Add A Fancy Twist To Gordon Ramsay's Steak By Cooking It Sous Vide (2024)
maria scinto
·2 min read
Celebrity chefs are constantly coming up with new recipes and sharing them with the general populace since this is one way they maintain that celeb status and stay in the public eye. While these recipes are all well and good out of the box, so to speak, sometimes we here at Mashed like to unleash our recipe developers on them and see if they can come up with their own special twist.
While in many cases our developers may choose to simplify a celeb chef recipe to make it easier for home cooks who may not have access to super-specialized ingredients and equipment, other times they might choose to go the opposite direction, which is what Aušrinė Žygaitytė is doing here with one of Gordon Ramsay's steak recipes. She starts with a very basic steak recipe, one that just calls for garlic, rosemary, thyme, and butter, but instead of simply pan-searing the meat she opts to use her sous vide machine to pre-cook it. The steak must still be finished off in a frying pan, but as it's already almost done inside, Žygaitytė tells us "I strongly recommend being quick with frying the steak [so] that you wouldn't overcook it."
How To Cook This Steak If You Don't Have A Sous Vide Machine
Sous vide steaks can be quite flavorful, but if you don't already own one of these pricey, countertop-consuming appliances, you needn't feel that you need to purchase one in order to avail yourself of this recipe. You can always try a machineless sous vide hack like using a cooler to hold your lukewarm waterorsimply skip the sous vide step and pan-fry the steak in the butter for a few minutes longer than it would take had you pre-cooked the meat.
As this recipe is originally one of Gordon Ramsay's, you could also take a tip from the Irascible One and employ one of his methods for the perfect pan-cooked steak. He doesn't seem to be an especially outspoken proponent of sous vide cooking, possibly due to a long-ago scandal where patrons of his restaurants felt cheated when they found out that their meals had been prepared in advance and heated up via this "boil in a bag" technique, but he does have a pretty dramatic method for elevating a simple pan-fried steak. As Ramsay demonstrates in an episode of "Masterchef,"making the perfect steak involves usingfire rather than water: Pourcognac into a pan, set it on fire, and cook the steak en flambé.
Herbs – I used fresh thyme sprigs to enhance the flavor of the steak during the sous vide and searing process. Other herbs you could use are rosemary, sage, or oregano.
What is Sous Vide? Sous vide is a French phrase, literally meaning “under vacuum”. This cooking technique utilizes a temperature-controlled water bath to cook the food slowly and evenly. This process ensures that the inside of the steak is cooked to your exact doneness to deliver restaurant-quality results every time.
Flank steak is one of my favorite cuts to sous vide. This lean, sometimes a little on the tough side, steak benefits from a low and slow cook and a hot sear. I love to do an herby salt to season this steak, but a marinade is also a great way to go.
Preheat a sous vide cooker to desired final temperature. (See note below for temperature and timing charts, or find the same charts here.) Season steaks generously with salt and pepper. Place in sous vide bags along with herbs, garlic, and shallots (if using) and distribute evenly.
Let the steak rest at room temperature 20-30 minutes prior to cooking/grilling. Season generously with salt and black pepper all over the steak cut. Place directly on your hot grill racks (recommend 400F heat) to cook for 4-5 minutes. Flip the steak, then add the sprig of rosemary and cube of cold butter on top.
The number one spot goes to grilling, the classic method for cooking your steak. While great grilling isn't quite as precise as sous-vide, it leads to the best, purest-tasting steaks out of non-sous vide methods. This is because grilling uses the steak's natural fats and juices for flavor.
Rare sous vide steak (120°F/49°C): Your meat is still nearly raw. Muscle proteins have not started to contract much and will have a slippery, wet texture. Chewier cuts, like hanger or flap meat, will be particularly tough at this stage. Fat has not yet started to render, so fattier cuts will have a waxy texture.
Coarse sea salt + black pepper– you salt your steak before you place it in the sous vide. Be sure you use both coarse salt and pepper rather than finely ground. Fresh herbs- we used a combination of rosemary, thyme, and oregano for this recipe. You can use one or all of these herbs.
Sous vide allows for long, slow cooking at a low temperature, which breaks down these tissues and results in tender, juicy meat. Prepare the meat with generous salt and any other desired seasonings, then cook for a long time at a low temperature.
So, while it's certainly very difficult to overcook your food using sous vide, to say that it's impossible is a little bit of an overstatement. Just remember that while you technically can't 'overcook' your food, the quality could start to decline if it's left to cook for a lot longer than is recommended.
Sauces are a great way to add flavor to sous vide. The sauce will add flavor and somewhat permeate the food, similar to a flavor-based marinade. This technique can be used to add strong flavors to the food.
To start with it is handy to remember that marinades don't work as well on cooked meats, or meats that will cook quickly due to the fact that the surface proteins will alter and lock out the marinades. To avoid this you should start marinating the meat before beginning the cooking process.
It's as simple as this: while the steak is searing in the pan, throw in butter, garlic and thyme and baste continuously as the steak finishes cooking. The garlic-thyme infused butter does all sorts of wonderful things to the steak, seeping into the cracks and crevices, and adhering to the crust of the steak.
Ideally, season your steak 30 minutes or even a full day before you plan to cook it (a dry brine is amazing for steak!). Even if you don't have this kind of time, I find it's best to season steak before sous viding. You can lightly season again before searing if you wish, but this usually isn't necessary.
Introduction: My name is Nicola Considine CPA, I am a determined, witty, powerful, brainy, open, smiling, proud person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
We notice you're using an ad blocker
Without advertising income, we can't keep making this site awesome for you.
