One of our favorite kitchen gadgets has got to be our sous vide machine. Sous vide, which means “under vacuum” in French, is a very precise method of cooking that usually requires to vacuum seal your food and cook in a water bath. The reason sous vide cooking is so unique and popular is because it allows you to cook your food at exactly one temperature throughout without losing any flavor. It can be used for cooking all types of foods, but we love especially for cooking meats.
We had the Sansaire for several years, but we upgraded to the Anova this year (great Christmas gift) and have been loving the new technology and app that comes with it. We’ve cooked all different cuts of meat and have had perfect results every time, but our most favorite is probably a classic filet mignon.
Living in Texas, we have been to our fair share of great steakhouses, and while they do make great steaks – you can’t walk out without spending a good $150. I don’t like to brag, but honestly, when we sous vide good quality steaks at home, we find it tastes better, and costs a fraction of the price. Ideal for a romantic night in (hello Valentine’s Day!).
We have mentioned them before, but if you live in Dallas, we highly recommend The Meat Shop for your steaks. They sell locally grown Wagyu beef and the quality is outstanding. We got two beautiful 8 ounce filets from them ($59.99/lb, but so worth it and still a fraction of what you would pay at a steakhouse).
We do have a vacuum sealer we use linked here, but you can also use a simple ziplock bag and the water displacement method to avoid having another kitchen gadget. The steaks were about 2 inches thick, so we opted to cook them for at least 2 hours. The beauty of sous vide cooking is that you cannot overcook your food, however, with a delicate leaner steak like filet, you don’t want to cook more than 4 hours, as this could affect the texture of the meat.
When you remove your steaks from the sous vide, they will look slightly soggy and sad, but they are perfectly cooked medium rare from top to bottom. In order to get a nice crust on the steaks, we recommend searing them over high heat for one minute on each side in a cast iron skillet. We added some aromatics, garlic and rosemary, for extra flavor, but these can be omitted if you prefer.
Pair with your favorite steakhouse side, personally we love a good mac n cheese, so we linked our lobster macaroni and cheese recipe here.
Happy early Valentine’s Day!
Ingredients
Method
- Pat dry your filets and vacuum seal them or use the water displacement method and with ziplock bag (see link above).
- Heat up your water bath to 132F (for medium rare steaks).
- Carefully drop the steaks in and allow to cook about 1 hour.
- Remove the steaks from the sous vide bath and gently pat dry. Season with salt and pepper.
- Heat up the butter in a cast iron skillet along with smashed garlic cloves and rosemary sprigs over high heat.
- Sear your steaks about 60-90 seconds on each side (remember the steaks are already cooked through, so you just want to sear them quickly). Baste with butter after you flip them.
- Let rest 1-2 minutes before serving or slicing.