# sous- vide



## Daniella Page (Nov 27, 2018)

Hi Guys ,

I am looking for some advice. I will be cooking steak for around 200 people and wanted to use the sous vide method.

1) can i cook the steak in advance to a medium rare using this method, then refridgerate the steaks until I am ready to serve that evening?

2) what is the maximum amount of time i can sous vide the steaks in advance?

3)Once out of the fridge can i just grill the steaks for a minute on each side and then this is ready? 

4)what is the best sous vide machine that will be able to cook around 28kilos of meat?


Thanks guys , really look forwarding to hearing your thoughts 

Dani


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## sgsvirgil (Mar 1, 2017)

I assume this is a catering event or something akin to it, yes?

The time it will take to sous vide a steak depends on a) the cut of beef. thickness and the size. Generally, it will take about 1-2 hours for a steak to reach medium rare depending on the water temp and the size of the cut. The bigger the steak, the longer it will take. So, without knowing this important information, here are some best guesses to your questions. 

1. Yes, you can cook the steaks to medium rare and refrigerate until they are ready to be served. But, why would you want to do this? Steaks should always be prepared to order.

2. I assume you are asking how far in advance you can sous vide the steaks. For best results, do them that day. The quality will begin to decline the further in advance the meat is cooked.

3. Grilling chilled meat is always tricky. You run the risk of hot exterior and a cold center and/or overcooking the meat. The thicker the cut, the more of a problem this will be. I would recommend not chilling the meat and going straight from sous vide to finishing on the grill. 

4. You are going to need several home-use sous vide machines to handle this many steaks and have them all done in the same century. The more wattage, the better. They can cost anywhere from $50-60 to a few hundred dollars. 

If you are talking about commercial grade sous vide machines, they will cost anywhere from $500 - $2,500 or more, each. 

Are you sure you really want to sous vide this many steaks? This is going to be a very labor intensive endeavor for you and if you are paying staff by the hour, this could turn out to be rather cost prohibitive. However, if you provide more information in terms of the event you are cooking for and the cut, weight and thickness of the steaks, more specific advice can be given. 

Good luck.


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## Daniella Page (Nov 27, 2018)

sgsvirgil said:


> I assume this is a catering event or something akin to it, yes?
> 
> The time it will take to sous vide a steak depends on a) the cut of beef. thickness and the size. Generally, it will take about 1-2 hours for a steak to reach medium rare depending on the water temp and the size of the cut. The bigger the steak, the longer it will take. So, without knowing this important information, here are some best guesses to your questions.
> 
> ...


Thank you so much for your response I really appreciate it! Ok so basically I am setting up a mobile food truck that will be serving up to 150-300 people in the space of 3-9 hours.

Answers to your questions are as follows

1) Waiting times are important to customers as well as the quality of food, so naturally I am trying to find the best way to accomplish both of these. The Sous-vide method was recommded to me.

2) I am cooking bavette steak, each portion will be approx 130g which is not that thick. How long would you think it takes to sous vide each portion to medium rare and how would you recommend I store the steak, if you say refrigeration isn't the best course of action?

3) What sized "commercial grade sous vide machines" do you think I should be looking at? For around 26 kilos of steak?

Any other recommendations on how you would go about this process would be great. Thank you so much for your help! x


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## sgsvirgil (Mar 1, 2017)

I assume you are going to use a commercial kitchen to cook the meat first and then finish them on the truck? Please say you are! If not, and you plan on doing this all on a food truck, I think this may prove to be rather impossible.

130g (4.5 oz) is not very big and the cook time should be relatively short. I would guess probably around an hour, perhaps less, to an internal temp of 56'C. I would be surprised if it took longer.

I'm going to be perfectly honest here. Whoever suggested that you sous vide 300 bavette steaks for service on a food truck was not doing you any favors. Because they are thin, they will be prone to overcooking assuming you finish them on the truck, especially if they are chilled from storage. You can store them in a fridge in a covered hotel pan. That's not the problem. The problem is cooking that many steaks sous vide and then reheating them for service without turning them into shoe leather.

If it were me, I would forget the whole sous vide thing, get a couple of gas or charcoal grills, set them up outside the food truck and grill the steaks to order on sight. But, that's just me. 

As for the sous vide machines, are you under the impression that you can cook all 26 kilos of meat all at once with one machine? If so, No. That cannot be done. You will need several sous vide machines with 22-25 liters of water per machine. You can probably fit 6-8 130g steaks in 5 gallons of water if they are placed properly. If the steaks are not placed properly, then, the water will not circulate around the meat properly and you will have poor results.

As for the sous vide machines, its not so much the size that matters as the power. If money is not a concern, then, you want anything with 1000w of power or more. The more the better. If you are thinking commercial grade equipment, like I said, that's going to cost $500-$2,500 per unit. I don't know what the translation would be into British currency. But, I think you get the point. You can get home kitchen grade sous vide machines that have around 800 - 1000w of power for $60-$250 per unit, depending on brand and the bells and whistles.

Good luck.


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## Daniella Page (Nov 27, 2018)

sgsvirgil said:


> I assume you are going to use a commercial kitchen to cook the meat first and then finish them on the truck? Please say you are! If not, and you plan on doing this all on a food truck, I think this may prove to be rather impossible.
> 
> 130g (4.5 oz) is not very big and the cook time should be relatively short. I would guess probably around an hour, perhaps less, to an internal temp of 56'C. I would be surprised if it took longer.
> 
> ...


Yeah totally get what you're saying ! So scrap sous vide as I'm using bavette steak which is thin, I have a gas grill in the van and cook to order.

Do you think cut all portions before hand or cook the kilo of steak at a time and slice up then cook again on the grill? I have seen this on some other steak traders instagrams .

I haven't got my van yet so I'm just trialling in a kitchen and playing with ideas at the moment

Thanks so much again for your help


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## Seoul Food (Sep 17, 2018)

I personally never understood taking such a long time to sous vide a steak and then reheat/recook the exterior when you can make a perfectly delicious steak using other methods in a shorter time. I understand you wanting to figure out the logistics of serving that many steaks in that time frame but remember it's not just about pumping out food but also serving something that you are proud of.


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## chefbillyb (Feb 8, 2009)

How are you serving the steak and why this cut ????? As far as Sous Vide is concerned the water bath is used for steak not to tenderize but to cook it at a more gentle method. It is best used for thick steaks and best used IMHO a thick cut Filet Mignon is cooked in the water bath to a perfect desired temp from top to bottom. This gives the cook/Chef a chance to season the steak and finish in a short period of time.....ChefBillyB


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## sgsvirgil (Mar 1, 2017)

Daniella Page said:


> Yeah totally get what you're saying ! So scrap sous vide as I'm using bavette steak which is thin, I have a gas grill in the van and cook to order.
> 
> Do you think cut all portions before hand or cook the kilo of steak at a time and slice up then cook again on the grill? I have seen this on some other steak traders instagrams .
> 
> ...


You can do it either way. If it were me, I would trim and portion the meat before its cooked for more accurate portioning.

Good luck.


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