The food lab better home cooking through science ( PDFDrive ) 477

veryappealingaboutthatsizzlingcrustyougetjust
as the steak comes off the heat, and I have to
restrainmyselfwhilelettingitrest.
Cookingasteaksous-videcanhelpagreatdealin
this department: because there is no large
temperaturegradientbuiltupinside,youdonotneed
to wait for temperatures to normalize—they’re
normalized to begin with! The only gradient that
builds is during the brief searing stage, which only
requires a few moments of resting. Still, this is
enough time for some of that crackling crust to
disappear.
Wouldn’t it be great if there was a single
techniquethatgaveusthebestofbothworlds?Well,
fortunatelyforus,thereis.
The trick is to allow the steak to rest normally,
and then, just before serving, reheat its fatty pan
drippings until they’re smoking hot and pour them
overthesteak.Thesteakwillsizzleandcrisp,while
the interior stays perfectly well-rested and juicy.
Adding some aromatics to those pan drippings is
never a bad idea, and re-collecting them after
pouring them over the steak and serving them
alongside the steak in a little heated pitcher gives
you a built-in sauce right there. This method will
work forany steak or chop, not just those cooked
sous-vide.
I propose that the resters and nonresters of the
world now unite over some juicy, crusty, sizzling
steakstocelebrate.

FATSANDAROMATICS

A

fewquicktestsprovedthataromaticsaddedto

the sous-vide bagdo indeed flavor the meat as it
cooks.Butwouldaddingafatlikeoilorbuttertothe
bag help as well? For this test, the aromatics
consisted of 3 sprigs of thyme and a sliced garlic
clove. I placed just the steak, thyme, and garlic in
one bag, and I placed the same ingredients along
with2tablespoonsbutterinasecondbag.
My hope was that as the butter melted, it would
pick up all the fat-soluble flavor molecules from the
garlic and thyme, helping to distribute their