Hi all, I’m a first time Sous Vide user and can’t wait to get started. We have some friends coming over for lunch tomorrow and I was wanting to get the meat started today. Can I cook the meat/steaks in the Sous Vide today, then finish them on the BBQ tomorrow, after first bringing them up to room temperature? And if I do that, should I cut the cooking time down a bit so the steaks get heated properly all the way through on the BBQ? Or should I just do it all tomorrow?
What sort of meat? How thick? What sort of BBQ? The more info you give us the easier it is to advise well.
Porterhouse steak, around one inch thick, pork ribs, and a chunk of sirloin around one and half inches thick. Thanks!
The steaks would be better done the same day and taken straight to searing on the grill. I’d go 2 hours for the porterhouse. The sirloin 2 to 4 hours. 130F if you want them medium rare.
The pork ribs I’d do for 24 hours at about 140F, then chill down and BBQ back up to temperature.
For a “first time Sous Vide user” that seems rather ambitious. My recommendation would be to use the sous vide cooker just for the steaks since the time and temp required are similar (and shorter), and do the pork ribs using a more traditional method with which you’re most comfortable. As Ember pointed out, the steaks would be better done the same day.
In addition to what the others have said, Be very careful to not overcook the steaks on the grill. Better to take a cast iron pan to the grill and heat it while preheating the grill (get it really hot) then sear the steaks in the pan for about 30-45 seconds per side just to crust them (be sure to blot dry first with paper towel or kitchen towel, otherwise, they won’t develop a good crust.)
It’s easy to overcook while attempting to sear, but you will learn.