- Hey, everybody, I'm Joey, and today, we're cooking three way filet mignon. Once over fire, once under water, and once using the reverse sear, so follow me and let's turn up the tasty. ♪ This is how we get it done ♪ ♪ This is how we do it, do it ♪ ♪ Whoa, whoa ♪ ♪ This is how we get it done ♪ ♪ Whoa, whoa ♪

- The filet mignon is often known as the king of steaks, and what do kings do? They battle for supremacy, and while there is no actual gold at stake here today, we'll throw down the gauntlet, cooking three way filet mignon. This is a thick cut, so we'll need both direct and indirect heat, but we're bringing that heat a few different ways. First, we'll use the traditional method to grill over high heat and then finish with indirect heat. For the second method, we're using the sous vide machine with the steak in a vacuum sealed bag underwater, then quickly seared, and the third method, we'll use a traditional reverse sear, using indirect heat from the oven, and then searing over high heat. These three kings are gonna battle for supremacy and I alone will decide their fate. Why? Because I'm king of this kitchen.

You didn't think this was a democracy, did you? We recently purchased an entire nine-pound beef tenderloin and broke it down into filets. We've included the link for that video in the description below. Food safety is no accident, ladies and gentlemen. If you buy a filet in the store, you're gonna pay over 20 dollars a pound, but if you buy it, you break it down yourself, you'll pay closer to 12 dollars a pound. We've trimmed these into eight ounce filets. Now, the first thing we're gonna do, all of these are gonna olive oil at some point, but for this steak going on the grill right here, we'll apply that first. Now, we're gonna season them all the same way so the armies are evenly matched. We're using our Big Tasty steak rub to season all three. It's a rub we created and the recipe can be found in the description below and on our website. Also, you'll notice that these are all tied to help them cook evenly.

However, the butcher's twine used for the grill should be soaked in water first to prevent it from burning. This one right here will be placed over a screaming hot fire and cooked for about two minutes per side and then moved to the indirect heat to finish to temperature, which will take about 10 minutes. Next, we're gonna get this one in a bag, vacuum seal it, and cook it underwater using our sous vide machine for two hours at 131 degrees Fahrenheit. After two hours, we'll sear it in a cast iron skillet for 30 seconds a side. Finally, we're gonna place this one on a rack and get it in the oven at about 265 degrees, until it reaches that internal temperature of 130 degrees. Then we're gonna sear it for 30 seconds a side. This is gonna be a bit of a balancing act to get them to finish all at the same time, but some good planning and a little video magic will help get the trick done. Now, there's advantages for each method.

Cooking over direct heat is the fastest way to get the food from this cooking board right into my belly. The next, using the traditional reverse sear, allows for more even cooking through out, but it takes a little bit longer than direct heat, and finally, the sous vide method is a true set it and forget it method. We're gonna try to cook all of these to an internal temperature of 130 degrees, so follow me and let's get started to see who reigns supreme. Anyway. Salut, we're almost done. We have the one on the grill done. We're just gonna drop these two here in for 30 seconds. As you can see, 30 seconds per side. As you can see, I'm enjoying a nice cold brew. Nothing goes better with a steak than one of these bad boys. We're waiting for this butter and olive oil mixture to get nice and hot. We're gonna get this pan screaming hot before we drop these in. Okay, this is the reverse sear going in right here. And this is our sous vide going in right here. I've got my timer going, so I know when it's cooked for 30 seconds per side.

These are already cooked to temperature on the interior, so we're just doing this step to bring that nice color, that nice Maillard effect, to the exterior of these steaks. Make 'em real nice and pretty. Okay, so all of these steaks are done cooking. We got them done at really close to about the same time. We tried to hit an internal temperature of 130 degrees, and before I cut them open, I just wanna bring your attention to just the coloration difference. Here's one that we cooked over fire, and as you can see, that has a real nice mahogany color all around it. This too, this is our reverse sear. This has a real, rich, nice brown color on the exterior of it, and this over here is our sous vide filet, and this doesn't have as good of a color. As you can see, some of the plastic from the vacuum seal really got imprinted into that steak, so it doesn't look as pretty. I did sear both of these over a high heat for 30 seconds, and this one just did not caramelize as nicely as our reverse sear did, so let's cut them open and see what they look like on the inside.

First, we're gonna start with this one, which was again, cooked over direct heat first. Let's take a look. Look at that, we have some really nice color on that. That one looks fantastic, so before I test these, we're gonna cut into all three of them. Let's take a look here. Here we go, this is our traditional reverse sear in the oven and then over the hot skillet. Again, another great steak, look at that color. That looks absolutely phenomenal. That's just what you want, and that color on both of these looks fantastic. Now, this one doesn't look as good on the outside, as I mentioned, but let's see how it looks on the inside. Oh, it's super soft and tender. I can tell you that already. All right, and again, not as pretty on the outside, but that feels just so soft. So, let's dig in. I'll start over here with the one over fire. We'll try to do small bites so I can actually talk after eating this, so let's go.

It's a damn good steak. It's really good. You can taste a lot of the flavor, both from the rub and from the fire. It has some good, deep smokey notes. Now, here's our traditional reverse sear. Let's check it out. Again, this one has a great crust. I was really surprised by the great crust that this one has. Hm. No one's gonna complain about either one of these steaks. These are two phenomenal steaks. You gotta remember, we're dealing with the kings here. As long as you don't overcook 'em, they're gonna be tender and tasty. I think one thing I wanna bring your attention to is you'll notice this one is a little bit more done around the exterior. That would be expected when you're cooking over fire. It's gonna get the exterior a little bit more done, and as you can see, this one's more pink, end to end, and you'll see the same is true with this one. Now, this one took over two hours to cook. It doesn't look as good on the outside, but let's see how it tastes. All right, that's gonna be too big.

Let's cut that in half. Wow, the sous vide is the most tender. I mean, we're dealing with some tender steaks here, and even among the tender steaks, this one wins. I think the one over fire wins on absolute flavor profile. I think the fire and reverse sear are pretty closely tied when it comes to look, but when it comes to tenderness, absolutely our sous vide wins. So it's really hard to pick a champion here. If I had to, I'm gonna go with the old fire seared steak. It's quick, this took about 15 minutes to get it cooked all the way through, as opposed to two hours over here. Again, the nice thing about this is that you can really set it and forget it. I mean, that's the really beautiful thing. You don't have to worry about internal temperature, so even though this one is not the most tender, I'm gonna crown our direct seared and then indirect cooked filet mignon. I'm gonna crown that king of this tournament, so thanks for checking out our vid. Thanks for following our meat journey. We hope you liked our video, and if you did, please give us a thumbs up, like, or even better, subscribe to our YouTube channel for future updates. I'm gonna sit here and finish these steaks, so I'll see you next time. Mm, wow. Fantastic.