I’m a big fan of ‘low-and-slow’ cooking, and that’s why I love my BBQ Smoker. That smoker is great for Ribs, Brisket or Pulled Pork. But it is not ideal for other pieces of meat. After doing some research, this weekend I tried something differently: “Sous-Vide”. The result is delicious: this is by far the best steak I’ve ever cooked :-).

Beef Sous Vide

“Sous-Vide” (French for ‘under vacuum’) is a special cooking method. The food is sealed in a plastic pouch and then placed in a temperature controlled water bath. It takes a longer cooking time, but the result is amazing.

For the dinner this evening, we have vacuum sealed the meat:

Vacuum Sealed Steaks

Sealed that way, the meat (or vegetables, or whatever you like) gets placed in to a water bath. The important thing is to keep the temperature stable for an extended period: the time does not matter that much, more the temperature. A convenient way is to use a Sous-Vide cooker with temperature controller, water pump and timer:

Steba Sous-Vide Cooker

The food needs to be completely under water For the beef I’m keeping the water temperature at 56°C (see this temperature guide):

Sous Vide Wather Bath

The sealing keeps the meat moist. And the slow cooking ensures reaching an exact meat core temperature. After three hours (duration depends on meat and thickness), ready to take it out. The downside of the sous-vide cooking is: it does not look pretty, and the meat is only warm. The solution is browning the steaks for less than a minute:

Browning the Meat

Et voilà: Beef Sirloin with Sauce Hollandaise, Rösti Croquettes and Spinach:

Beef Sous Vide

“Sous-Vide” takes more time, but the result is very rewarding. I have to explore this cooking method more, and I think this can be combined with the smoky BBQ I love so much: the BBQ season has never ended 🙂

Happy Vide’ing 🙂