Cooking Bison Sous Vide
Nov 12, 2017
Cooking Bison Sous Vide
Jill O’Brien
We've received many questions about cooking bison using a sous vide. I initially resisted purchasing one due to their size, but a new wand sized sous vide recently came out and it works with any vessel that holds water. So, I bought one (Anova), but I admit I'm still learning how to use it...
If any of you have experience and would care to share your tips, please do so in the comment section below.
In looking for guidance myself, I found limited suggestions for roasts, and none that were grass-fed/finished. I guessed my way through “the what and how to do” based on what I was trying to achieve, which was a medium rare chuck roast.
Ingredients
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- 1 – 3-pound Wild Idea Chuck Roast, rinse and pat dry – leaving netting on
- 2 –tablespoon of olive oil
- 2 - sprigs of rosemary and thyme, destemmed and chopped
- 1 – teaspoon each garlic & onion powder
- 1 – teaspoon salt
- 2 – teaspoons black pepper
- 1 – re-sealable gallon bag
- 1 – pot water
- ½ -onion, cut into wedges
- ¼ - cup, wine, brandy or broth
Directions
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Set sous vide to 129 degrees and place in pot filled with hot water. Press the arrow to start. And allow water to heat. You will hear a beep when the temperature is achieved.
Mix 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and herbs together and rub over roast. Place roast in plastic bag, removing air and seal. *They suggest vacuum sealing – but I didn’t have one, and the bag worked fine.
Place the bag in the water and allow it to cook for 6 hours. *Total guess here.
Remove roast in the bag and place in a pan. Remove the roast from the bag and reserve juices. Remove the netting from the roast.
In a cast iron or heavy skillet, over medium to medium high heat, heat the oil. Place the sous vide roast in the hot pan and sear for four to five minutes before turning. Add the onion wedges to the pan shortly after the searing begins.
Turn the roast three times, searing for the same amount of time. Butt the ends up to the edge of the pan occasionally to brown those too.
Remove the roast and the onions from the pan and transfer to a platter and cover with foil. Let the roast rest for up to 10 minutes before slicing.
Deglaze the pan with wine or brandy and whisk in the reserved juices to incorporate. Thicken if desired.
Quickly whisk in the butter until smooth. Transfer the gravy to a bowl.
Slice the roast and pass with the gravy.
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15 comments
3 pound tip roast. Dry rub of garlic, S&P, rosemary, thyme, onion powder.
Overnight in fridge.
Pre seared in hot pan in ghee & grapeseed oil. Vacuum sealed 133 degrees for 17 hours. Perfect medium rare. Absolutely delicious. Used my Joule.
Randy, I had the same issue with the tri tip, I’ve started and had better luck searing before the sous vide… My family actually prefers when I slice it very thin with an electric knife and throw it back in the sous vide with Ajus to keep it at serving temp. Then serve on a yeast roll with cheese and horseradish.
We received the roast in a monthly order, and I was SO excited to see that you chose to Sous vide, as that’s how we end up cooking most of our bison steaks. We love how it cooks it to the perfect temperature and color, even for the thickest steaks. We followed your suggestion and cooked for 12 hours (but actually ended up keeping it in for about 16 in order to align with dinner time) at 130 degrees. PERFECTION. Juicy, flavorful, and so easy. We also have the Anova, and it’s been one of our favorite kitchen tools.
I did a 1 1/2 lb bison tri tip that had a dry rub. 7 hrs. @ 130 degrees. Came out perfect med. rare
but was somewhat dry? Any suggestions?
This is a really helpful thread – I was on the fence about buying bison as I have never cooked it before and wondered about sous vide then flash grilling steaks. A recipe post on steak cooking times/ideas would be uber helpful, but for the interim, Laura’s post from Jan 2018 above is helpful. Something on optimal internal temp considering finishing (either high heat pan fry or grilling) would be even better.
I don’t like meats to lose their texture. As tender as your bison is, I go to the temperature I want the item to reach and use the shorter cooking time recommended for the same cut of beef. I like Amazing Food Made Easy cooking ruler, as well as the cookbook. If you haven’t used the ruler you can see instructions at AFMEasy.com/SVThick. They have made my sous vide life much easier. BTW – They’re not paying me!
A couple of comments here after reading the others again…
collagen and connective tissue starts to dissolve as you approach 155º+.
Cooking at say, 120º won’t do much, and as much as I can remember at this moment, stretching out your cook time to say, 3 days, wouldn’t do any more because it’s still at 120º. That’s the point of sous vide. You maintain a certain temperature and the food will remain static.
I think too that you still want to let the meat rest because what that does is allow the juices to flow back into the tissue, so you don’t lose it all on the cutting board.
I did come across this site which might be helpful: http://www.scienceofcooking.com/meat/slow_cooking1.htm
I’ll also state that I could be totally wrong about all of this. ;-)
I forgot about the time issue so I have the feeling this bison roast won’t be ready in 3.5 hours, and I don’t remember the weight (packaging is gone). I’m doing it at 133º with the Anova wand. I may have to go quick and cheap and just serve ravioli instead.