When I got into the sous vide game (> 5 years ago now) it was pretty edgy ... it's not edgy anymore.
Buy an Anova and experiment w/ new shit:
http://anovaculinary.com/
That steak didn't have any of the old problems, but had two new problems in place of them ...
The juice of the meat remained completely intact last night - there was almost no juice in the vac bag ... so, between 10F lower temp, letting it come to room temp before sucking and dunking, and the salt routine, the problem of the meat expelling it's juice were solved.
The carbon steel skillet on the electric range was woefully inadequate ... I hadn't built the kamado, though ...
I should have put a load of lump in the chimney starter and seared it off on a lower grate on the chimney ... would have saved me from smoking out the house ...
So ...
Next one's going to be perfect, I think ...
I'll let the meat come up to temp for an hour, but not salt it nearly so heavily ...
I'll add a patty of butter back to the bag at seal time, because w/o that coating on the meat when you sear it, it sears more slowly and less well ...
I'll skip the pan searing w/ electric range - smoked out the house for no reason ... grill would be better ... hear you can get a bitchin' fire for searing in no time in the kamado, too ...
I'm close now.
That steak was good, but that gray band can be thinner yet, still.
I guess I need to read about whatever this umami or umani shit ...
I see people are making marinade using soy, bleu cheese, and Worcestershire or such ...
Anyone know all about this?