fragrance evenly over the meat and further
enhancing its flavor. I also included a
nonaromaticized steak as a control.
The results were a shock: tasters unanimously
picked the nonbutter version as the most aromatic.
Some even had trouble telling the difference between
the buttered version and the version with no
aromatics at all! How could this be? I looked at the
sous-vide bags the steaks had been cooked in and
had my answer: the bag with the buttered steak
contained a large amount of highly aromatic melted
butter. Turns out that rather than traveling into the
meat, where I wanted it to go, the aroma ended up in
the butter, getting thrown away along with the bag.
Conclusion: Aromatics are fine, but leave out the
butter if you want to maximize their flavor.COOKING STEAK IN A COOLER
Cooking steak in a cooler is the absolute best, most
foolproof way to ensure that you get yours to exactly the
level of doneness that you like. As we’ve already discussed,
the degree of doneness is largely a personal matter, but if
you are the kind who likes your steaks rare, I strongly
suggest keeping an open mind about taking your steak a
shade more toward well-done. At a rare 120°F, the beef fat
is still relatively solid—it hasn’t begun to melt into the
surrounding meat, which means that for all intents and
purposes, it may as well not be there. In my book,