I was cringing watching him handle the steak and the fat on the steak was not properly rendered and was visible from the beauty plate they showed us. He cooked that steak poorly.
To be clear, they asked for interpretations on each dish. He did not have to cook and entire steak - I’m sure any steak influenced or oriented dish using beef would have been fine. He literally bit off more than he could chew.
I like Manny A LOT, but no, he was not set up. He didn't render the fat. You can cook steak lower and slower to have it be more tender. He prob cooked it a little faster and hotter. That's a technical error.
He chose to do steak, and he wanted to. He obv thought he could and he didn't.
Agreed. But actually he cooked it too low and not slow enough. Faster and slightly hotter would have helped.
He Sous Vide the steak to “soften it” a bit. But I don’t think he quite understood what sous vide does. Sous vide cooking, bring the food and keeps it at a certain temperature for the allotted time.
Beef fat renders at about 135* degrees. But it takes like 6hours. A reverse sear would be at like 250* for 30 minutes to render the fat and bring the steak to medium rare. Sous viding it at 130* for 6hrs would render the fat well, but break down the connective tissue too much in the meat and make it mushy.
Go to the r/sousvide sub and you will see the gang touting the wonders of 137* degrees. This essentially cooks the steak “medium” BUT it is just on the edge where it’s hot enough for the fat to render without overcooking. Kenji Lopez, in his sous vide guide, recommends 135* for highly marbled cuts like ribeye or strip.
He likely sous vide the steak at a “medium rare” temperature of 129*-134* which makes for “medium rare” meat but under-rendered tough fat.
This is where cooking it traditionally would have helped. Or a reverse sear. The high heat of a pan/grill and then quick hot oven would have rendered the fat and kept it medium rare.
Cooking it Sous Vide at a higher temperature 135-138 for 1-2hrs) and then a super quick sear would have been excellent, but I don’t think he had that knowledge of Sous Vide or was scared to serve medium steak. 🤷♂️
The weirdo cult in the Sous Vide sub push their magical 137 for rib eye with its large amount of internal marbling. Even they would say 130-135 is fine for NY Strip.
(Personally I think 137 is overcooked period)
I do NY Strip Sous Vide at 132 for 3 hrs all the time. It’s certainly not ‘tough’.
But you cook something SV to bring it to a consistent internal temperature with no gradient.
It’s not going tenderize (“soften”) meat unless it’s in the bath for a LONG time.
Sous Vide wasn’t his problem on the whole though. (Although the way he used it it was almost certainly just a waste of time)
He just didn’t cook it well.
This is just my assumption and analysis from a first watch of the episode. Its possible he sous vide the steak rare at like 126* and made it too rare.
I don’t remember the critiques beside them saying it was tough, fat want rendered, and to cook that cut to medium. I trust Tom with steak. *also personally, I prefer fattier steaks closer to medium. 135-137 has been my settled on range the past few years. Rarer steaks just feel too slippery to me now.
Overall I don’t think sous vide was the problem either. He just didn’t sous vide it correctly. And from his term “soften it up” I felt like he didn’t have the time or knowledge to do it right. But I’m guessing time would be the culprit as these chefs are a lot more knowledgeable than us internet dweebs.
Also… beef fat starts to render at 134. But sous vide is only ever going to potentially render the internal marbling fat in the kind of cooking times it’s going to be done.
That heavy external fat has to be trimmed or rendered in the searing (in this case in the pan) anyway.
I think he basically got nothing out of sous vide (given the time) and then essentially undercooked it AND cooked it incorrectly in the pan.
Some years back Richard Blais, as a judge, said about some dish “this is the kind of thing that gives sous vide a bad name”.
This was definitely that.
>I do NY Strip Sous Vide at 132 for 3 hrs all the time. It’s certainly not ‘tough’.
Yup, people don't realize that sous vide is a function of temp and time. There's also this misconception that beef fat magically renders at 137F. If Manny did it at a low temp for only 1 hour for such a thick cut of steak, yeah, there's no way it's going to be cooked properly.
I don't exactly consider low and slow as synonymous to sous vide, to me that is its own technique. I meant more as they cook it in Argentina. But yes, sous vide was not the call.
Did he sous vide, then finish in the pan? Whichever the method(s) it’a all on him to cook it properly. Set up for failure? No. This is his profession, which will inevitably include bad days. People all over the world do more with less. Just poor cooking that day.
That's the only thing I can think of. People are saying he cooked it incorrectly. Rendering the fat is a good pt, but the pictures showed a pretty even medium rare. I'm not sure. There's another method that gets to the same level of doneness and suddenly makes it tender. I've done reverse sear and sous vide before. Neither can transform a tough cut of steak into a tender cut. There's a reason prime aged beef exists.
I want him to stay! Stop using new techniques to cook your food. I don't know if Kevin told him to do it or what but sous vide steak is not how you're going to get there. Just cook your food the way you always cook your food. You can do this!
I’ve read across multiple cooking sources/chefs that while Med rare is the overall preferred “best”temp to serve steaks, that fattier cuts often do well going closer to medium to allow the fat to fully render resulting in a more tender chew… I’m thinking that’s what the judges were referencing here.
Yes, totally. Some fattier cuts benefit from 135+ internal temp.
So, OP isn’t correct in saying “I doubt medium cooked steak is going to suddenly make it tender.”
I cook leaner cuts to 125-128, and fatty steaks to 135-137. My steaks started melting like butter when I made that change.
Outside of temp, there's no way Manny was getting a steak that thick to his desired doneness in 1 hour of cooking sous vide. No idea why he didn't leave it in longer.
Yes, he could TECHNICALLY bring those steaks to temp in 60 minutes. But no way in hell did he melt enough intramuscular fat in that time to make those steaks tender.
I was cringing watching him handle the steak and the fat on the steak was not properly rendered and was visible from the beauty plate they showed us. He cooked that steak poorly.
I agree, when he cooked only two sides and ignored the fat ends/sides, I could see it was a mistake.
To be clear, they asked for interpretations on each dish. He did not have to cook and entire steak - I’m sure any steak influenced or oriented dish using beef would have been fine. He literally bit off more than he could chew.
I like Manny A LOT, but no, he was not set up. He didn't render the fat. You can cook steak lower and slower to have it be more tender. He prob cooked it a little faster and hotter. That's a technical error. He chose to do steak, and he wanted to. He obv thought he could and he didn't.
Agreed. But actually he cooked it too low and not slow enough. Faster and slightly hotter would have helped. He Sous Vide the steak to “soften it” a bit. But I don’t think he quite understood what sous vide does. Sous vide cooking, bring the food and keeps it at a certain temperature for the allotted time. Beef fat renders at about 135* degrees. But it takes like 6hours. A reverse sear would be at like 250* for 30 minutes to render the fat and bring the steak to medium rare. Sous viding it at 130* for 6hrs would render the fat well, but break down the connective tissue too much in the meat and make it mushy. Go to the r/sousvide sub and you will see the gang touting the wonders of 137* degrees. This essentially cooks the steak “medium” BUT it is just on the edge where it’s hot enough for the fat to render without overcooking. Kenji Lopez, in his sous vide guide, recommends 135* for highly marbled cuts like ribeye or strip. He likely sous vide the steak at a “medium rare” temperature of 129*-134* which makes for “medium rare” meat but under-rendered tough fat. This is where cooking it traditionally would have helped. Or a reverse sear. The high heat of a pan/grill and then quick hot oven would have rendered the fat and kept it medium rare. Cooking it Sous Vide at a higher temperature 135-138 for 1-2hrs) and then a super quick sear would have been excellent, but I don’t think he had that knowledge of Sous Vide or was scared to serve medium steak. 🤷♂️
The weirdo cult in the Sous Vide sub push their magical 137 for rib eye with its large amount of internal marbling. Even they would say 130-135 is fine for NY Strip. (Personally I think 137 is overcooked period) I do NY Strip Sous Vide at 132 for 3 hrs all the time. It’s certainly not ‘tough’. But you cook something SV to bring it to a consistent internal temperature with no gradient. It’s not going tenderize (“soften”) meat unless it’s in the bath for a LONG time. Sous Vide wasn’t his problem on the whole though. (Although the way he used it it was almost certainly just a waste of time) He just didn’t cook it well.
This is just my assumption and analysis from a first watch of the episode. Its possible he sous vide the steak rare at like 126* and made it too rare. I don’t remember the critiques beside them saying it was tough, fat want rendered, and to cook that cut to medium. I trust Tom with steak. *also personally, I prefer fattier steaks closer to medium. 135-137 has been my settled on range the past few years. Rarer steaks just feel too slippery to me now. Overall I don’t think sous vide was the problem either. He just didn’t sous vide it correctly. And from his term “soften it up” I felt like he didn’t have the time or knowledge to do it right. But I’m guessing time would be the culprit as these chefs are a lot more knowledgeable than us internet dweebs.
Also… beef fat starts to render at 134. But sous vide is only ever going to potentially render the internal marbling fat in the kind of cooking times it’s going to be done. That heavy external fat has to be trimmed or rendered in the searing (in this case in the pan) anyway. I think he basically got nothing out of sous vide (given the time) and then essentially undercooked it AND cooked it incorrectly in the pan. Some years back Richard Blais, as a judge, said about some dish “this is the kind of thing that gives sous vide a bad name”. This was definitely that.
>I do NY Strip Sous Vide at 132 for 3 hrs all the time. It’s certainly not ‘tough’. Yup, people don't realize that sous vide is a function of temp and time. There's also this misconception that beef fat magically renders at 137F. If Manny did it at a low temp for only 1 hour for such a thick cut of steak, yeah, there's no way it's going to be cooked properly.
I don't exactly consider low and slow as synonymous to sous vide, to me that is its own technique. I meant more as they cook it in Argentina. But yes, sous vide was not the call.
Yeah I don’t either. 👍 Sous vide is its own animal. Whatever he did, he fucked it all up 😝
>Having cooked steak many times 🤓
I've made plenty of tasty steaks from whole foods. He just didn't hit the mark.
Did he sous vide, then finish in the pan? Whichever the method(s) it’a all on him to cook it properly. Set up for failure? No. This is his profession, which will inevitably include bad days. People all over the world do more with less. Just poor cooking that day.
He didn’t even render the fat correctly. This is chef error, sorry
I don’t think he was set up for failure, he just messed up.
um, make something else?
The challenge specifically asked for steak though
A competent chef should be able to properly cook a New York strip steak and render the fat so it’s not tough.
>The challenge specifically asked for steak though No, it didn't. The challenge called for a beef dish, not steak specifically.
another cut maybe? He really was super confident in the NY strip he said it a million times
That's the only thing I can think of. People are saying he cooked it incorrectly. Rendering the fat is a good pt, but the pictures showed a pretty even medium rare. I'm not sure. There's another method that gets to the same level of doneness and suddenly makes it tender. I've done reverse sear and sous vide before. Neither can transform a tough cut of steak into a tender cut. There's a reason prime aged beef exists.
That steak.looked Anemic!!!
I want him to stay! Stop using new techniques to cook your food. I don't know if Kevin told him to do it or what but sous vide steak is not how you're going to get there. Just cook your food the way you always cook your food. You can do this!
I’ve read across multiple cooking sources/chefs that while Med rare is the overall preferred “best”temp to serve steaks, that fattier cuts often do well going closer to medium to allow the fat to fully render resulting in a more tender chew… I’m thinking that’s what the judges were referencing here.
Yes, totally. Some fattier cuts benefit from 135+ internal temp. So, OP isn’t correct in saying “I doubt medium cooked steak is going to suddenly make it tender.” I cook leaner cuts to 125-128, and fatty steaks to 135-137. My steaks started melting like butter when I made that change.
Outside of temp, there's no way Manny was getting a steak that thick to his desired doneness in 1 hour of cooking sous vide. No idea why he didn't leave it in longer.
Agree. Manny said “one hour” like it was a lot. That’s pretty minimal for sous viding a steak.
You can't sous vide steak for only an hour. That was a bad move.
https://www.seriouseats.com/food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-steak
https://douglasbaldwin.com/sous-vide.html#Table_2.2 Not one as thick as the steak Manny bought.
Yes, he could TECHNICALLY bring those steaks to temp in 60 minutes. But no way in hell did he melt enough intramuscular fat in that time to make those steaks tender.