How To: Make Sous Vide Bourbon-Marinated Steaks (Finished on the Grill)

Meat and bourbon is a delicious marriage—whether it's bacon-infused bourbon, or bourbon drenched steaks. The recipe below is adapted from Nancy's bourbon-marinated rib eye recipe over at 'A Recipe a Day'. For this version, we used the classic New York strip, with a little sous vide twist (optional).

Sous Vide Bourbon-Marinated Steaks Finished on the Grill

Ingredients:

• 1 1/3 cup Wild Turkey 101 proof bourbon
  
• 2 cups water
• 1 cup soy sauce
  
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
  
• 6 tbsps Worcestershire sauce
  
• 4 tbsps fresh lemon juice
  
• 8 steaks

Equipment:

• grill
• sous vide machine + Ziploc bags/suction pump (Optional)
  

Step 1 Gather Your Ingredients

This recipe calls for 8 steaks—an amount fit for a good-sized party. If you're just grilling for the family, simply reduce all the ingredients listed above to half. As mentioned, we went with New York Strip steaks, but this recipe will work with any steak of your choosing.

Step 2 Combine Water, Bourbon, Brown Sugar & Soy Sauce

In a large bowl, combine 1 1/3 cup of Wild Turkey 101 proof bourbon, 2 cups of water, 1 cup of soy sauce, and 1/2 cup of firmly packed brown sugar.

Step 3 Add the Worcester Sauce & Lemon Juice

Add 6 tablespoons of Worcestershire sauce and 4 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice.

Step 4 Whisk!

Once all ingredients are combined, give it a good stir.

Step 5  Pour the Marinade into Ziploc Bags & Add the Steaks

Carefully pour the marinade into 1 quart-sized Ziploc bag—(depending on the size of your steaks, you may need to divide the marinade between two bags). Add the steaks, and seal. Place the sealed bag into a tray of some kind, in the event of leakage.

Step 6 Allow the Steaks to Marinate Overnight

Place the steaks in the refrigerator, and allow to marinate at least 8 hours or overnight.

Step 7 Prep Your Sous Vide Machine

Once the steaks are fully marinated, you have two choices—you can go the traditional route, and just throw these babies on the grill.

OR, if you happen to own or have access to a sous vide machine, try a little molecular gastronomy twist.

"Sous vide", French for "cooking under vacuum", is a method of cooking vacuum-sealed food slowly in a water bath. The advantage of the sous vide method is that you can cook your food precisely—no more guessing over whether your food is rare, medium, or over cooked. It's always perfectly cooked as long as you set the temperature correctly.

To start, fill your sous vide machine with water up to the fill line.

Step 8 Suction Your Sous Vide Bags Airtight

Put your marinated meat in your sous vide Ziploc bags—(Do NOT use regular Ziploc bags.) Seal the bags, and use a pump to vacuum all the air out of the bags.

Step 9 Set the Temperature & Time

For our steaks, we set the temperature to 60 degrees Celsius, which is perfect for medium rare. You have to wait until the water reaches that temperature, and then set the timer. We set the timer for 2 hours.

Step 10 Place the Steaks in the Sous Vide Machine

Submerge your airtight, bagged steaks, cover the machine, and come back in 2 hours. You don't have to check for "doneness", because they're perfect! You can eat them as is, but since it doesn't look very pretty, we finished them on the grill. 

Step 11 Finish Steaks on the Grill

Once the grill is hot, place the steaks on the grill for about 30 seconds, or until you get nice grill marks for both sides.

Step 12 Eat!

Pair with a bacon bourbon cocktail and enjoy.