous Vide steaks a day or two in advance?

[Mtsoxfan]

I'm a former Chef and Culinary Arts instructor. One day, the wealthy grandma of a student gave me a sous vide as a present. Took me almost 3 years to try it. The main takeaways from it are, meats retains moisture, can't dry out. Precise doneness. Infuses flavor. I tried on various qualities of various meats. I enjoyed them all. I will not use to cook a steak again, took too long, and I prefer cooking a steak over flames. With sous vide, after it is seared, tastes just like it was only grilled. But the time...
Tough cuts of meat come out tender. But the time...
Cooking meats on a grill isn't brain surgery, although some people know how to wreck a perfectly good piece of meat.

 

[kozal01]

Sous Vide is just another tool in my cooking arsenal. I have made some awesome meals with it. Its awesome in the dead of winter when I don't feel like digging my grill out of the snow to cook a steak Ill throw the meat in the water bath when I leave home in the morning and just leave it there until dinner time then I just pull it out and pan sear it. Another favorite is my brisket (usually use chuck roast) taco meat, I smoke the meat for a few hours just past the stall then I pull it and throw it in the Sous Vide cooker at 185 overnight and its extremely moist and tender. Its also awesome for thawing frozen foods, its saved many meals that I forgot to pull meat out for the day before.

 

[ning]

I would not be afraid to sous vide a steak for a very long time as long as the cooked temp was high enough to kill pathogens and low enough to keep it rare. Then sear it in a very hot iron fry pan.

"Rare" is considered 120-130°; that's ideal for bacterial growth.
Rare steak is reasonably safe to eat because there's typical little if any bacteria inside the meat, it having been chilled most of the time before the vulnerable outside is seared, which kills any surface bacteria. Let it marinate at 120 for a while and surface bacteria can start moving in.

You do realize why burgers are recommended by food safety people to be cooked well, and chicken to 165°?
If you want to sous vide a steak for "a very long time" it better be at 160... and I'll pretend to be vegetarian that dinner

 

[Jrasband]

"Rare" is considered 120-130°; that's ideal for bacterial growth.
Rare steak is reasonably safe to eat because there's typical little if any bacteria inside the meat, it having been chilled most of the time before the vulnerable outside is seared, which kills any surface bacteria. Let it marinate at 120 for a while and surface bacteria can start moving in.

You do realize why burgers are recommended by food safety people to be cooked well, and chicken to 165°?
If you want to sous vide a steak for "a very long time" it better be at 160... and I'll pretend to be vegetarian that dinner

Nothing wrong with eating raw meat I do it regularly in fact it is much healthier as it retains all of the enzymes.

 

[Mtsoxfan]

Most bacteria involved with food in aerobic, needing oxygen. Sous vide is performed in a vacuum. Steak would have to sit, uncovered, at room temperature, for so long that molds and other discolorations would be visable before any bacteria reached inside the outer layer of flesh. Ground meat needs a higher internal temperature due to the grinding/mixing of potentially bacteria coated outside with fresh inside.
Again, I'm a grilled meat kind of guy.

 

[ning]

Most bacteria involved with food in aerobic, needing oxygen. Sous vide is performed in a vacuum. Steak would have to sit, uncovered, at room temperature, for so long that molds and other discolorations would be visable before any bacteria reached inside the outer layer of flesh. Ground meat needs a higher internal temperature due to the grinding/mixing of potentially bacteria coated outside with fresh inside.
Again, I'm a grilled meat kind of guy.

True, but
does everyone vacuum seal the bags when using the sous vide?

 

[RobertN]

True, but
does everyone vacuum seal the bags when using the sous vide?

I've read and seen mention of using ziplock style bags, and just getting as much air squeezed out as you can.

I have a vacuum sealer; we use it a lot...

 

[RobertN]

After all that... Plans changed. Had tri-tip at the grad party. Grilled the steaks over charcoal on the Weber kettle yesterday.