Recipe for ball tip sous vide
Ball tip is a surprisingly delicious cut that is both tender and full of flavor. Here, it is prepared using sous vide, which is absolutely the best cooking method available.
Read on to learn more about the cut and how to best prepare it.
Ball Tip Cut
Ball tip is an American cut from the sirloin. It is cut from the lower part of the sirloin and is quite similar to the culotte—both in muscle fibers (which change direction) and in price.
Ball tip has a decent fat marbling, which gives it a delightful flavor, and although it doesn’t rank among the very most tender cuts, it is still very tender.
You might be surprised at how delicious a piece of meat it actually is.
You do need to be aware of the changing direction of the muscle fibers when slicing it, but with a bit of finesse, it should be fine.
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Ball Tip Preparation in Sous Vide
The advantage of using sous vide cooking for ball tip is that you achieve the same result from the innermost to the outermost fiber. So there’s no edge that’s well done and a center that’s pink! It’s simply perfect all over. Moreover, you save yourself unnecessary “stress,” because the meat basically takes care of itself while you do something else—like going shopping, doing laundry, or something else entirely. It doesn’t get any easier than that!
Ball Tip Sous Vide Time and Temperature
The cooking time makes it perfect for starting around lunchtime, but you can certainly prepare it earlier in the day or the day before if that suits you better. Just place it in a tub/pot with warm water for about an hour before serving, so it has time to warm up.
The temperature you set your sous vide to depends on how you prefer your beef.
Rare: 51-54 degrees Celsius
Medium rare: 55-59 degrees Celsius
Medium: 60-65 degrees Celsius
Medium well: 66-68 degrees Celsius
I like it somewhere between rare and medium rare.
Ball Tip Seared Crust
Before serving, the meat needs a seared crust, and you can achieve this in different ways, depending on what suits you best that evening.
If it’s grilling weather, it’s obviously ideal to throw it on the grill. The most important thing is to have the heat at full blast so the meat can spend as little time as possible on the grill. It’s already cooked, so it just needs a quick, high-heat sear.
The same applies if you choose to use your frying pan: Full blast on the stove, so the pan gets smoking hot.
You can also use a blowtorch if you have one, and the advantage of using that is it’s easy to get an even sear all over.
Ingredients
- 1 kg Beef Ball Tip
- 14 gram Oil Neutral in taste
- 10 gram Butter
- Spices Salt and pepper
Instructions
- Season the meat with salt and pepper.
- Vacuum-seal the meat and cook it in a sous vide/water bath at 54 degrees Celsius (129 degrees Fahrenheit) for 2 hours.
- Remove the meat from the bag and pat it dry, either with a dish towel or paper towel.
- Heat a pan over high heat and add the oil.
- Add the meat and butter at the same time and sear for about 20-30 seconds on each side.
- Remove the meat from the pan and slice the roast into thin pieces.
- When serving, add freshly ground black pepper and a good quality flaky salt to the meat.
