Sous Vide Grass Fed Bottom Round Roast

Every time I make grass fed beef in my SousVide Supreme I expect the worst but secretly hope for something edible.  Okay, I’m exaggerating a little but I normally either pick too high of a cooking temperature or the soaking time is too long so the meat comes out too well-done and/or has a powdery texture.  Blech. Conversely, when  I cook grain-fed beef in my water bath, the results are pretty awesome.  Despite my shitty results with grass fed beef, I’m commited to experimenting,through trial and error, to figure out the best time/temp for each cut. 

Here’s my latest experiment:

A few days ago, I seasoned a bottom round roast I got from my CSA with Sagemary finishing salt, kosher salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder. 

I vacuumed sealed and dunked it in my SousVide Supreme (set at 130 F) for 12 hours.  I chose the temp from Serious Eats Sous Vide 101: Prime Steak Primer and the time from Cooking Sous Vide’s post on Sous Vide Sirloin Roast recipe.

After the roast had cooked for 12 hours, I transferred the packet to an ice bath and let it sit for an hour.  Then, I stored roast in the fridge until I was ready to serve it.  When I woke up today, I plopped the roast into my pre-heated SousVide Supreme which was set at 130F.  Per the machine’s instructions, you can reheat previously sous vided food by placing it in the bath for 30 minutes set at the final temperature you want to serve it at (e.g. 130 F in this case).  Once the reheating time was finished, I took out the roast and dried it off.

Then, I seared off all sides of the roast in some lard in my piping hot cast iron skillet.  I used a timer and seared each side undisturbed for a minute.

Here’s a picture of it all sliced up:

What’s the verdict?  I definitely like the doneness at 130F but the texture was still a little powdery.  I’m sure the undesirable texture was because it’s such a lean cut of beef and I need to decrease the cooking time the next time I cook this cut.  I appreciate the beefier taste of grass fed beef and understand that even when I perfect my sous vide technique, it won’t ever taste like grain-fed beef.

My father-in-law HATED this roast. How do I know? He literally SPAT out a piece of beef in front of me (while grimacing) and secretly tossed out half his serving.  This is a man who has lived through famine and war time and NEVER wastes food. I know he’s one picky mo-fo but that crap is bananas, yo!

Any sous vide tips for cooking grass fed beef?  Put ‘em in my comments, please!

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