Sous-Vide and Jaccarding (Mechanical Tenderization)
It's not an experiment in my opinion. I'm only repeating what has already been discussed and proven to be true. Someone else's truth might not be mine, so I adhere to the adage Trust, But Verify (Ronald Reagan). However, alas I love conducting experiments and documenting all my findings. Like I've said before this is a glorified diary that edifies what I love to do. Hopefully, I will be able to collate all that pertains to Jaccard and Sous-Vide cooking.
Another great read- Penetrating the Protein Matrix “Blue Pill or Red Pill”
I'm not new to tenderizing meat with a Jaccard. Since I've been SV'ing, I haven't found a need to use one. Ahh, that may change after this post. I have the original white Jaccard above, and although it's a reliable tool, it's a pain in the ass to clean and sanitize. You have to take it entirely apart. I've been dismantling and using my dishwasher of course. Before use, I would toss in boiling water for a minute. Just in case…. you know I am trying to be cautious. Anyhow, I just bought this new one yesterday and will be using it for these experiments. From what I have read it's much easier to clean and sanitize. Don't kid yourselves but most restaurants use them too. Yes, even the fancier ones too. Why do they use them? After reading this post, you will understand. I won't quote the author, but he asserts that virtually all restaurants use this method. The author also suggests the meat most likely comes from the meat packer that supplies the restaurants already Jaccarded.Topics to discuss and ponder
- The Jaccard What it is and what does it do?
- How to Clean and Sanitize
- What are the upsides and the downsides of using this device?
- Are there legitimate health concerns with the use of this device?
- How can you use and minimize health concerns
- What are the risks?
- Is it good or bad to use with Sous-Vide cooking?
- Should everyone be using this tool?
- Let's run some experiments with different cuts.
So what exactly is a Jaccard and what do you use it for? Well, it's a mechanical tenderizer that uses sharp blades (I have the 48 blade version) to pierce the protein into the center slicing through the internal connective tissues. So this allows for a much more tender protein and because the muscle fibers were severed the tendency to shrink and squeeze out more juices is reduced. How much is to be determined. Of course, there are many variables that I have to consider. What cut? Weight? And of course variances in the fat and connective tissue contend that I cannot control. They have huge ones at Costco, and you can see them using them through the window. So to recap why I am writing this up. Does it tenderize? Yea I am sure it does. Duh, you're severing the muscle fibers. And their claim to fame is the overall reduction to moisture loss during cooking. Again the thought is the cutting of the muscle fibers prevents the muscles from tightening during cooking thus not squeezing out moisture. And the other claim to fame is the protein cooks faster. That might be a little more challenging to test. And for this experiment, I will focus on choice-meat only and avoid the already tender meat know as Prime.
When you use a Jaccard, it could be a hassle to clean especially the white one. The white one needed to be dissembled with several screws and washed thoroughly (A complete pain in the ASS). I would place mine in the dishwasher to ensure cleaning and hoping that every nook and cranny got cleaned. After assembly and before use I would dip in boiling water. I just purchased the Black one in the pic above, and it's fantastic. Comes apart in three pieces and is easy to put back together. Because of the design placing in the dishwasher is sufficient to clean. Before use, though I still inspect and give it a quick dip in water heated above 180 f. You can never be too cautious with food. This is the one restaurants use. Yes, even fancy restaurants use them, but you can't tell of course.
What are the upsides and downsides of using this tool? Thus far I can only think of one downside, and that has to be health concerns. I'll get to that in a moment. So textually you won't know the difference because the wholes close up during the cooking process.
Health Concerns- Jaccarding in principle poses a legitimate health concern because you are piercing the meat. This could introduce pathogens to the interior of the meat. The health concerns are real. What to do? Personally, I don't buy from retailers that mechanically tenderize their meat unless I know I will be pasteurizing during the cooking process…..aka Sous-Vide.
What are the upsides and downsides of using this tool? Thus far I can only think of one downside, and that has to be health concerns. I'll get to that in a moment. So textually you won't know the difference because the wholes close up during the cooking process.
Health Concerns- Jaccarding in principle poses a legitimate health concern because you are piercing the meat. This could introduce pathogens to the interior of the meat. The health concerns are real. What to do? Personally, I don't buy from retailers that mechanically tenderize their meat unless I know I will be pasteurizing during the cooking process…..aka Sous-Vide.
- I'm not a scientist but do pathogens really have time to grow in this short of time?
- If you eat a rare burger Jaccarding (Mechanical Tenderization) a piece of meat should be of no concern? Or should it be?
- Sous-Vide to pasteurize is always an option
- Partially freeze meat, give a quick pre-sear than Jaccard. This will eliminate all surface pathogens
- Place protein in the bag and give it a dip in boiling water
- Partially freeze meat then torch using a Searzall to decontaminate the surface
- Steam baths? My Fav...
- Lactic Acid wash?
- Blanching at 168℉ for one sec
- Red-wine Oregano combo will decontaminate too (see Study)
- Take the risk and call it a day
Great Stuff to read!!!!
FIRST…Shoulder Petite-Tender
First up is the Shoulder Petite Tender. Before tenderizing the protein with the Jaccard, I will reduce the risk of pathogens using two methods. Before disinfecting place protein in the freezer for 45 minutes which will mitigate any potential of overcooking. I've chosen pre-sear and Searzall (Torching) as a pretreatment. I've made this many times, so I have expectations. I first coated the protein with 1% Fish Salt to Dry-Brine. Yes, I am going to Faux Age this steak. Anyhow it sat in the refrigerator for 72 hours. The steak that was Jaccarded was first coated with fish salt than pierced evenly on both sides. After the long haul in the fridge, I used a technique called Low Temp (LT) 2 Stage Sous-Vide Cooking (aka Warm-Aging). They were cooked at 113 ℉ for 2 hours then finished at 128 ℉ at 2.5 hours.
These are the results. As you can see #2 which was Jaccarded had the most overall moisture loss. Before I go on let me be the first to tell you I am a bit perplexed (not really). Everything I have ever come across says that (Mechanically treated ) Jaccarded meat should have had the least amount of moisture loss.
What could have happened? All the reading I have come across used a traditional cooking technique so that could be one of the mitigating factors. Think about what I just said. "Cooked traditionally." What that means to me is they did not SV the protein. So if what they say is true about Jaccarded meat in that it cooks faster my Sous-Vide model experiment was wrong from the get-go.
Secondly, the steaks were not exact replicas. Each piece had different amounts of fat and connective tissue content. And lastly, I think the biggie was time. This is based on my experience. Let me explain. When I cook Tri-Tips and Warm-Age them (Cooked at 113 f for 3 hours), I can get the same results at 7 hours that I would get at 12 hours. Note that the one cooked at 7 hours loses less moisture.
Stay with me…. ok so the other claim to fame is tenderization and that the protein cooks faster. So my cooking model for this experimentation was flawed from the beginning.
So let's review what I did and examine what I could do better. First, let me say that both steaks were excellent!!! We ate them all. Clearly, steak # 2 was the most tender. And even though the Jaccarded steak lost the most moisture, it was the best steak.
Ok, let's think about what I could have done better. Cooking Sous-Vide forces you to think about cooking and experimentation completely differently.
Note: I am writing this post over a few weeks, and these revelations are coming to me over that period. And as some of you know this is my food diary. Sorry to digress.
This is what I should do. Both steaks should be treated with 1% fish salt so that will not change. Yes, both steaks will be Warm-Aged (Low Temp 2 stage SV Cooking {LT2SC}. Since the Jaccarded steak cooks faster I should have cooked Steak #1 a little longer to achieve the same results as the Jaccarded steak. Cooking the Non-Jaccarded Steak took longer to produce the same results as the Jaccarded would have resulted in greater moisture loss. So what will do differently on the next batch of steaks? Read below.
Note-My preference is to use the SearZall to decontaminate the surface. The SearZall does it fast, and I can get the sides with ease.
What could have happened? All the reading I have come across used a traditional cooking technique so that could be one of the mitigating factors. Think about what I just said. "Cooked traditionally." What that means to me is they did not SV the protein. So if what they say is true about Jaccarded meat in that it cooks faster my Sous-Vide model experiment was wrong from the get-go.
Secondly, the steaks were not exact replicas. Each piece had different amounts of fat and connective tissue content. And lastly, I think the biggie was time. This is based on my experience. Let me explain. When I cook Tri-Tips and Warm-Age them (Cooked at 113 f for 3 hours), I can get the same results at 7 hours that I would get at 12 hours. Note that the one cooked at 7 hours loses less moisture.
Stay with me…. ok so the other claim to fame is tenderization and that the protein cooks faster. So my cooking model for this experimentation was flawed from the beginning.
So let's review what I did and examine what I could do better. First, let me say that both steaks were excellent!!! We ate them all. Clearly, steak # 2 was the most tender. And even though the Jaccarded steak lost the most moisture, it was the best steak.
Ok, let's think about what I could have done better. Cooking Sous-Vide forces you to think about cooking and experimentation completely differently.
Note: I am writing this post over a few weeks, and these revelations are coming to me over that period. And as some of you know this is my food diary. Sorry to digress.
This is what I should do. Both steaks should be treated with 1% fish salt so that will not change. Yes, both steaks will be Warm-Aged (Low Temp 2 stage SV Cooking {LT2SC}. Since the Jaccarded steak cooks faster I should have cooked Steak #1 a little longer to achieve the same results as the Jaccarded steak. Cooking the Non-Jaccarded Steak took longer to produce the same results as the Jaccarded would have resulted in greater moisture loss. So what will do differently on the next batch of steaks? Read below.
Note-My preference is to use the SearZall to decontaminate the surface. The SearZall does it fast, and I can get the sides with ease.
Second up…Rib-Eyes
Next up is the Ribeye. At this price, I couldn't resist. And more importantly, they were graded Choice and not Prime. Prime steaks are already tender so this would not fit my model or experiment guidelines. They were on sale, and I found 3 of them that were similar in size and weight. They were within 24 grams of each other which is less than an ounce.
So this time I will be doing something different. I will decontaminate the surface of the meat with a torch. I will use the Searzall. Other than nachos this is another excellent use for the gadget. The first thing I did was place meat on a wire rack and place in the freezer for 45 minutes. After the short stay in the fridge, I passed the torch over the surface of the meat several times including the sides to kill all surface pathogens.
All the steaks were treated with 1% Fish Salt (72 hours dry-brine), and the bags are labeled with weight and a J to indicted Jaccarded. After the treatment of the Fish Salt, two of the steaks were mechanically tenderized. The plan of action will be as follows. All 3 steaks will be LT2SC @ 113℉ for 2 hours. The Ribeyes will be cooked at 133℉ for X amount of time. The Non-Jaccarded Steak #1 (721 grams) steak will be SV for 4 hours, Steak #2 (736 grams) will be cooked for 3 hours, and Steak #3 (712.5 grams) will cook for 2 hours. My guess and it's only a guess is the Jaccarded steaks cooked for a shorter time will achieve the same tenderness as the Non-Jaccarded steak but with less moisture loss.
These steaks are thick and had to be rethermed before the sear. Don't forget this is not only an experiment but the family's dinner too. Not sure if I mentioned this to you before but when the protein is pretty thick I retherm in the Sv bath. I usually choose a temp a few degrees below the finishing temp too. Anyhow out of the bag they come, the purge is saved for a sauce and dried thoroughly with a paper towel. To ensure a dry surface for the sear and if the timing is right, I will set protein on the wired rack with a small fan blowing across the surface. After they are completely dry, I weighed them and recorded the results. The surface was coated with mayo and black pepper only. Seared at 700℉ for a few minutes until I was happy.
As you can see from the chart, I did not include or record the Post-Sear weight. Here are my thoughts. Raw and Post-Sous-Vide weights are pretty spot on but how the meat gets treated before the sear and during the sear could alter the numbers so with that I excluded those numbers.
Before I give you the results let me first say all three steaks were delicious. Drum roll, please….. Here are the results. We had four tasters. Steak 1-J- was the most tender, and most flavorful. The flavor shouldn't have been an issue because they were all treated the same. I didn't want to lead the tasters, but when they say most flavorful, they probably meant moist which accentuated the flavors. I agree BTW because it was moist, tender, and delicious.
Steak 2-J- It was very tender too, but some of the flavors were carried away with the moisture loss. Still damn good though. It was undeniable that the moisture levels were way less than steak 1-J.
Steak 3-HJ- Moisture levels were the same as steak 2-J. Very dense compared to steak 1-J. There was a 2.11% difference in moisture levels when compared to steak 1-J. I would have had to Sous-Vide steak 3-NJ for another 3-5 hours to achieve the same tenderness as steak 1-J which in turn would have dried out the steak considerably. I am of course speculating about the increased cooking time to make the same tenderness of steak 1-J the resulting moisture loss would have been around 15% or more.
What did we learn? The Jaccarded steak was the clear winner. What did we achieve with the Jaccarded steak? We were able to SV with less time, get meat that was nicely tenderized without the loss of excessive moisture loss.
Third up…Tri-Tips
Gotta go with Tri-Tip. I love this cut!! I make it often and just love how it comes out. I went to Costco and purchased a Prime Cryo sealed which means it slightly cheaper and it has not been mechanically tenderized.
Due to the long-cooking-time, there was no need to pre-sear to kill the surface bacteria. I decided to weigh them after the Sear too. However, I weighed out the surface treatments for all three Tri-Tips to make sure the results would be fair and accurate. Since this was a lot of meat and they were thicker than steaks I re-themed in my SV a few degrees below my 133 f(130f) for two hours. Seared on my Weber Genesis at 750 f.
Dang, check out these results. Not what I was expecting. I’ll get to my analysis in a bit. Let’s talk about steaks. Yea they were all great, and we ate them all. These opinions are from my tasters and me. We didn’t do any math when we tasted them, so my tasters and I had no idea what to expect. I am the only one who knew which steak was which.
Review- Steak 2-J was more tender than Steak 1-J. Who knew that 2.5 hours could make such a difference. Steak 3-NJ which was not jaccarded was just as tender if not just a little bit more than steak 2-J. In fact, I would say that Steak 3-NJ was better than all of them. Steak 3-NJ was noticeably juicier too. Yes, the Non-Jaccarded steak was more tender and noticeably moister. Remember this review was done without doing any math calculations. What do I mean? No percentage loss calculations were done until after we tested all the beef and took our notes.
So with these results, one would think mechanically tenderizing meat and all its hubbub are conjecture. Hmmm no so fast. Like I said earlier unless you have pieces of proteins that are exact replicas meaning clones the results will vary. Don’t get me wrong; I still loved all the steaks, but the latest results were a surprise. The Ribeyes were a close match, so the results were somewhat predictable. All 3 Tri-Tips were slightly trimmed by me, and all 3 were different in size and shape which threw this whole experiment off. Tri-Tip 3-NJ which was the best had the most intramuscular fat which was very visible to me. Damn, it was so good too!!! Makes me want to eat more Tri-Tip too. So that intramuscular fat had a considerable role in the outcome. Steak 3-NJ was fatter and thicker than the rest of the Trim-Tips, so maybe that had an effect on the final product? I dunno but we ate all the Tri-Tips. Of course, I am speculating, but I have no doubt if 3-NJ were replaced with one of the other Tri-Tips the results would have been different.
Fourth up...New-York-Strips
As I walk through all these different cuts the New York strip had to be on the list. With the short cooking time, I had to pasteurize the surface with the Searzall. Of course, to mitigate overcooking, I partially froze them first.
Wow, an exciting development here. These steaks were ordinary Safeway steaks labeled Choice New York Strips. They were not huge steaks so this was a change for me because I love them bigly (LOL). Since they were not huge, I went with a 1.5-hour cook for the Jaccarded one and a 3-hour cook for the Non-Jaccard one. Let's talk quickly about the process before the review and analysis. Treated with 1% Fish Salt and Dry-Brined for 72 hours. Two-stage cooking (Warm-Aging) at 113 f for 90 min and finished as described above.
Did you notice the Post Sear Weight numbers? Wow.....not much of a difference. For the pre-sear, the steaks were treated with a combo of Mayo and Seasonings that weighed exactly 25 grams. So I can assume that a quick sear of 60 secs per side didn't have much of an impact on moisture loss except the loss of 25 grams. Not sure I could ever repeat this again. I should go out and buy a lottery ticket now.
The Jaccarded steak (90 min bath) was tender and moist. To be honest, I think it could have used another 45 minutes, but it was damn good though. I guess after eating as much meat as I do you get somewhat picky. The Non-Jaccarded steak was good too but apparently not as tender as the Jaccarded steak. The NJ steak (pure speculation) would have needed another 90 minutes to achieve the same tenderness of the Jaccarded steak which would have had resulted in additional moisture loss. So far I believe Jaccarding is worth doing under certain circumstances.
Fifth up... Flat-Iron Steaks
Finally, nearing the end of this experiment with all these cuts. One thing I am sure of is the fat content, and connective tissue plays a massive roll in moisture percentage calculations which is a variable that I cannot control. In the end, it's going to come down to convenience and taste which are as we know subjective. Due to the long cooking process, it was unnecessary heat-treat to pasteurize the steaks before jaccarding.
I'll provide a synopsis of what I did before I give you my review. Like the ones that proceeded the Flat-Iron all the steaks were treated with 1% Fish Salt, Vac-Sealed, and dry-brined for 72 hrs. Two Flat-Iron Steaks were used and were cut in half giving me 4 pieces to work with.
All steaks were cooked using a Low Temp 2 stage cooking process also know as Warm-Aging. All the steaks entered the bath at 113 ℉ and cooked for precisely 3 hours. At the 3 hour mark, I added boiling water to the cooking container to hasten the water temperature climb to the finishing temp of 133 ℉. From the chart which I will be referencing, you can see the times I used for each steak. Note: the Post SV percentages are included but are not really necessary. Each steak received the exact amount of pre-treatment before the sear (mayo and non-salt seasoning). All steaks seared 60 secs aside.
Analysis- Steak 3J was the best. It was tender and cooked to perfection. Those times & temps have always been SOP. It had the highest moisture retention of all the steaks. Obviously, 3-J was better than 2-J and who knew 1 hour could make a difference. Again the variable I could not control is the fat/connective tissue percentages. 2-J was better than 1-NJ & 4-NJ.
Drum roll please..... 3-J was apparently better than 1-NJ. Besides the moisture difference of 5%, 3-J was significantly more tender than 1-NJ. Now if I were to guess 1-NJ would have needed to cook another 3-4 hour to reach the tenderness of 3-J which would have resulted in a greater moisture loss. Based on the moisture difference and cook times between 1-NJ & 4-NJ I can speculate/extrapolate a moisture loss of 1% for every extra hour spent in the bath. For 1-NJ to achieve the tenderness of 3-J, it would have needed an additional 3-4 hours in the jacuzzi which would have brought the moisture loss closer to 9%. In the end, Jaccarding seemed to make a huge difference in overall tenderness and reduced moisture loss.
Sixth up Tri-Tips "Again!!!!"
Yup, that's right; I am repeating this experiment. I am doing it again for a few reasons. For one thing, I eat a lot of Tri-Tip. The results above were unexpected, so I needed a do-over. I won't go into all the details like I did earlier since I am repeating the experiment. My presupposition is and will remain that the connective tissue and fat percentage both intramuscular and intermuscular play a huge roll in the results. Unless you can clone a piece of meat that's not going to change. My experiment from the beginning is flawed and is not conclusive. However, it's a damn good place to start to reach certain opinions based on set parameters. I've read
Exhaustive amounts of opinions on this subject and to my knowledge, no one has gone to these lengths to test their views. I belong to many food groups on Facebook, and most people assert their opinions as fact, but I'll never do that. People go apeshit over stupid stuff too. I say put up or shut up. Although everything I am writing is an opinion at least, I am making an attempt to prove a hypothesis or possibly improve a method. Sometimes you just have to examine long-held beliefs and see if they're right. Here's a list of my experiments. One long-held view has been marinades and putting stuff in the Sous-Vide Vac bag is a great thing. I've written about that too (Clash of the Aphorist) among other things also. Ok, ok let's get to the Tri-Tips.
Results- Before I give you my opinion about how these Tri-Tips turned out I need to explain the chart above just a wee bit. Being specific and precise is my SOP. Therefore I included the weights of the Fish salt and what I do to prepare the steaks post SV. The percentages don't change as far as the end results, but I wanted to show you what it looked like in the chart.
First, let me tell you that both Tri-Tips were terrific!!! My guests and I ate them all up. The only way to give a fair and subjective opinion is to taste them side by side which we all did. Comparing them to each other was almost like splitting hairs.
The Tri-Tip that was Jaccarded was more tender and juicier than the Non-Jaccarded one. This is total conjecture but based on observation the intramuscular fat appeared very similar. After slicing them up, I took special care to notice fat deposits. The Tri-Tip experiment labeled the Third experiment is an excellent example of what fat can do to flavor, tenderness, and moisture percentages.
Now, this is just a guess, but I believe that the only way to match the tenderness of the Jaccarded version would have been to cook the NJ-Tri-Tip an additional 2-4 hours. Instead of having a 3% moisture difference you'd be looking at 6-7%. In the end, I contend that Jaccarding was worthwhile in this case.
As we approach the finish line, I am left with just one more thing to do. We have to try one more cooking technique. I think (yet to be tested) the most significant benefit to mechanically tenderizing meat is when you cook by conventional means aka not Sous-vided. These steaks will be grilled, but I will use the superior technique of reverse searing.
Not sure I have to explain what reverse searing is but I'll give you an overview. Traditionally cooked steaks are either grilled or pan-fried. One or two things are done to prepare the steak.. #1- Cook until the desired temp is reached. Frequently results in a large cooking gradient from the center being rosy pink to the out layers being overcooked to almost burnt. #2- A slight improvement over #1. The meat starts out in a very hot skillet or grill and gets a very hard sear.... finished in a cooler environment until finished. Results are similar as in #1 with a little less gradient depending on the cooks' experience. #3- Which is the best of these techniques is the reverse sear. Reverse sear is the close second to Sous-Vide cooking.
An immediate benefit would be flexibility which I will discuss in a second. A second one that goes unnoticed unless you are familiar with Low Temp two-stage cooking as described above aka Warm-Aging. By reverse searing, the protein remains in the temperature window (below 122 f ) longer which helps with the enzymes responsible for aging meat. If you were to cook at high temps which is the norm you would pass through 122 f quickly seizing all opportunities for improved tenderization.
How to reverse sear? Season the protein any way you want. I will use 1% fish Salt and dry-brine for 3 x days and add some other stuff on the day of cooking. Set in oven/BBQ at a temp at 160-200 f... the lower, the better which will give you better results, even cooking and less of a color gradient. Monitor the temp and when the steak comes within 8-12 degrees of your desired temp remove from heat source and place on a cold plate. Now it's time to sear. Hopefully, the steak had about 10 minutes or more to cool down a bit. Crank up your searing station (I will use my Weber Genesis at 750 F) and sear off. Boom DONE. What's the flexibility? It's about timing. If you wanted to you cooked initially cook your steak and sear much, later on, liken to Sous-Vide.
And for the final examination, I chose the New-York. These are choice cuts and not prime (duh) ones. Choosing choice steaks serves two purposes, maybe three. Keep things consistent with the other experiments, prime meat are already tender so it would be moot to use them, and finally, they are cheaper. I see no reason to use prime steaks for experiments unless of course, the test was about prime meat. With this next post, I'll provide a lot more detail..... it's the last one so why not.
I was fortunate to choose these steaks. They weigh the same amount. This will help with analysis and cooking.
Placed on cutting board and place in freezer for a bit too firm up. They were flipped several times to ensure even partial freezing. The surface will be decontaminated using the Searzall to kill all pathogens before mechanically tendering.
Place on a wire rack before you use the Searzall......
Next up is the Ribeye. At this price, I couldn't resist. And more importantly, they were graded Choice and not Prime. Prime steaks are already tender so this would not fit my model or experiment guidelines. They were on sale, and I found 3 of them that were similar in size and weight. They were within 24 grams of each other which is less than an ounce.
So this time I will be doing something different. I will decontaminate the surface of the meat with a torch. I will use the Searzall. Other than nachos this is another excellent use for the gadget. The first thing I did was place meat on a wire rack and place in the freezer for 45 minutes. After the short stay in the fridge, I passed the torch over the surface of the meat several times including the sides to kill all surface pathogens.
These steaks are thick and had to be rethermed before the sear. Don't forget this is not only an experiment but the family's dinner too. Not sure if I mentioned this to you before but when the protein is pretty thick I retherm in the Sv bath. I usually choose a temp a few degrees below the finishing temp too. Anyhow out of the bag they come, the purge is saved for a sauce and dried thoroughly with a paper towel. To ensure a dry surface for the sear and if the timing is right, I will set protein on the wired rack with a small fan blowing across the surface. After they are completely dry, I weighed them and recorded the results. The surface was coated with mayo and black pepper only. Seared at 700℉ for a few minutes until I was happy.
Before I give you the results let me first say all three steaks were delicious. Drum roll, please….. Here are the results. We had four tasters. Steak 1-J- was the most tender, and most flavorful. The flavor shouldn't have been an issue because they were all treated the same. I didn't want to lead the tasters, but when they say most flavorful, they probably meant moist which accentuated the flavors. I agree BTW because it was moist, tender, and delicious.
Steak 2-J- It was very tender too, but some of the flavors were carried away with the moisture loss. Still damn good though. It was undeniable that the moisture levels were way less than steak 1-J.
Steak 3-HJ- Moisture levels were the same as steak 2-J. Very dense compared to steak 1-J. There was a 2.11% difference in moisture levels when compared to steak 1-J. I would have had to Sous-Vide steak 3-NJ for another 3-5 hours to achieve the same tenderness as steak 1-J which in turn would have dried out the steak considerably. I am of course speculating about the increased cooking time to make the same tenderness of steak 1-J the resulting moisture loss would have been around 15% or more.
Third up…Tri-Tips
Gotta go with Tri-Tip. I love this cut!! I make it often and just love how it comes out. I went to Costco and purchased a Prime Cryo sealed which means it slightly cheaper and it has not been mechanically tenderized.
Due to the long-cooking-time, there was no need to pre-sear to kill the surface bacteria. I decided to weigh them after the Sear too. However, I weighed out the surface treatments for all three Tri-Tips to make sure the results would be fair and accurate. Since this was a lot of meat and they were thicker than steaks I re-themed in my SV a few degrees below my 133 f(130f) for two hours. Seared on my Weber Genesis at 750 f.
Dang, check out these results. Not what I was expecting. I’ll get to my analysis in a bit. Let’s talk about steaks. Yea they were all great, and we ate them all. These opinions are from my tasters and me. We didn’t do any math when we tasted them, so my tasters and I had no idea what to expect. I am the only one who knew which steak was which.
Review- Steak 2-J was more tender than Steak 1-J. Who knew that 2.5 hours could make such a difference. Steak 3-NJ which was not jaccarded was just as tender if not just a little bit more than steak 2-J. In fact, I would say that Steak 3-NJ was better than all of them. Steak 3-NJ was noticeably juicier too. Yes, the Non-Jaccarded steak was more tender and noticeably moister. Remember this review was done without doing any math calculations. What do I mean? No percentage loss calculations were done until after we tested all the beef and took our notes.
Fourth up...New-York-Strips
As I walk through all these different cuts the New York strip had to be on the list. With the short cooking time, I had to pasteurize the surface with the Searzall. Of course, to mitigate overcooking, I partially froze them first.
Wow, an exciting development here. These steaks were ordinary Safeway steaks labeled Choice New York Strips. They were not huge steaks so this was a change for me because I love them bigly (LOL). Since they were not huge, I went with a 1.5-hour cook for the Jaccarded one and a 3-hour cook for the Non-Jaccard one. Let's talk quickly about the process before the review and analysis. Treated with 1% Fish Salt and Dry-Brined for 72 hours. Two-stage cooking (Warm-Aging) at 113 f for 90 min and finished as described above.
Fifth up... Flat-Iron Steaks
Finally, nearing the end of this experiment with all these cuts. One thing I am sure of is the fat content, and connective tissue plays a massive roll in moisture percentage calculations which is a variable that I cannot control. In the end, it's going to come down to convenience and taste which are as we know subjective. Due to the long cooking process, it was unnecessary heat-treat to pasteurize the steaks before jaccarding.
I'll provide a synopsis of what I did before I give you my review. Like the ones that proceeded the Flat-Iron all the steaks were treated with 1% Fish Salt, Vac-Sealed, and dry-brined for 72 hrs. Two Flat-Iron Steaks were used and were cut in half giving me 4 pieces to work with. All steaks were cooked using a Low Temp 2 stage cooking process also know as Warm-Aging. All the steaks entered the bath at 113 ℉ and cooked for precisely 3 hours. At the 3 hour mark, I added boiling water to the cooking container to hasten the water temperature climb to the finishing temp of 133 ℉. From the chart which I will be referencing, you can see the times I used for each steak. Note: the Post SV percentages are included but are not really necessary. Each steak received the exact amount of pre-treatment before the sear (mayo and non-salt seasoning). All steaks seared 60 secs aside.
Drum roll please..... 3-J was apparently better than 1-NJ. Besides the moisture difference of 5%, 3-J was significantly more tender than 1-NJ. Now if I were to guess 1-NJ would have needed to cook another 3-4 hour to reach the tenderness of 3-J which would have resulted in a greater moisture loss. Based on the moisture difference and cook times between 1-NJ & 4-NJ I can speculate/extrapolate a moisture loss of 1% for every extra hour spent in the bath. For 1-NJ to achieve the tenderness of 3-J, it would have needed an additional 3-4 hours in the jacuzzi which would have brought the moisture loss closer to 9%. In the end, Jaccarding seemed to make a huge difference in overall tenderness and reduced moisture loss.
Sixth up Tri-Tips "Again!!!!"
Yup, that's right; I am repeating this experiment. I am doing it again for a few reasons. For one thing, I eat a lot of Tri-Tip. The results above were unexpected, so I needed a do-over. I won't go into all the details like I did earlier since I am repeating the experiment. My presupposition is and will remain that the connective tissue and fat percentage both intramuscular and intermuscular play a huge roll in the results. Unless you can clone a piece of meat that's not going to change. My experiment from the beginning is flawed and is not conclusive. However, it's a damn good place to start to reach certain opinions based on set parameters. I've read 
Exhaustive amounts of opinions on this subject and to my knowledge, no one has gone to these lengths to test their views. I belong to many food groups on Facebook, and most people assert their opinions as fact, but I'll never do that. People go apeshit over stupid stuff too. I say put up or shut up. Although everything I am writing is an opinion at least, I am making an attempt to prove a hypothesis or possibly improve a method. Sometimes you just have to examine long-held beliefs and see if they're right. Here's a list of my experiments. One long-held view has been marinades and putting stuff in the Sous-Vide Vac bag is a great thing. I've written about that too (Clash of the Aphorist) among other things also. Ok, ok let's get to the Tri-Tips. 
Results- Before I give you my opinion about how these Tri-Tips turned out I need to explain the chart above just a wee bit. Being specific and precise is my SOP. Therefore I included the weights of the Fish salt and what I do to prepare the steaks post SV. The percentages don't change as far as the end results, but I wanted to show you what it looked like in the chart.
First, let me tell you that both Tri-Tips were terrific!!! My guests and I ate them all up. The only way to give a fair and subjective opinion is to taste them side by side which we all did. Comparing them to each other was almost like splitting hairs. The Tri-Tip that was Jaccarded was more tender and juicier than the Non-Jaccarded one. This is total conjecture but based on observation the intramuscular fat appeared very similar. After slicing them up, I took special care to notice fat deposits. The Tri-Tip experiment labeled the Third experiment is an excellent example of what fat can do to flavor, tenderness, and moisture percentages.
Now, this is just a guess, but I believe that the only way to match the tenderness of the Jaccarded version would have been to cook the NJ-Tri-Tip an additional 2-4 hours. Instead of having a 3% moisture difference you'd be looking at 6-7%. In the end, I contend that Jaccarding was worthwhile in this case.
As we approach the finish line, I am left with just one more thing to do. We have to try one more cooking technique. I think (yet to be tested) the most significant benefit to mechanically tenderizing meat is when you cook by conventional means aka not Sous-vided. These steaks will be grilled, but I will use the superior technique of reverse searing. 
An immediate benefit would be flexibility which I will discuss in a second. A second one that goes unnoticed unless you are familiar with Low Temp two-stage cooking as described above aka Warm-Aging. By reverse searing, the protein remains in the temperature window (below 122 f ) longer which helps with the enzymes responsible for aging meat. If you were to cook at high temps which is the norm you would pass through 122 f quickly seizing all opportunities for improved tenderization.
How to reverse sear? Season the protein any way you want. I will use 1% fish Salt and dry-brine for 3 x days and add some other stuff on the day of cooking. Set in oven/BBQ at a temp at 160-200 f... the lower, the better which will give you better results, even cooking and less of a color gradient. Monitor the temp and when the steak comes within 8-12 degrees of your desired temp remove from heat source and place on a cold plate. Now it's time to sear. Hopefully, the steak had about 10 minutes or more to cool down a bit. Crank up your searing station (I will use my Weber Genesis at 750 F) and sear off. Boom DONE. What's the flexibility? It's about timing. If you wanted to you cooked initially cook your steak and sear much, later on, liken to Sous-Vide.
And for the final examination, I chose the New-York. These are choice cuts and not prime (duh) ones. Choosing choice steaks serves two purposes, maybe three. Keep things consistent with the other experiments, prime meat are already tender so it would be moot to use them, and finally, they are cheaper. I see no reason to use prime steaks for experiments unless of course, the test was about prime meat. With this next post, I'll provide a lot more detail..... it's the last one so why not.
I was fortunate to choose these steaks. They weigh the same amount. This will help with analysis and cooking.
Placed on cutting board and place in freezer for a bit too firm up. They were flipped several times to ensure even partial freezing. The surface will be decontaminated using the Searzall to kill all pathogens before mechanically tendering.
Place on a wire rack before you use the Searzall......
I decontaminated the top, bottom, and sides.....
Note: Although unnecessary I decontaminated the Non-Jaccard steak to keep everything consistent for the experiment.
Measure out 1% of the Fish Salt and coat meat evenly.
After an even coating Jaccard the meat.
VAC SEAL FOR 72 HOURS...
Not sure who wrote this but it applies...
It's been precisely 72 hrs so what to do? It's time to get to work and cook these babies up. I have to tell you I'm kinda excited. It's been about 4 months since I started this project and it's approaching the end. As a reminder, I am writing this part of this post without even having yet cooked the meat. I find writing things in advance keeps things fluid, creative, and somewhat unbiased. When I say unbiased, all I am saying is since the results are not in yet I am writing to a degree without suppositions.
Here are my thoughts about how to set up a reverse sear. I thought about using charcoal and creating two zones. You know what I mean? Charcoal on one side and the other side empty. This is how I would typically have proceeded, but it lacks control. Since I am trying to be somewhat precise, I decided to use my Gas Weber Genesis which is more predictable provides more control.
On my Weber, I have 4 heating elements, so I only lit it one burner which gave me a predictable temp of 180-220 f. Yes, occasionally it crept up, so I had to open the lid to let off some excess heat. I was shooting for a temp below 200f.
I used two temperature probes to monitor the temperatures of the steaks. My goal was to heat to an internal temp 120 f. Anyhow, I lightly dusted the steaks with pepper and placed them on the grill.
The whole process took about 30-45 minutes. Surprise, surprise the Jaccarded steak cooked faster and reached an internal temp 120 f ten minutes prior to the Non-Jaccarded one. Boom!!!! One thing is definitely accurate, and that is mechanically tenderized meat cook faster. Both steaks were removed from the grill and placed on a wired rack while I waited for the grill to heat up to an appropriate searing temp of 710 f.
Both steaks were seared for an equal amount of time and placed on a rack to cool for about 7 minutes (internal temp 128 F).
Both steaks were weighed for moisture loss. As you recall they both weighed in at 391 grams. Results were insignificant due to the many variables which were discussed earlier. The Jaccarded steak weighed 334 grams, and the Non-Jaccarded steak weighed 339 grams. Yea a whopping 5 grams difference which less than 1/5 of an ounce.
Ok, how did they taste? Holy crap these steaks tasted phenomenal. The biggest complaint I get about Sous-Vide steaks is the lack of grill flavor. The protagonists are not wrong in this case. You could tell right away these steaks were not SV. I'll discuss alternate ways to Sous-Vide/Grill that get you the best of both worlds although it's a lot more work. Anyhow, both steaks were delicious but where the rubber meets the road is in tenderness. The Jaccarded steak was very very tender. It was perfection in every way. Not sure how I can quantify tenderness but the Jaccarded steak was 4 x times more tender.
Let's talk about the elephant in the room. Is Jaccarding worth doing? Yes!!! Should you Jaccard if you Sous-Vide? Yes and no. Look at the results above to answer that question. If you are not going to Sous-Vide, I believe mechanically tenderizing meat is worth doing provided you take the precautions I outline above.
To achieve that grill flavor you don't get from Sous-Vide do the following. Partially freeze your steaks and Sear on the grill. Do a post sear too provided you have taken steps not to exceed your optimum temperature.
Here's an alternate way that encompasses both Reverse Sear and Sous-Vide. Most people Sous-Vide, Shock a bit than sear. Others Sous-Vide, Shock, refrigerate, retherm than sear.
I suggest the following which will produce a fantastic grill flavor. Sous-Vide, Shock, refrigerate......... Now comes the Reverse Sear Part. Use your grill to retherm the protein using the reverse sear methods described above. Retherming on the grill gives the protein extra time to pick up extra flavor. Anyhow after the protein has hit the target temp proceed as described above to sear.
Thanks for sharing. Sous vide cooker is definitely the best investment I've made this year. Now I can cook steak to perfect every time.
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