Steak Cooked via Sous Vide

So Alex thought it would be amusing to build me a Sous Vide controller with Doug as a Christmas present. This photo is the inside view with the cover off - normally you just see the outlet and the on/off switch on top. The red digits show the measured temperature, the green digits show the measred temperature. The controller will turn off power to the power outlet after you hit the measured temperature.

Ingredients:

• Steak (we used beef top loin @ $6.99/pound from Costco)
• Salt
• Pepper
• 1/4 pound mushrooms, sliced
• 1 yellow onion, sliced thin
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter

Instructions:

1. Obtain a sous vide controller.


2. Drill out a hole the size of the thermocouple in your old crock pot cover.


3. Fill the crockpot about 1/2 full with warm water, turn on crockpot to high. Plug your crockpot into the sous vide controller.


4. Dry your steaks thoroughly by blotting with paper towels. (We bought 5 steaks of ~ 1 pound. We probably should have started with a smaller amount.)


5. Generously apply salt and pepper to both sides and the edges.


6. Place the steaks in a vacuum bag, or a gallon zip lock back. Remove all the air you can (we used a straw to help suck out the air) and seal bag(s).
   
   


7. Place bags of steak in the water bath in the crockpot. The steak should sink, position the bag tops above the water level.


8. Use a spare exercise weight to provide spacing so that you can insert the thermocouple.
   
   


9. Insert thermocouple into water bath (through crockpot lid as needed)
   
   
    
10. Cover water bath with insulation as needed.
    
    


11. Set the sous vide controller to the desired temperature. (We were aiming for 45 minutes at 120 - 129 degrees based on the Tenderloin Temps and Times from the Food Lab. We did NOT count the time to bring the water bath back up to 130 degrees after loading in 5 pounds of cold steak.) 


12. Let the controller stabilize the water temperature, cook for desired time.
    
    
13. About 15 minutes before planned finish time, start a chimney of charcoal in your outside grill.


14. Heat oil and butter in sauce pan. Saute the mushrooms and onions for about 5 - 7 minutes, adding salt, pepper, and a few shakes of garlic powder (based on your tastes.)


15. Remove steaks from bag(s)m dry again with paper towels.


16. Lightly grill both sides of steak, and edges of steak about 15 seconds per side all around steak.
    
    


17. As needed, cut a larger steak into smaller pieces to share.
    
    


18. Plate and server with sauted mushrooms and onions and other sides as desired.
    
    

Carole's Notes:

I was mostly following the steps here: http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/06/food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-steak.html
This made a evenly rare to medium rare steak. The quick sear on the charcoal grill added to the taste.
Lessons learned - for a prototype device, start with a smaller ratio of food to water bath. It turned out fine - but it was the planned dinner for 5.
The controller used this kit: http://www.amazon.com/Display-Auto-tuning-Temperature-Controller-TA4-RNR/dp/B007JWIDCE/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1451190304&sr=8-1&keywords=temperature%20pid