How to Sous Vide Filet Mignon in 5 Quick Steps

Last Updated on September 9, 2015 by SteakEat

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This manual explains how to sous vide filet mignon without immersion circulator using dutch oven instead.

Making the most tender steak even more tender? That’s what filet mignon sous vide is all about.

This simple, reliable cooking technique guarantees a perfect fillet steak just about every time you cook it.

All you need is placing it inside a food-safe plastic bag, followed by 30-minute-long cooking in a warm water bath with a quick pan-sear right at the end to get that delicious browned surface.

Contents:

• Part 1: Ingredients & Tools
• Part 2: Cooking Filet Mignon Sous Vide in 5 Quick Steps

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Part 1: Ingredients & Tools

The goal of this article is to show the actual sous vide technique in action, including cooking times and temperature…

This is why the recipe is ‘nothing’ but a traditional salt-n-pepper style:

• 1-inch thick filet mignon steak
• 1 tsp ghee or coconut oil
• 1 tbsp organic grass-fed butter
• Kosher/flaked salt
• Freshly ground black pepper

We also need these tools:

• Dutch oven
• Food-safe plastic bag
• Oven-safe candy/oil thermometer
• Paper towels
• Blowtorch or Skillet
• Meat tongs

By the way, dutch oven is not a must – a standard oven- and heat-proof casserole will do just as well!

Let’s SteakEat!

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Part 2: Cooking Filet Mignon Sous Vide in 5 Quick Steps

Now that we got all the tools and ingredients, let’s look, in detail, at our DIY fillet steak sous vide method.

Up the Dutch oven!

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Step 1: Preheat Water

The first step is filling the Dutch oven with the sufficient amount of water – it must touch at least the bottom part of your oven-safe candy or oil thermometer, so that you can control its temperature.

Once that’s ready, I recommend you place it inside the oven, preheated to the required temperature (more on it in Step 2).

Ovens tend to be easier to control and safer to use than open fire or electric stove tops (doesn’t apply to induction).

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Step 2: Cooking Temperature

What’s the secret behind a juicy, tender steak?

The answer is – low cooking temperature. Sous vide technique is all about that.

Water temperature must equal to the doneness level you are looking for (i.e. the steak’s inside temperature, once it’s cooked and ready to be eaten).

You like medium-rare fillet steak?

Go for 55C / 130F water temperature .

For rare and medium doneness, shoot for 50C / 122F and 60C / 140F respectively.

Look at the thermometer reading regularly to adjust oven temperature, if necessary.

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This is Page 2 of ‘How to Sous Vide Filet Mignon’ guide. Click to Page 1.

Step 3: Mignon Preparations

The water inside your Dutch is approaching the required temperature and you need to take care of the actual filet mignon.

Put it inside the food-safe plastic* bag (those freezer ones are quite good) and let all the air out before sealing it under vacuum.

Note that we are NOT adding any salt or pepper at this stage (however, if we were making some herb-based steak marinade, we would add the mixture now).

Salt will suck out juices from the steak and pepper will burn when we sear it on stove (we add it when the steak will be resting at the end).

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* Plastic, even of BPA-free food-safe type is not great for when it comes to even low-heat temperature treatment – some chemicals still escape and get absorbed by food.

Currently silicon bags, which are reusable, are considered a better alternative.

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Step 4: Time to Sous Vide!

Cooking times are important, because we don’t want to overcook steak…but it doesn’t apply to sous vide.

Depending on steak thickness, there are cooking times estimates which will serve as a good starting point for you:

Thickness                           Cooking Time

0.25 inches                        23 minutes
0.5 inches                           31 minutes
1 inch                                   60 minutes
1.5 inches                           1 hour 45 minutes
2 inches                               2 hours 50 minutes
2.5 inches                           4 hours 15 minutes
3 inches                               6 hours

What would happen if you cook your 1-inch thick filet mignon for 2 hours instead of one?

Absolutely nothing – your steak will still stay medium-rare, provided the water temperature in Dutch oven is fixed at 55C / 130F.

You might even end up with a tenderer result than you could even think of, because moist heat now has more time to break all the tougher connective tissues in your steak (it doesn’t apply to beef tenderloin as such, because it’s tender by default; it will certainly make a difference for a tougher cut like flank steak).

All in all, I recommend you don’t exceed the 30-minute threshold for tenderloin steak.

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Step 5: Browning Filet Mignon

One huge disadvantage of sous vide is that there is no surface browning developed during cooking…

However it’s very easy to fix with a quick sear on stove top or, my favorite, using a blowtorch.

Let’s look at both methods!

Sear Filet Mignon With Blowtorch

1. Take the steak out from the plastic bag and pat it dry with paper towels.
2. Season with Kosher salt – 2-3 pinches per side is all you need.
3. Ge the torch running at maximum heat and start searing the surface directly.
4. Flip the steak and repeat the process for side #2.
5. Once you are done, season it with freshly ground pepper to develop aroma and let it rest for 2-3 minutes.
6. Cut & serve.

Caution: open fire is dangerous and you should be careful when handling it – please watch out.

Pro Tip: You need a powerful professional blowtorch to do that, since smaller blowtorches can’t generate enough heat output to properly sear the tenderloin’s surface.

Got a blowtorch? Fire up!

Quickly Sear Fillet Steak on Stove Top After Sous Vide

1. Take the steak out from the plastic bag and pat it dry with paper towels.
2. Season with Kosher salt – 2-3 pinches per side is all you need.
3. Preheat the skillet on stove top, adding the teaspoon of ghee/coconut oil.
4. Watch for light fumes to take off the skillet, count till 10 when you see them and place the steak inside.
5. Sear for 1 minute per side to develop the browning.
6. Once ready, transfer to a cutting board/plate and season with freshly ground black pepper.
7. Rest for 3-4 minutes, cut, serve and enjoy! 🙂

Pro Tip: Filet mignon is relative flavorless steak. Adding the tablespoon of organic grass-fed butter 30 seconds before finishing searing it on side #2, will add a ton of flavor and help browning even better.

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How to sous vide filet mignon without immersion circulator using a simple dutch oven?

Now you know the way. 🙂

Happy Steaks!

SteakEat

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