A warm Jacuzzi then a roll in the snow….

When I was a lad I went on skiing holidays to ski resorts in Michigan and Wisconsin where the entrance would be two stories of a massive timber construction with a huge stone fireplace. There would always have a Jacuzzi next to a door where you could jump from the warm bubbly water out into the snow and roll around. It was supposed to be good for you, but we were just crazy and did it for the buzz, especially after a skin full of MD 20/20. Well I did not introduce fortified wine to my food tonight but I definitely gave them the full temperature shear that is involved in hot to cold.

I was reading Modernist Cuisine Volume 2 on Techniques and Equipment on Sous Vide cooking this week and decided that instead of freezing the meat I bought from Costco, I could vac pack it and then cook it for a long time. So I bought some cheaper cuts of rump steak and vacuum packed them and cooked for 4-5 hours in the Sous Vide. I then prepared a salt and ice water bath in which I would super cool the cooked and sealed steaks.

Notice that the temperature is 28F which is 4 degrees colder than freezing which is 32F. This is achieved by adding salt or sodium chloride (would make it even colder).

For some strange but also reasonable fact it takes as long to take the temperature to 134F (perfect medium rare) about 2 hours depending on the thickness of the steak, as it does to take it back to 32F so I am hoping that by 11:00 or so the temp in the centre of the meat will be cold enough. I can then store the cooked steak which is vac packed in the fridge for up to 30 days. To be honest red meat does not last much more than that in my house before it is trough’d up.

So now I have two bags of perfectly cooked medium rare rump steak in my fridge for 30 days which will be cooked from top to bottom in less than 4 minutes and not ever see the freezer.