My wife and I have gotten into
sous vide cooking in the last year and we're into it in a big way. If you're not familiar with it, it's essentially a 1) slow cook method in 2) a vacuum bag placed in 3) a hot water bath.
It takes some learning, but the results are fantastic. Here's a porterhouse steak cooking at 135
oF (57
oC) for 8 hours.
[
I didn't want a $500 countertop appliance, so I use a temperature controller that controls the temp of my crock pot by switching the power. I was a backer for the
Codlo when they were on Kickstarter and I'm very happy with it. Because the temperature never gets above where you set it, you can dial in exactly how well you want your food cooked. You just have to be patient enough to let it cook all the way through. And here are the results:
Please note how the medium-rare is nearly edge-to-edge on the steak. There's no gradient from medium-well to medium-rare, and that continues no matter the thickness of the steak. I finish up my steaks by giving them a rub with seasoning and then a 30-second sear on each side. You can skip that part if you like, but you'll essentially be serving a mass of pink meat. It won't look like a steak to your guests.
Anyhow, it's worked for us really well. It makes cheap steak the texture of fillets, and fillets you can cut with a fork. Ribs, by the way, take 48 hours and the meat will fall off the bone with a gentle tug. It just takes patience and planning ahead.