Finishing sous vide roast

[pete6032]

I plan to sous vide a beef roast this weekend. I also have a gas grill. I was wondering if I could take the roast out of the sous vide when it is done and then throw it on the grill at very high heat to get some charring on the outside. What do you think, good idea or would I risk overcooking the meat?

@Kaido

 

[Icecold]

It should work fine. What I do is after the sous vide is done, put it in an ice water bath(while still vacuum sealed or in a Ziploc) to cool the temperature of the meat down. Open the package, get the roast very dry using paper towels, and then put it on a screaming hot cast iron pan or preheated grill. By cooling the roast first using the ice water bath, the internal temp is low so it won't overcook as easy. Just don't leave it on the grill very long just enough to get a decent sear.

 

[herm0016]

i cook to aprox 20 degrees below the done temp and then finish on high heat in the pellet grill or the propane on blowtorch.

 

[Icecold]

I guess it really depends on how you're cooking it, how you want it to come out and how done you want it. If you go under 131 it's not safe to cook it for several hours because bacteria can grow, so if you wanted something to come out medium rare and it was a thick roast you were cooking for a long time it wouldn't be safe to sous vide 20 degrees under the final temp.

 

[dullard]

I guess it really depends on how you're cooking it, how you want it to come out and how done you want it. If you go under 131 it's not safe to cook it for several hours because bacteria can grow, so if you wanted something to come out medium rare and it was a thick roast you were cooking for a long time it wouldn't be safe to sous vide 20 degrees under the final temp.

While you gave good advice, I like to be a bit riskier. Virtually all hazardous bacteria is on the surface of beef roasts, not in the core. Getting the surface up to proper temperature is all I personally care about. That said, I also occasionally eat raw beef, so take my comment with a grain of salt (raw beef needs the salt).

 

[Icecold]

While you gave good advice, I like to be a bit riskier. Virtually all hazardous bacteria is on the surface of beef roasts, not in the core. Getting the surface up to proper temperature is all I personally care about. That said, I also occasionally eat raw beef, so take my comment with a grain of salt (raw beef needs the salt).

I tend to agree with that as far as the surface. Throwing a steak on a hot grill for a minute on each side and eating it while the inside is raw would in theory be safe. I'm not sure that applies to sous vide though where you're keeping it right in the danger zone for potentially hours. I mean, doing it at something like 120 for an hour just to get it up to rare temp and then searing is probably safe. People commonly do chuck roasts and round roasts for 24+ hours though, and I really think it'd be playing with danger if you did that at something like 115 or 120 whether you sear it after or not though.

 

[Kaido]

I plan to sous vide a beef roast this weekend. I also have a gas grill. I was wondering if I could take the roast out of the sous vide when it is done and then throw it on the grill at very high heat to get some charring on the outside. What do you think, good idea or would I risk overcooking the meat?

@Kaido

Yup, no problem! I usually let it come down to room temp & then char it on the grill or smoker. It's called SVQ, great article on it here!

Sous-vide-que marries the grill, smoker and sous vide

Sous-Vide-Que combines the best of three great cooking methods: grilling, smoking, and sous vide. From grilling you get the rich flavors of browning. From smoking, you get the alluring aromas of wood smoke. And from sous vide, you get evenly cooked meat that is incredibly tender and juicy.

amazingribs.com