We had a two pound London Broil in the freezer chest and nowhere to go because of SARS-CoV-2. Might as well try Sous Vide!

We did the water displacement method with a 1-gallon freezer bag. I massaged out as many air bubbles as possible. I also pinched the sides of the bag together. The idea is to make sure as much direct contact happens with as much meat surfaces as possible with water.

Straight out of the Sous Vide bag the meat is grey and even more oddly, not leaking juices (which always happens with meat removed from blazing hot cooking environments creating a huge temperature and pressure gradient):

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Then we cooked it in the water bath for 8 hours at 132ºF or 55.56ºC for 8 hours. It looked grey straight out of the bath and was as you’d expect after reading Kenji’s The Food Lab. 

We seared it off in a smoking hot cast iron on all sides and suddenly it was quite appealing to the eye! (plus actually added tangible flavor at the crust).

Seared off in a smoking hot cast-iron gave the meat some color and delicious Maillard reaction

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We’ll do this again but next time try it at 131ºF or 55ºC; some of the meat closest to the surface was getting close to over cooked despite still being mid-rare. The meat had just enough chew after being thinly sliced. I doubt this tough cut could get any more tender. I’ll also push the meat down flush against the cast-iron to get better color and take my time searing the sides.

Mid-rare doneness - tender enough and not dried out:

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