Me man. Me want Steak.
Intrinsically manly, some might argue. felix investigates the rise of sous-vide technology, and how it can turn the most manly of dishes into something more refined.
Steak: at its finest, a juicy, browned hunk of meat, bursting with flavour, and apparently quintissentialy manly. At its worst, a drab, uninspired piece of “grilling” that disappoints in every mouthful.
At their most basic, steaks harken back to the most simple of cooked foods that our proto-chef ancestors would have cooked - meat on hot coals. Cooking a steak like this, directly on a bed of embers, is an experience to try if you haven’t already - the end result is something that really makes me feel alive. The only problem is, crunching your way thorugh bits of burned on charcoal isn’t exactly tasty. That, plus the wide disparity in the degree of doneness in the steak ruined what should have been a beautiful dish.
I have cooked steaks in many ways, and the underlying problem with so many is that whilst they may look beautiful, browned and crisp on the outside, there is never the same degree of perfection in the inside. I’ve done pan fried, reverse seared, roasted and almost every variation. Don’t get me wrong, they were all tasty - but the beautifully tender middle was spoiled by the band of grey, overcooked meat around the edge - a simple flaw with direct heat cooking and the fact that no steak is perfectly uniform - some areas will cook faster than others.
The only method yet to satisfy my desire for pink, tender meat from edge to edge is sous-vide – waterbathing a vacuum sealed piece of meat for anywhere from 1-72 hours, with amazing results. I was fortunate enough to be given an immersion circulator (read: heating element, pump and temperature feedback) for my 21st, and good god of food, it transforms steaks. It give you something that in the restaurant world we desire exceptionally highly – consistency – as by cooking at 54.5C, you guarantee a perfect medium rare. No more “2 minutes on each side” or anything so non-scientific: sous vide gives you unparalled control. A waterbath followed by a quick blowtorch is all that’s needed. Such a simple, glorious food as steak can be turned into the most precisely cooked creation, without much hassle at all.
Chances are, you’ll all have something sous-vide in the next few weeks - more and more restaurants and eateries are turning to it to deliver the best result. And yet, some days I will still turn to my trusty old skillet, or light up the charcoal.
