Cooking meat is hard. It’s time-consuming, often expensive and the results are never quite as good as you want them to be.
Sous vide cooking is a new technique that solves all of these problems. With sous vide, you can cook your meat perfectly every single time with no guesswork or complicated instructions.
The best part? You don’t need expensive meat cuts to cook something heavenly delicious! In this article, we’ll go over the best cheap meat cuts to sous vide for an unforgettable dinner!
# 1 The Best Bang For The Buck — Chuck Roast
One of the best cheap cuts of meat to sous vide is a good old chuck roast. Using a slow cooking method like sous vide, it can be turned into a juicy and tender meal fit for a king!
Chuck roast isn’t as popular as some other meat cuts because it’s made up of tougher muscles that work harder so they tend to be a bit more chewy and require some extra effort to make them tender. But, if cooked properly, you can’t beat the flavor of this cut!
Try using soy sauce with some ground-dried mushrooms for a marinade. It’ll add a lot of flavors and make the meat even more tender. After cooking for some time, your chuck roast will be ready to eat! Whether you serve it with mashed potatoes or some pasta — it’s guaranteed to be a hit at your next dinner party!
# 2 The Best Cheap Meat To Sous Vide — Skirt Steak Or Flank Steak
Skirt steak and flank steaks are two cuts that usually need a lot of help to make them palatable. These are cut from muscles that work extra hard, which causes them to toughen up even more when cooked the traditional way.
Sous vide is a good method of cooking for skirt or flank steaks because it eliminates this toughness while retaining all of the flavors! Its quick-cooking time keeps these cuts nice and tender, making them easier to chew and digest.
# 3 Extra Lean Meat — Top Round Steak Or Eye Of Round Roast
Top round steak or eye of round roast is great for people that are looking to get leaner cuts of meat into their diet. Using the sous vide method of cooking breaks down some of the connective tissues in these meats, which makes them easier to digest.
Another great thing about cooking with sous vide is that your meat doesn’t overcook when you leave it in the water bath for a bit too long. These tougher cuts are usually pretty easily dried out but you won’t have this problem when cooking sous vide!
# 4 Pork Shoulder Or Pork Sirloin
Pork shoulder steaks or sirloin steaks are two cuts that can also be pretty tough when cooked the traditional way. Using a water bath will help your pork shoulder steak stay juicy and delicious! Pork is great when seasoned with tasty marinades too so feel free to experiment!
Some of the best seasonings to complement pork meat are garlic, pepper, rosemary, and thyme. I love mixing garlic with rosemary for a bold flavor.
# 5 Short Ribs
Short ribs are a really tasty and popular cut of meat. You can choose to make Korean or Japanese-style short ribs depending on your preference (I like both!)
Korean-style short ribs are marinated with soy sauce, ginger, garlic, onions, and sugar. They’re then cooked with some vegetables for a bit before being finished off for a nice crunchy texture.
Japanese-style are marinated with garlic, sugar, soy sauce, scallions, and sesame seeds before being cooked sous vide. They’re then finished off over an open flame while basting the meat in a mixture of soy sauce and sugar to caramelize them! Yummy!
My Secret Sauce
The secret to a good sous vide recipe is not the meat. It’s in your sauce. You can use any combination of dry spices and herbs to make an amazing sauce that elevates this cheap cut of meat to something you’d expect from a five-star restaurant. The best part? All the ingredients are already in your kitchen. It really is that simple.
Peppercorn Sauce
Ingredients:
2 tbsp. peppercorns
1/4 cup red wine (for deglazing, optional)
1/4 cup beef stock (or less if you find it’s too strong)
Instructions: Grind up the peppercorns. Mix the pepper with salt and garlic powder (optional), then rub all over your meat! Save the remaining pepper-salt mixture for later.
Heat up some oil in a pot or frying pan at medium heat then sear your meat for about one minute on each side (you might need to do it in batches). Add the red wine and let most of it evaporate. If you like, you may use beef stock instead of red wine (you can also add more beef stock if it evaporates too quickly).
Let the meat cook for about 3 hours 45 minutes (or longer if you like your meat well-done). The longer you let your meat cook, the softer the texture of sous vide steak will become. It’s up to you! When done, take out your meat and pat it dry.
Mix the remaining pepper-salt mixture with garlic powder (optional) and use it to season your steak! Enjoy 🙂
