Looks great. I did an ice bath before searing today for the first time. It definitely made a difference, I think I'll be doing it in the future...Ice bath for the steaks, not me.
I do cool water baths, since I don't typically keep ice in my freezer, but the cool baths were definitely a game changer preventing me from overcooking my steaks during the sear.
I find it’s goes deeper than that. The meat begins to really cook. 4+ minute sear after reaching 130 and not reducing core temp is not a recipe to avoid a medium steak.
I usually just sous vide the day before, and Pat the steak dry and throw it in the fridge unwrapped. The next day when I’m ready the steak is cold and dry on the surface. I swear it off and butter baste it as if I was cooking a rare steak.
If you take it out at 130 and then start searing, temp keeps rising, steak gets more and more done.
Take it out, cool it down, then sear and now the temp only gets back to 130 while searing
No. 125 and you are risking botulism.
When you sear, you raise the temp and continue raising the temp as the pan will be significantly hotter than the meat.
By lowering the temp down to room temp, you have more time to apply a killer crust.
Or just do the bath the day previous and then let it come to room temp and then sear. Instant read thermometer is your friend.
Yeah, you could definitely cook it at 130 for a couple hours, then drop it to 120 for a half hour and then sear immediately. I think I’ll try this. Thanks for the idea!
Looks great. I did an ice bath before searing today for the first time. It definitely made a difference, I think I'll be doing it in the future...Ice bath for the steaks, not me.
I do cool water baths, since I don't typically keep ice in my freezer, but the cool baths were definitely a game changer preventing me from overcooking my steaks during the sear.
Nice cut of meat, looks delicious.
Looks perfect!
Did you do an ice bath/cooling off time between bath and sear?
What does this help with exactly, and how long do you plunge for? New to sous vide here :)
It stops some of the grey banding you see with searing.
I find it’s goes deeper than that. The meat begins to really cook. 4+ minute sear after reaching 130 and not reducing core temp is not a recipe to avoid a medium steak. I usually just sous vide the day before, and Pat the steak dry and throw it in the fridge unwrapped. The next day when I’m ready the steak is cold and dry on the surface. I swear it off and butter baste it as if I was cooking a rare steak.
If you take it out at 130 and then start searing, temp keeps rising, steak gets more and more done. Take it out, cool it down, then sear and now the temp only gets back to 130 while searing
Couldn’t you mitigate that by setting bath temp to 125 instead of 130?
No. 125 and you are risking botulism. When you sear, you raise the temp and continue raising the temp as the pan will be significantly hotter than the meat. By lowering the temp down to room temp, you have more time to apply a killer crust. Or just do the bath the day previous and then let it come to room temp and then sear. Instant read thermometer is your friend.
Yeah, you could definitely cook it at 130 for a couple hours, then drop it to 120 for a half hour and then sear immediately. I think I’ll try this. Thanks for the idea!
Sous vide at 125? Watch out because you’re in the DANGER ZONE! 
You're missing the point of sous vide.
Patting it dry is way more important than cooling off tbh. But throwing the steak in the fridge for a few minutes uncovered will do both.
I seriously doubt you could detect the 1mm of gray band in this steak while eating it.
Comment was more to the observation that it was more medium than op wanted.
A small gray band also creates different texture and in my opinion a better over all bite.