Sous Vide, Pommes Maxim, and Bordelaise

Today, we tried a new piece of equipment called a sous vide machine, which is a technique pioneered by Thomas Keller. Sous vide means "under pressure," and is a style of cooking in which food is submerged in water and pressure-cooked to a certain temperature. The food remains at that exact temperature unless it is removed or the temperature is adjusted. By this method, food can remain at medium-rare (approximately 145 degrees) for one hour or 5 hours and will never overcook.

A garnish for a dish with such a beautiful piece of meat as a 2" thick sirloin cut is a pommes maxim, a standing ring of thin, overlapping potatoes that is fried and baked.

We started making the pommes maxim by slicing regular Yukon gold potatoes on a mandoline and then punching out circles with a cookie cutter so they were all even.

 The rounds were blanched in salted water and then shocked in ice water, patted dry, and coated with corn starch. Then, we overlapped the rounds into the pinwheel shape you see below and placed in the fridge to chill.

After about 30 minutes, the pinwheels are inverted onto a pan with hot oil to fry on one side, flipped, and then placed in the oven for a few minutes to finish browning. You'll see the finished product down the blog.

Next, chef showed us how to prepare our meat for sous vide. He had already set the machine to 139.1 degrees. We peppered and salted the meat on each side.

 Next, we placed the meat into vacuum bags, bags in the vacuum sealer, and the air was sucked out.

Voila! Vacuum-beef.

 This machine would bring the meat up to 139.1 degrees and no higher. We would remove the bags after 45 minutes.

 Once removed from the pressure bath, the meat is seared on all sides in hot oil and then checked for doneness by inserting a thermometer into the SIDE of the meat. If you insert the tip into the top of the meat, you'll see a hole.

 Below, my finished plate:

Roast Sirloin of Beef with Pommes Maxim, Bordelaise Sauce, and Beet Garnish

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Bordelaise Sauce

1 oz clarified butter or margarine

2 TB shallots

8 oz red wine

1 sprig fresh thyme

1 whole dried bay leaf

3 oz demi-glace (reduced meat stock + tomato puree)

salt and pepper to taste

1 TB butter or margarine

Sweat the shallots in a hot pan with butter until transluscent.

Deglaze (pour) red wine into the hot pan. DO THIS OFF OF THE STOVE.

Add the demi-glace, bay leaf, and thyme. 

Reduce until the sauce coats the back of the spoon.

Remove from heat and swirl in up to 1 TB of butter or margarine.

Serve over (or under) steak, veal, lamb, chicken, or vegetables.

 
Enjoy!