Chef Joel & Jenn: Sous Vide Filet Mignon

I've been wanting to get a Sous Vide for at least a year now. What's a Sous Vide you ask? In french it is translated to under vacuum. The idea is pretty simple. You want to get a pot of water to a certain temperature and keep it there. The Sous Vide device is what regulates the temperature. The reason they call it under vacuum is that you put your food in a vacuum sealed bag. It's a really easy device to use. You set the temperature of the bath to get the meat/fish/chicken/vegetables to there perfect cooked temperature and keep them there without overcooking them. Restaurants have been using them for years and I first heard about it watching Top Chef. 

This past Christmas my parents bought me the Anova One. It's great because it attaches to any of your existing pots and all you have to do is fill the pot with water, type in the temperature, and hit start. The big use case for Sous Vide is Steak, which if you know Jenn and I is a pretty good reason to purchase one. I'm actually not bad at cooking steak on a grill or pan but getting a consistent temperature throughout is a science I haven't mastered. A week or so back I went out and bought two thick filet mignons from the store as well as some freezer zip lock bags. 

When I got back from the store I seasoned the filet mignons with salt and pepper and then placed each in a separate bag. I then put a sliver of butter and some fresh thyme on top of the steaks and then slowly lowered the steaks into the now 135 degree water bath. As you put the steaks in (with the tops open) it creates a vacuum seal around your steak. I then just clipped the bags (using Jenn's hair clips) to the side of the pan and stepped away for a couple of hours.

When it was time to eat I took the steaks out of the bath and out of the bags and put them on a very hot grill pan and seared each side for 30 seconds. The steak comes out of the bath a little weird looking so everything I've read about sous vide is to sear the meat right after. And that was it. A perfectly (I mean Ruth Chris level) cooked medium rare filet mignon that easily rivaled any restaurant steak I've ever eaten. I can only imagine how good this meal would have been had I gotten the steak at Whole Foods or an actual butcher. 

This will hopefully be the first of many Sous Vide recipes. And I've finally gotten a kitchen gadget that I know I will use more then once.