Recipe: Sous vide ribeye steak

My pops turns 70 tomorrow. He shares the same birthday as the United States of America, so in today’s post, I thought I’d show some love by writing a tribute to my pops and sharing a recipe that, in addition to him liking, also celebrates traditional Fourth of July cooking, but with a slight twist.I always talk about my mama; she was the cook of the house, and she died a long time ago without ever having taught me how to cook, so naturally, my culinary story revolves around her.My pops, though, gave me my creative side, a huge component of my personality and character. After all, I consider myself a dabbler in both the literary and culinary arts. Dad was an architect in Vietnam. I learned much later in life that my pops also wrote poetry for fun.For much of my adult years, Dad and I exchanged novels and memoirs. I would read something I really liked and then give a copy to my pops. He would read and then email or tell me over the phone what he thought of the stories. Thankfully, he liked most of the recommendations I made. (A few listed here in case you are curious: The Five People You Meet in Heaven by Mitch Albom, Life Of Pi by Yann Martel, Mrs. Bridge by Evan S. Connell, and The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro.) I love my pops, his cheesy humor, and the artistic mind he bestowed upon me.One thing my pops loves, besides a good book or film, is beef. That’s what he misses most about Texas (I think even more than me), now that he lives in southern California and Vietnam. Last time he visited us in Houston, the hubs and I made him ribeye steak cooked sous vide.The sous vide technique is ideal for feeding a crowd, getting a perfectly cooked piece of meat, and staying cool during this blasted summertime heat. (I live in Houston where the heat index has been making it feel like 109°F outside, so the last thing any of us wants to be doing is standing outside sweating over a hot-ass grill.) This brings me to today’s recipe: sous vide ribeye steak.I’ve shared my technique for making sous vide strip steak before, and this is pretty much the same, with the exception that here, you’ll sear the steak after (instead of before) cooking in the water bath. You can really do either, but we’ve since changed this up at home, so I’m sharing with you our latest technique.And if you don’t have an immersion circulator yet, there are a number of sous vide machine options out there nowadays. In fact, sous vide cooking has practically become a middle class household norm. Check out these different immersion circulators, and decide which best suits your needs. (I actually have all three.)

• Joule by ChefSteps
• Creative Series by PolyScience
• Precision Cooker by Anova

Happy cooking!

Recipe: Sous Vide Ribeye Steaks

Notes: If you want to dive deeper into sous vide, two reliable resources are ChefSteps and The Food Lab.

Ingredients

• 2 ribeye steaks at room temperature, about 1” thick
• kosher salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tbsp olive or neutral oil
• unsalted butter if desired

Instructions

1. Prep steaks: Season both sides of steak with salt & pepper to taste. Drop steaks in a food-safe vacuum seal bag or resealable plastic bag, making sure to arrange in a single layer. Add oil and seal using vacuum sealer, such as a Food Saver. If using resealable plastic bags, slowly lower bag into water with seal open and exposed to air—the great universe of physics will cause the air inside the bag to push its way out, and you’ll get a pretty good seal without having to bother with a vacuum sealer. Once the air is all out and you just have the open seal poking out of the water, seal the bag shut.
2. Cook steaks: Per manufacturer’s directions, set the immersion circulator in water and bring the water up to your desired temperature. For medium rare, set it to 130°F. Once water reaches temp, drop steaks in water bath and cook for about 45m. Feel free to play around with the time and temp depending on your desired doneness. Remove steaks from water bath and let rest inside bags for at least 5m or until you’re ready to eat.
3. Sear steaks: Preheat an iron skillet over high heat. Remove steaks from bag and pat dry. Add butter to skillet if desired (I personally love butter on beef.) Be careful not to burn the butter—in a preemptive move, you can add a little bit of oil to cut the milk solids that cause butter to burn. Sear steaks on each side until just beginning to char, approx 1m per side. Alternatively, you can achieve the sear on the grill or in the broiler.
4. Serve warm. Drool.

Active time: 20m
Total time: 1h 10m
Yields: 2 servings