Jacob’s Ladder Sous Vide – Very, Very Tasty. But….

“What’s the ‘But….’?” you ask. The beef looks delicious in the picture. It tasted delicious, particularly with a beautiful, highly tasty, beef and wine reduction. The soft stem broccoli was lovely on the side and the celeriac mash was perfect too. So, what’s the problem? 

It’s not a difficulty, as such. It was delicious. I would have to say that the meat had a lovely texture. It was pretty flavoursome too. I might even cook it again. But, my issue is that there is a tastier way to prepare the Jacob’s Ladder. But that is a way I would rather you avoided. I warned you about it before. The link is here.  So, if you have a sous vide machine, give this a whirl. You will need a huge lump of beef short ribs in one piece also known as Jacobs Ladder.

Any excuse for a ‘vast lump of beef’ shot. This was a pretty vast lump.

Season the beef.

Any excuse for a ‘vast lump of seasoned beef’ shot.

Slice a single bulb of garlic in an artistic way.

Fancy single bulb of garlic slicing. Make a small lampshade out of the skin.

Vacuum seal the garlic and seasoned beef.

Somebody asked me why I was using banana on the beef….

Pop this in the sous vide bath for 48 hours at 57ºC. When it comes out, It will look like something dragged out of the River Liffey after a particularly gruesome mob hit.

Not the tastiest looking bit of beef. It reminds me of Scaramanga, Can you can see it?

Once sliced, the meat looks excellent. Perfectly cooked through and very juicy.

Not for the faint of heart or the vegetarians amongst you.

Heat and strain the bag juices. Add a glass of wine, season and reduce until nicely ‘poury’ (a word of my own invention to mean “nice to pour over your dinner”).

That Chateau Tour De Yon 2010 makes for a great sauce.

Assemble the various bits on plates and serve. The celeriac mash (50% celeriac 50% potato = 100% tasty) goes very well with any beef dish. The broccoli adds a little colour. The jus adds a big flavour punch that ties the beef to the accompanying wine.

It’s very difficult to diss this dish (try saying that after a bottle of wine).

This was pretty spectacular. The beef was beefy. The jus made a great contribution, carrying a lot of the garlic flavour. The wine was lovely with it. But, I just can’t help thinking that I prefer the low and slow roasted version with lashings of garlic. I’ll just have to cook it again to see….