I’ve not got my APC yet, but I was looking through the recipes and am confused.
Following the recipe, I cook the steaks, sear them for 1 min on each side (this seems way too long to me as I like mine rare and this is not much less than I cook my steaks for) but then it says rest them and cook the sauce. If my maths is right the sauce takes over 20 mins to make, by this time my steaks are not going to be rested, they are going to be fast asleep!! Has anyone actually made these recipes or am I missing something here?
You’re right…when you add it up, the sauce prep takes about 15-20 minutes.
The steaks that they’re having you use aren’t incredibly thick, so when you drizzle the sauce back over them, that should help them recover their heat.
(you’re also supposed to cover the steaks after you take them out of the pan, to help preserve their heat).
1 min per side is what most people use for getting a good sear with a very, very hot (blistering) pan and some good high-heat oil.
It sounds like, if you were doing 1 min per side previously with raw steaks, they were either very thin or you actually like your steaks almost blue, not rare. 
If you like your steaks that rare, I think you’ll only enjoy using the sous vide for very thick cuts.
Practice (and a bit of time sense) will help you get things ready all at the right time. If you think the sauce will take 20 minutes to cook then start it before you dry and sear your steak.
Duration of sear depends on the method you use. Type of surface and smoking point of oil come into play if using a pan. It also depends some on the finish you want on your steak. If you like a heavy crust it’s likely to take longer.
I sear in a cast iron pan on the wok burner on my gas stove top and use rice bran oil. Searing steak takes me about 30 to 45 seconds either side.
Some like to shock chill their meat before searing because they can protect the ‘doneness’ that way and not have to worry so much about the sear overcooking their meat.
Resting tends to be less important with sous vide prep. The temperatures involved in the cooking process are lower so the proteins don’t tighten and push moisture out the same. Also the sear should be quick enough not to have a huge impact.
Psst. You need the juices from the sous vide bag for the sauce, so you have to wait until they’re done.
(Also want the browning in the pan to add that flavour to the sauce).
But you can start cooking your mushrooms before adding the pan juice. You’ve never used two pans? The cooking juice (which can be quite minimal) can be used to deglaze both pans.
True…that should trim 10 minutes off of the time, but now you have two pans to wash. 
heh
I’d still return the final sauce prep to the searing pan though…need those crust bits!
Bah! Who washes a cast iron pan? Just takes a wipe out with a paper towel. And you can transfer it all to the sear pan for a final finish.
Now… if you want to add saute veg we can discuss pan juggling if you wish.
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