Sous Vide Cooking with Solaire Infrared Grills

Cooking via sous vide is a technique that has been around for hundreds of years, yet modern technology is bringing it into the home kitchen. Sous vide cooking offers unparalleled precision when cooking everything from steaks to chicken to ribs to vegetables. No more guesswork to guarantee a medium-rare temperature. No poking with a thermometer, no cutting and peeking, no jabbing with your finger—just perfect results every single time.

The technique is actually quite simple. You seal the ingredients in a plastic bag (you can also use a canning jar) and place them in a water bath, a combi oven, or any other cooker that can set and hold a target temperature to within a degree or two. The second phase is to sear the meat to develop color, flavor, and textural contrast on its surface, and to help render and soften its fat. The searing phase is key for getting that perfect crust on a steak or chop.

A great steak isn’t truly great without that beautiful brown sear. The flavorful, crispy skin gives the steak most of its flavor and can only be achieved at high temperature. Sous vide cooking by itself merely cooks the inside of the meat, so it requires a sear to achieve the excellent browned flavor.

Searing after cooking can be done on a traditional stove-top with a pan, under a broiler, a griddle, with a blowtorch or even deep frying. But the best way to do it is on an infrared grill.

Using a very hot grill, like the Solaire Infrared Grills to sear your sous vide cooked steaks, helps obtain those signature grill marks, while achieving a great flavor and an even cook. The whole goal of post-sous vide browning is to create the crust while heating the interior of the food as little as possible. A quick trip on a high temperature grill from Solaire is just the thing it needs.

The most important thing to do before searing is to thoroughly dry it off. Moisture that is on the surface of the food will prevent it from browning, increasing the cooking time needed, and potentially heating the food further. Pat it dry with paper towels or cloth towels, about 15 minutes before you sear it to allow the remaining moisture to evaporate and the meat to cool slightly.

To obtain a perfectly grilled sous vide steak, all you must do is brush some oil on the meat and place on the grill, leaving the lid open. Cook for 45 to 90 seconds per side, just until it browns and grill marks form. In just a few minutes, you’ll have a high-end meal worthy of America’s top steak restaurants.

If you haven’t given sous vide cooking a try, you must. All it requires is a water heater, and some plastic baggies or a vacuum sealer. Purchase those, turn on your Solaire infrared grill, and you’ll have a meal to impress even the harshest critic.

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