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Sliced porterhouse steak on a cutting board with a knife next to it

Sous Vide Butter Basted Porterhouse (From the Freezer)


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  • Author: Mike Vrobel
  • Total Time: 2 hours 5 minutes
  • Yield: 4 servings 1x

Description

Sous Vide Butter Basted Porterhouse (From the Freezer)

Inspired by: Jeffrey B. Rogers, Porterhouse Steak Using the Constant Flip/Hot Oil Method [youtube.com]


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 thick cut porterhouse steak (1 1/2 inches thick, about 2 pounds)
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons of butter

Instructions

Sous Vide the porterhouse: Sprinkle the porterhouse with the salt and pepper, put it in a large (gallon) vacuum pouch, and vacuum seal. (The vacuum sealed steak can be refrigerated for up to 3 days, or frozen for months.) Set the sous vide to 136°F/58°C for medium. (125°F/51.5°C for rare, 131°F/55°C for medium-rare, 141°F/60.5°C for medium well.) Drop the porterhouse in the sous vide water and cook for 1 1/2 hours to 6 hours. (Cook for at least 2 hours if the steak is frozen.)

Sear and butter baste the porterhouse: While the steak is cooking sous vide, preheat the pan over medium-high heat. (I preheated my cast iron pan in a 425°F oven for at least 20 minutes, then moved it to the stove top over medium-high heat.) Remove the porterhouse from the vacuum bag and pat dry with paper towels. Add the butter to the pan, and the moment it stops foaming, add the porterhouse. Sear the porterhouse, basting with butter, until it is well browned, about 1 minute a side. Remove to a cutting board, carve, and serve.

Notes

A thick cut porterhouse is a lot of beef. After carving it will serve at least two people, and up to four normal eaters. (Make sure everyone gets a few slices of both the tenderloin side and the beefy New York strip side.) I try to keep the bone for myself, but my wife usually steals it from me.

The bone in the porterhouse can result in uneven browning – one side of the steak has good contact with the pan, the other does not. Use the butter basting to even out the browning, concentrating the butter on the less browned parts of the steak.

No sous vide water bath? No vacuum sealer? Use Bubba sous vide: a beer cooler and regular zip-top bags. They’re fussier than a sous vide water bath and a vacuum sealer, but they do the job.

Tools

Sous vide setup (I use an Anova Precision Cooker)

Heavy skillet (I use a 12 inch Lodge cast iron skillet)

  • Prep Time: 5 minutes
  • Cook Time: 2 hours
  • Category: Weeknight Dinner
  • Method: Sous Vide
  • Cuisine: American