When Clayton told me he’d be coming over to Amsterdam for a vacation, I thought it would be nice to cook dinner for him and his friend Paul.
Clayton is one of the founding fathers of the International Shanghai Chicken Project. I know he’s very interested in sous-vide, so I picked some nice sous-vide dishes. I prepared sous-vide sea bass with crispy skin, sous-vide chicken ravioli, sous-vide wagyu flank steak with tian provençal as a side. To include something Dutch, I ended with an apricot vlaai (tart from Limburg).
This post is about the wagyu flank steak sous-vide. The meat turned out very tender and flavorful, a perfect showcase of how good sous-vide beef can be. I may have convinced Clayton to get his own sous-vide cooker 😉
Ingredients
For 4 servings
4 wagyu flank steaks, about 100 grams (3.5 oz) each
salt and freshly ground black pepper
500 ml (2 cups) beef stock, reduced to 4 Tbsp
80 ml (1/3 cup) full-bodied red wine
2 Tbsp clarified butter
Preparation
Season the steaks with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Vacuum seal.
Cook sous-vide for 48 hours at 55C/131F.
Pat the steaks dry with paper towels and allow to cool for about 10 minutes.
Melt the clarified butter over high heat. Brown the steaks quickly over high heat in the clarified butter.
Take the steaks out of the pan. Deglaze the pan with the red wine. Add the reduced beef stock. Cook for 10 seconds or so, stirring, until you obtain a thick sauce.
Slice the wagyu flank steaks such that the pink/red is exposed. Serve with the reduction sauce with a tian provençal on the side.
Stefan's Gourmet Blog 
That is absolutely mouth watering! Did you cook it 48 hours for a specific reason? I have yet to sous vide anything that long. Just curious. Cheryl
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The reason is that tough cuts like flank steak, brisket or short ribs can become tender when you cook them for 24, 48 or 72 hours at 55C/131F, 56C/133F or 57C/135F (time and temperature depend on the cut and the type of beef, e.g. grass-fed or wagyu is different). The difference with braising is that they will be the texture of a medium tare ribeye steak! But with more flavor and at a cheaper price. Give it a try with brisket for 48 hours at 57C/135F, you won’t regret it!
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What a fantastic meal, Stefan! Each dish is mouth-wateringly good. 48 hours, though, is a long time to prepare a dish. Knowing you, I’m sure it was well worth the time. 🙂
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Thanks John. It’s no more work than cooking it for 5 minutes, as you can just forget about it for 48 hours. The timing isn’t critical at all — 44 or 52 hours will get you almost the same result.
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Thank you, once again, Stefan. The meal was an incredible sampling of your culinary talents. It was awe inspiring! Words alone cannot describe the flank steak’s delicacy in both texture and taste. It left us wanting more even while running to the station to catch the last train to return to Amsterdam. Fun, fun, fun. Yum. Yum. Yum.
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Thanks Clayton, anytime. We had a great evening!
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Another cracker by all accounts. One of these days I will get a sous vie machine.
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🙂
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Looks great! Stephan, I would appreciate your advice. I am in the process of buying a new kitchen. I am an avid cook but mostly cook in weekends. No problem for me to start the sous-vide process during the week, but the actual cooking is done by my nanny then. Will a sous-vide+vacuum machine be worth it in terms of space, and to a lesser degree costs, in the light of my limited usage? How often do you use it? Is there a reason to use other equipment for single pieces of meat and vegetables once you are used to sous-vide? I guess you still use the oven for poultry and game, and stews and so on. Thanks in advance.
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I’ve had my sous-vide cooker for over 2.5 years, and I use it for almost all of my meat and fish preparations, which means most meals except on those days when we only have pasta or when I prepare meat or fish for which sous-vide does not make sense (for instance veal scaloppine (kalfsschnitzel) or baby sole (sliptong)).
I have hardly used my oven for meat or fish since I’ve had the sous-vide. I use the oven for baking (bread, cake), vegetables and things like pizza.
I think it’s definitely worth getting a sous-vide cooker, as it is very simple to use and your nanny can also use it (or you can put in beef that takes 2-3 days in the weekend and teach the nanny how to take it out of the sous-vide on Tuesday or Wednesday).
My advice would be to get an oven, but not to get a built-in steamer that is often sold in new kitchens in NL, as you won’t use the steamer if you have sous-vide. (I prefer roasted vegetables to steamed, but sous-vide is superior to steamed.)
Hope this helps — please let me know if you have any further questions.
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Stefan, I love the opening photo of your family and Clayton and Paul! And the picture of the sous-vide wagyu – WOW. Seriously mouthwatering; perfectly cooked (and we know it was tender!). What a neat project; thank you for sharing. Happy Wednesday… Shanna
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