Chuck / Top Blade Steaks 28h @ 132F - dry AND chewy!?

Brazoragh
Mon, 21 Sep 2015 18:33:22 +0000
Anova Precision® Cooker

After having a vegetarian visitor for 3 weeks, I was finally able to use my new Precision Cooker with meat.

So I bought some "Choice Top Blade Steaks" from my local Kroger. I guess they took some Chuck, divided it into small pieces/stripes (three pieces glued together could form a thin cut Filet Tenderloin) cutting out the big tendon.

I figured this as a lean yet tough cut of meat and my plan was to transform this to somehow tender steaks.

So I divided the six pieces of meat (a little more than 1lb in total) into 2 portions and bagged it (with a tiny little bit of salt, which might have been my first mistake?) with my foodsaver.

I set the Precision Cooker to 132F / 55.5C dropped the first bag and 12h later the second one (I wanted to compare the results).

I took both out at the same time after 34h and 22h. I saved the liquid.

Not being at home this week I cannot measure it, but it should be about 3 tablespoons.

Both parts looked similar. Color wise, some sides of the meat were brown, and some (where you saw the "fibres" - like when you cut into a prepared steak) looked actually more like medium or even medium well.

Slightly scared, I finished it on my preheated Gas Grill giving some additional heat to the sides with my Propane Torch. It's highly unlikely that I overcooked it during that part.

The result was dry AND chewy. And btw... pretty flavorless, too.

How could this happen? Any thoughts or ideas?

Thanks,

Michael

11 posts - 8 participants