Bob, I torch the steak to get the char I want. I agree with the element of dark flavor on a steak that is rare.

Thanks! Might have to give that a try. Haven't done much experimenting lately.

We did a few D'Artagnan duck legs confit last night. It's so difficult to find the right time lengths for cooking. Recipes were all over the charts from five hours to twelve hours. Wish I could find some standardization somewhere. Anyway, we settled on 180 F. for ten hours. We rubbed the legs down with a salt, crushed peppercorns, thyme, and bay leaf rub for 12 hours, then rinsed to get all the salt off, per directions. Sealed and bathed for the ten hours. Results were so-so. The meat was fall-off-the-bone tender and tasty. But when we finished it off in a cast iron skillet the skin pretty much disintegrated and stuck to the pan. Wasn't expecting that and was hoping to crisp the skin rather than break it down. Shoulda' used the torch instead. Maybe a shorter bath time would have prevented the breakdown as well.

Also made some duck fat fried potatoes which turned out pretty good.

Did two cuts this weekend. First some cheap "stewing" beef which went for 7 hours at 135F. It was tender for what it was, but lacked flavor due to lack of marbling. Second was a chuck steak, very lean which had me worried. First tried at 30 hours and it was tender with average flavor, again due to lack of fat in the meat. Had the last 1/3 for breakfast. It had been going 42 hours and was super tender and rare. I may start to experiment with adding fats to the more lean meats to see how that does for flavor.

It's amazing when cheap, usually tough cuts of meat become as tender as the best cut you ever had before sous vide came along.