Sous-vide cooking and vacuum sealing

One nice bit of rump - ready to christen my Sous Vide with :D

Will let you know how it turns out!

Also planning to do a joint of beef over the weekend as well - will post pics! :D

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Right, only just put the steak in this morning, not done the joint yet either.

One thing that confuses me is that (from what i've read) one of the great things about sous vide cooking is that there's not really much of a worry of overcooking food and that you can keep it at it's ideal temperature for yonks.

But as i've been reading more books and articles, i keep coming across specific tables and charts which gives you timings for specific cuts and steaks!

From what i've read, i need to do that bit of rump steak "24-48 hours" (although some places have said 90 mins - 12 hours!). Very confusing!

Oh and one final winge - the fact that US cuts of beef are completely different to our British cuts gets on my ****! Took me ages to figure out what the US equivalent of a rump steak is (I think it's a top round steak!)

If you look at the charts comparing the different cuts (US vs UK), the cuts that we call Silverside/Topside/Flank - they just call "round" (and presumably have top round/bottom round/eye round). Plus our Sirloin joint seems to come from a different area as well! ARGH!

Oh well, i'll see how that streak comes out lunchtime tomorrow... finger's crossed! :p
 
Well for the rump steak, i'm going to give it just over 24 hours (will have it for lunch tomorrow!). As i want it medium rare, the temp is set to 55C

For the joint, i'm probably going to go with 48 hours... although i'm thinking 24 might be adequate...

I'm going to use the joint for beef sarnies, so i'm thinking it might be better to cook it medium, in which case i'll set the temperature to 60C
 
OCdude said:
One nice bit of rump - ready to christen my Sous Vide with :D

Will let you know how it turns out!
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Well done, that man. Which model did you go for?

And I notice you've done it properly and gone down the vac-pack route as well - which unit did you pick up for that?
 
OCdude said:
From what i've read, i need to do that bit of rump steak "24-48 hours" (although some places have said 90 mins - 12 hours!). Very confusing!
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I would have said you are in danger of the whole thing turning into mush if you cook it for that long.

56º for around 3 hours should suffice. And certainly no more than 8.

Our Rump is closest to American Sirloin. Their Round is closer to our Topside or Silverside.
 
Grrrrr, do you know of a decent UK/US comparison chart? The best I can find are vague diagrams which don't specify the exact equivalents (i.e. the one on Wikipedia!)
 
Alas, no. Rump is really one of those cuts where it could go either way.

With the quality of meat that we get in this country and how it tends to have been prepared and aged, I'd still stand by my claim that Rump was closer to American Sirloin in terms of texture, flavour and consistency.

Americans would swear blind it was closer to (or the same as) a Top Round, but I can't see that - it would have to be a really ropy piece of Rump to be that tough.

I know an American butcher so I'll give him a call tomorrow and ask. He's been in the country for over 20 years and specialises in American beef cuts, so if anyone will know; he will.
 
Cool, thanks - appreciate it :D

I'm with you - in all the books and articles i've been reading, they refer to rump as really tough.. which (im my mind) doesn't really tally up with "our" rump! Sure it's a bit tougher than Sirloin, but it's hardly on a par with brisket.
 
Blimey - you don't need to sous-vide rump for those kind of times!

Those times are more for balancing the texture of joints you would cook more slowly, or for getting something up to temperature which doesn't have connective tissue to break down.

Basically, I'd divide sous-vide into three uses for meat:
1) cooking a lean meat, fish or a steak which should retain texture/bite but will be taken to an exact temperature for correct "doneness"
2) "safety" cooking - to bring something up to temperature before it is cooked in some other way, e.g. taking beef fillet to 50C before cooking as a beef wellington for a v short period by blasting in the oven
3) slow cooking joints of meat with collagen/gelatin which needs to be broken down slowly to produce the desired consistency

Some handy charts here which are useful guidelines:
http://www.cookingissues.com/primers/sous-vide/purdy-pictures-the-charts/

A lot of it will come down to personal preference - sous-vide short rib for 48hrs at 65C is quite a different texture to 48hrs at 60C - it will come down to what you prefer at the end of the day and you might need to experiment
 
glitch said:
Alas, no. Rump is really one of those cuts where it could go either way.

With the quality of meat that we get in this country and how it tends to have been prepared and aged, I'd still stand by my claim that Rump was closer to American Sirloin in terms of texture, flavour and consistency.

Americans would swear blind it was closer to (or the same as) a Top Round, but I can't see that - it would have to be a really ropy piece of Rump to be that tough.

I know an American butcher so I'll give him a call tomorrow and ask. He's been in the country for over 20 years and specialises in American beef cuts, so if anyone will know; he will.
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Hmm, parts of the top round could cross over with silver/topside which could be the issue? Otherwise I'm sure british rump would fit into the top round..
 
Well screw it, i'll take it out tomorrow and will post the (potentially hilarious) results! lol

Do you think 55C for 90 mins > 8 hours would be about right for medium rare rump/sirloin/rib eye steak?

As for the joint (toprump), if i want that medium rare, do you reckon 12-24 hours?
 
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