cooking surf and turf in same sous vide

In the General Sous Vide Questions Forum
Tonight i was thinking of doing ny strips and scallops. Problem is i want to cook the scallops at around 123F and the steaks at 132F. Should i cook the steak first at 132F for about 2 hours then reduce the temp to 123F and leave the steaks in while i cook the scallops for 45 minutes? Then remove the steaks and sear them, then the scallops and sear. Im hoping the steaks would be safe for the duration.


7 Replies So Far

Well i tried it last night with the above method and worked out pretty good. The ny strips was perfect medium rare but got a bit mushy and seemed to have released too much juices and was a bit dry so i believe i had them in too long. The scallops were very tender almost melt in your mouth but i did not season them enough and tasted a bit bland.

None of us got sick so the method seems safe and does work, I should have cooked the steaks for only 45 min at 132F then lowered the temp and added the scallops with more seasoning and probably some butter. Oh well theres always next time.
I'm surprised that extra 45 minutes was enough to make the difference between well-cooked and 'mushy' steak... but having said that, if it were ME, I would do the steak sous vide and just sear the scallops when you sear the steak.
Scallops only need that 30 seconds a side to be perfect; I don't think sous vide cooking adds anything in that case.

as far as the steak "releasing too many juices", did you salt before bagging? Don't!
Weedy,
I think "mushy" was a bad choice of words, the texture was firm but soft and dry. It really is hard to explain when you have something that looks medium rare but in a blind taste test would like it was overcooked.

I did not salt before sous vide. I used a fresh herb mixture.

I am trying a pre sear tonight with a TS8000 blow torch. OMG does this thing Char like a mother F'er. Took like 30 seconds per side from raw to char what would have took 2-3 min on a grill high heat. Im gonna go all natural on these steaks and sous vide for less then 2 hours (there 2 inch thick) If these turn out terrible then its the cut of meat. Ive done some choice filet mignon and they turned out great and ive even let them in for 4 hours.

one other thing occurred to me...

do you check the temp of the water bath with a thermometer?

(which sous vide machine do you use?)

I guess it occurred to me that if the temp was LESS than about 130-134, the fat in the steak might not be rendering and that might account for the mouth feel not being 'luscious' and creamy enough
Weedy,
Yes i do check the temp with a maverick and a taylor digital meat thermometer and the temps are accurate down to 0.3 degrees.I always check when i have an expensive piece of meat or a long cooking time.

Last nights steaks were a success. I didnt pre-season them at all. I used the blow torch 30 seconds on each side to char them and they went straight into an ice bath to stop any further cooking. After about 10 minutes i vacuum sealed them without any seasoning and cooked them for 2 hours at 133F then rubbed them with a fresh herb and olive oil and charred them again for 30 seconds each side then plated cracked alittle smoked sea salt on top and served. They were nice and pink inside with less then an 1/8 inch of charred crust with not a single bit of grey. The flavor was phenominal with the herb rub and smoked sea salt and they were tender and juicy. The best part is there was not a bit of smoke in the kitchen like there would have been with a blazing hot cast iron skillet. This will definitly be my method of choice for cooking thick cuts of meat.
Great to hear that worked.!
I tend to do the opposite, blow torching after sous vide, but I wonder what the diff would be.

I guess I assume that the sous vide cooking might 'soften' the crusting a bit, which is why I tend to sear afterward.

I must experiment!
Weedy,
Believe it or not, the steaks came out of the sous vide still charred with somewhat of a oily shine to them. I torched an extra 30 second char on my steak, but the wife choose to eat her as is with just the fresh herb rub and cracked sea salt.Shes not a huge fan of what she calls "burnt steak" But she loved her steak.We are talking about a woman that normally eats half her steak and i eat the rest.She downed the entire 2 inch thick NY strip before toucing her fully loaded baked potato.If you knew my wife, that speaks for itself.

To answer your question about my sous vide setup, Its a DIY with a TA4-SNR PID controller,PT100 probe,25A SSR,fountain water pump, and a Masterbuilt turkey fryer. Works flawless.


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