Sous vide ribeye 2 hours vs 4 hours - did I wreck the texture?

I did two ribeyes last week from the same pack, one at 130F for 2 hours and the other for 4 hours. The 2 hour one came out like a perfect medium rare but the 4 hour one had almost a mushy, mealy feel to it. What's the sweet spot for beef tenderness before the enzymes go too far on you?

2 comments

2 Comments

brookep6213d ago

Wait, you actually got a mushy texture from 4 hours at 130F? That's wild because I've done ribeyes at that temp for way longer and never had that happen. The enzymes in beef usually don't go full-on mush mode until you push past like 6 or 8 hours at lower temps. Honestly though, 130F is on the low side so I'm kind of surprised the texture fell apart like that. Maybe you got a tougher piece of meat or the pack had some aging already done to it? For me the sweet spot for ribeye is around 2 to 3 hours tops, anything beyond that and you're really just breaking down all the good stuff that makes it a ribeye in the first place. The 2 hour one sounds like it was done right, so stick with that and don't overthink it.

mia_singh2413d ago

Oh man, but nobody's talking about whether the meat was cold from the fridge when it went in! I bet a cold start at 130 would mess with the texture way more than if it came up to temp slowly.