If I buy a chunk of beef, like chuck, to end up in beef barley soup, does it help to pre-cook the beef sous vide, and then brown it off and cut it into cubes to add to the rest of the soup recipe?
Unless you were putting the cooked beef in right at the time of service, I don’t think it would make much difference, and even then I’m not sure.
Much of the flavor in soup comes from the meat cooking in the broth. I wonder if it would not be as flavorful.
The best chicken soup I have had is made as acs suggested. The soup was made with an old chicken that was used for flavor. Once everything was done the meat and carcass were discarded and uncooked chicken was thrown in the pot and the soup served. No need to precook the chicken though as it cooks in the soup very quickly.