Big thick juicy meaty steak or a skinny steak?
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How do you like your red meat? Do you like it big, thick, juicy, and beefy? Would you prefer your meat to be skinny, easy on the tooth, and easy on your wallet?
Up until last week, I’d say that I wanted my meat to be big, thick, juicy, and tender. Then something changed. I was shopping for groceries in Coles and found these packets of easy to cook steaks which are relatively thin, no more than 10 mm (0.4 inches) thick.
I’ve started this thing where I cook three lots of meat on a Saturday afternoon in my sous vide water bath. Last week, I cooked beef, pork, and chicken. I have to cook them separately because each species gets cooked at a different temperature and duration.
On Sunday evening I pulled the vacuum bag of steak out of the refrigerator and seared it in a hot frypan. I served it on mashed potatoes and with some avocado. I was so surprised how good a thin steak tasted and felt in my mouth.
Take a look at this steak, it looks great. It tasted great. I don’t think I need to buy thick cuts of steak anymore. This thinner cut was great and it was cheaper too.
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I bought all the ingredients from Coles. No, Yummy Lummy is not sponsored by anyone.Recipe
- Scotch rib fillet steak thin cut
- Iodised salt
- Garlic
- Packet Microwave radiation jasmine rice
- Packet Gravox Hollandaise
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Remove the steak from the plastic packaging and place the steak onto a plate.
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Add iodised salt to both sides of the steak and rub it in with your hands.
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Add a couple of cloves of garlic to the bottom of a vacuum bag and then insert the seasoned steak into the bag.
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Seal the bag with a vacuum sealer.
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Heat the water bath to 55 °C (131 °F) and cook the steak for one hour (60 minutes).
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Remove the bag of steak from the water bath and remove the meat from the bag.
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Dry the surfaces of the meat with some kitchen towel.
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Massage some vegetable oil on your meat with your hands. Make sure you don’t use too much oil. You just want your meat to feel a little oily in your hands. Not too slippery.
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Put your meat onto a plate and refrigerate it for 10 minutes.
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In a searing hot dry, non-stick fry pan sear the steak on both sides.
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The point of not having your meat too oily and slippery is to reduce the amount of oil splatter. I don’t know about you, but I find mopping floors tedious. What’s worse, because I rent a one bedroom flat, the kitchenette is part of the living area so there is always a risk that oil splattered from the frypan will land on the carpet. The last thing you want is to slip on slippery oily carpet and go arse over tit. I’m not sure if arse over tit is a term used outside of Australia. Please let me know. Please also note, in Australia we say arse and not ass because we’re referring to our buttocks and not to a donkey. I assume we all know what tit means.
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The other advantage of only a smear of oil on your meat is you don’t want to create too much smoke in your searing hot frypan. The fire regulations in the Australian Capital Territory require the installation of smoke detectors which are very sensitive. Now, not for one moment am I complaining about smoke detectors. Smoke detectors save lives. They really do, so long as the batteries are working and the unit is checked annually and maintained properly.
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Once you have your meat the colour you like it, remove it from the frypan and place it on a plate to rest for a bit. I mean, it’s been through a bit and it needs to have a rest.
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When you’re ready to plate up, take a sharp knife and cut your meat into thin slices. I use my Dick (brand) butchers knife because it feels so good in my hand and cuts my meat like a histopathologist’s blade cutting through a piece of tissue. By tissue, I don’t mean paper for blowing your nose or wiping your arse (see above), I mean a body part or a lump of meat cut from a body for pathological examination.
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Make a small tear in the packet of Coles brand Jasmine rice.
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Expose the packet of jasmine rice to high power microwave radiation for 90 seconds (one and a half minutes).
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Leave the rice rest for 60 seconds (one minute).
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Shake the plastic bag and cut off a corner.
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Expose the bag to high power microwave radiation for 40 seconds.
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I don’t know about you but I like a creamy sauce on my meat.
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This is a small meal so you only need a small plate.
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I use a small bread plate and I use a white Corelle plates because Corelle is relatively cheap, it is break and chip resistant, and Corelle is easy to clean. I use white so the food contrasts with the plate, although, white rice hardly contrasts does it. Oh well, I couldn’t be bothered buying a heap of different coloured crockery.
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Empty the packet of cooked rice onto the plate. If you feel inclined, get a spoon and smooth the surface. If you’re not inclined, don’t bother.
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With long forceps, if you’re into cooking wankery delicately place each slice of meat on the rice. If you’re not a wanky cook, use your fingers (after you’ve washed them of course).
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Again, if you’re a wanky cook, use a soup spoon or a small ladle to pour sauce over your meat. If you’re not a wanker, pour the gravy from the bag.
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Shoot a photograph.
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Eat the meal.
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Wash the dishes (hint, wash as you cook, it makes life easier).
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Write the recipe.
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Write the blog post.
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Hit publish and hope this blog post gets shared on Twitter, Facebook, and Pinterest.
Disclaimer
I have no culinary training nor qualifications. This post is not intended to convey any health or medical advice. If you have any health concerns about anything you read, please contact your registered medical practitioner. The quantities are indicative. Feel free to vary the quantities to suit your taste. I deliberately do not calculate energy for dishes. I deliberately default to 500 Calories or 500,000 calories because I do not make these calculations.
Photographs
This is a gallery of photographs. Click on one image and then scroll through the photographs.
Australian beef. Coles quick cook scotch fillet steak. 
Iodised salt seasoned scotch fillet steak and garlic 
Gravox Hollandaise sauce and Coles jasmine rice 
Sous vide scotch fillet steak on jasmine rice with avocado dressed with Hollandaise sauce. The steak was cooked for 1 hour at 55 °C (131 °F) #yummylummy #foodphotography #foldio #hypop #sousvide #aussiefarms #steak
Questions and answers
Surely a 5 cm (2 inch) block of steak cooked sous vide to medium rare would be better?
Hey, I wouldn’t complain about a big thick juicy steak cooked perfectly, however, such lumps of meat don’t come cheap, and it really is a lot of red meat. In the spirit of portion control, I think the thinner cuts are my future.
In addition, a thinner cut cooks in the sous vide water bath in an hour. That’s a pretty quick cook.
What’s with the rice?
One of my favourite cooking YouTube channels is Sous Vide Everything. The hosts often serve steaks with jasmine rice. I thought I’d give it a go.
The steak tasted really nice with the jasmine rice. I’m converted.
Hollandaise? Why not gravy?
Gravy is nice, but I was wanting something a little creamy with my steak.
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Final thoughts
- What’s your preference? Big thick juicy and beefy or a skinny cut?
No I’m not referring to jeans. - Have you ever had rice with steak?
- Do you prefer gravy or a creamy sauce with your steak?
- Arse or ass?
- Do you make sure your smoke detector is maintained?
I don’t care so much about the thickness of a steak. I just want it cooked perfectly! And I’m a medium rare gal all the way. Yours looks perfect.
Thank you. I find sous vide steak to be the most consistent and trouble-free method. I love the quality of the steak I can eat.
Mmm that delicious pink centre! They don’t look too thin. I thought you meant the kind that is usually served in a steak sandwich.
Oh, those minute steaks. No, I reckon unless they are for a steak sandwich, they are too thin for me 😃
I think that with your method, I’d be fine with a skinny steak, too. I’ve never had steak with rice, but I’ve had many beef dishes that have rice, and they’re just fine, so … why not? It’s hard to make gravy when you’re making steak, so if I’m going to add a condiment, a sauce is usually where I go. Ass, for sure. My smoke detector always reminds me that it needs a new battery at 3 AM. Why is it always 3 AM?
Yea, exactly, why 3 am in winter when I don’t want to get out of bed 😃
I really like the thinner variety. I went to a restaurant for lunch with my mother one day and I typically don’t order the special or the salads for lunch, but there was a salad special that sounded delicious and it featured thinly cut rare steak with a creamy and slightly spicy red pepper sauce. It was amazing!! I will never underestimate a thinner cut of meat again!
Thinly sliced steak with is trendy, juicy, and moist, tastes amazing in a salad. I may do that tonight.
I made this steaks for my husband. He love it, its full of flavor and rich in taste.
Ideally rib eye an inch thick is my preference. Seared and rested.
Resting is so important. I wish I knew this when I first started cooking.
Well, thick is in. It’s always in, I like thick and I prefer thick cuts of steak 😀 That said, I like slicing up my meats as thin as possibe in the kitchen because as you mentioned, it cooks faster. And buying thinner cuts is cheaper. I’ve seen these Coles steaks floating around, and lovely to hear they taste great.
Also great sauce presentation 😀
‘arse over tit’. Been a while since I heard that phrase. I also say ‘arse’ over ‘ass’ most of the time 😝
Thanks, Mabel. This was such an easy meal and it tasted great. I really liked the rice with the steak.
Most of the time when I say arse it’s followed by hole 😂
Easy to cook meals are the best. Better if they taste good.
I don’t mind saying just arse by itself lol. Gets to the point when it needs to be used 😂
I wonder how many times this week I’ll use the word arse 😂
You might wake up to a cool morning one day later this week, and say ‘arse arse arse…etc…’ at the weather when you wake up 😂
Oh I have other special weather words Mabel 😂
Arse, for sure! I prefer creamy sauces with steak – perhaps even the sauce to the steak?
A good sauce is a good sauce and a good steak can make it taste better 😃