Two Steaks One Way, Sous Vide then Grilled

For Friday night dinner I decided to cook up some steaks. I was out all day and so I sous-vide them while I was out. 

One was a Wegmans Strip Steak

One was a Tenderloin Filet from the Butcher.

 I dry-brined them in the fridge, salt only, for about an hour beforehand. I did not want to over brine them.

 

I sous-vide them for 133F, which I have found is a good temp for a perfect Medium-Rare. I ended up having them submerged for about eight hours total, which I believe was too long. In the future I think I will stick to 4 hours maximum for steaks. 

When they were done, they looked just fine, grey and unappetizing but extremely tender, which is what you want from a Sous-Vide cook. I patted them down with paper towels and let them come to room temperature before coating them in black pepper. I fired up the small grill for a sear. I re-used standard Kingsford charcoal for this. It re-lit just fine (but last time was a very short cook) though I'm not sure I could use them again.

I seared both until they had a nice, dark, blackened crust and plenty of browning where there wasn't black. The Interior temp never went above the original 133F, so this really was Textbook Medium Rare. I was surprised that the interior was a solid pink as opposed to red. Perhaps the long sous-vide?

 

Anyway, the Steak tasted fantastic from NEARLY all perspectives, except one. The flavor was great, very beefy, well salted but not overly so, and enough pepper for a slight kick. It was EXTREMELY tender. The filet nearly melted in my mouth and the strip steak had a pleasant "bite" but no real "chew" at all. We were happy with the steaks. 

Except that I personally felt they were too dry. My wife did not agree with me, though she remarked that the Tenderloin was actually too tender for her tastes.

So I think they were sous-vide for too long. That accounts for the extreme tenderness, and it accounts for the dryness. I had heard that overcooking in the sous-vide step can dry out all of the juices, and that's how I felt. Next time I would sous vide for less time, OR serve a long sous-vide steak with a sauce, or at least melted butter. NEXT TIME!