Is the '137 Club' the Best Way to Cook Steak? I Tried the Viral Method to See for Myself

CNET

7 days ago

Reddit threads on sous vide cooking are lively. The r/sousvide community is especially bullish on the immersion cooking tool as the best way to cook cuts of meat, including steak.
A growing number of home cooks swear that 137 degrees Fahrenheit is the perfect sous vide temperature for steak. According to the hype, this sweet spot delivers unbeatable flavor and texture. Rib eye gets most of the attention, but fans of the method say it works wonders on budget-friendly cuts like chuck steak and New York strip, too.
A quick Reddit search pulls up over 125 threads devoted to the so-called "137 Club," so I decided to dig into the science behind the trend -- and, naturally, test it out for myself.
The science of cooking the perfect steak
I seasoned every steak identically with salt, granulated garlic powder and cracked black pepper.
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Ahead of my test, I hit the books. My first instinct was to consult Modernist Cuisine by Nathan Myhrvold, Chris Young and Maxine Bilet, which is one of the most comprehensive resources on the science of cooking.
With a list price that usually tops $500, over 2,400 pages across six volumes and no digital version, this is easier said than done. Fortunately, I found a copy of the more compact Modernist Cuisine at Home in Brigham Young University's collection near my home. ("More compact" is a relative term since it's also huge.) Thankfully, Modernist Cuisine at Home has an entire section about cooking steak, including the sous vide method.
Vacuum sealing the steaks overnight allowed the seasoning to work as a marinade.
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The book groups cuts of steak into two categories: tender (filet, tenderloin, New York strip, rib eye, T-bone and so on) and tough cuts (chuck, skirt, hanger, flat iron, flank and so on). Tender cuts typically cook at lower temperatures, with the authors and their lab generally preferring a medium rare doneness around 133 degrees Fahrenheit in most cases. In contrast, the recommendations for tough cuts hover around 144 degrees to 149 degrees Fahrenheit, which the book implies is a more traditional roast-like result: think tender and flaky rather than extra juicy.
Douglas Baldwin's masterclass A Practical Guide to Sous Vide Cooking, cites multiple scientific papers that suggest the best tenderness results with beef lie somewhere between 120 degrees and 150 degrees Fahrenheit, with specific mention of 131 degrees to 140 degrees Fahrenheit for cheaper, tougher cuts of beef. This appears to be the sweet spot for converting tough collagen into smooth, flavorful gelatin.
Additionally, Modernist Cuisine at Home suggests that rib eye, a tender cut of meat, turns out best after 3 hours at 133 degrees Fahrenheit. There are small differences between the resources, but both seem to validate the 137 Club as a catchall method for steak.
The steaks barely fit in the container I use for my sous vide bath, but I made it work with some strategic spacers and weights.
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While I wasn't able to track down the founding member of the 137 Club, I know that the term started gaining steam in April 2020, at least on Reddit.
If I had to guess why 137 degrees Fahrenheit became the magic number, it probably comes down to preference for the first person who tried it -- they might have liked it more medium than medium rare. After all, 137 degrees Fahrenheit falls in the aforementioned temperature range, with a margin of error in case the temperature of the sous vide bath fluctuates during cooking. In this case, the temperature could vary by 3 degrees either way without affecting the results too heavily.
My research ends here, but I doubt I'll be the last person wondering where it all came from.
The experiment
We all tried three samples with a simple survey asking about the texture, flavor and anything else that stood out.
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Now that we know that there's some science behind the 137 Club, it's time to test. I originally intended to test it with ribeye, which frequently comes up in 137 Club threads. It has a great balance of fatty tissue that supposedly renders better at a higher temperature. Instead, I found tender 1-inch T-bones on sale, which will work just fine.
The main purpose was to see if there were any noticeable differences in the cooking. There were five taste testers: myself and four others who I'll refer to as Annette, Lauren, Hank and Nora. None of us had tasted the 137 degrees Fahrenheit method before.
Steak A: Grilled
This was also the fastest cook because it required practically no additional prep beyond seasoning.
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I grilled Steak A in the traditional style, using a timer and a meat thermometer to reach an internal temperature of 131 degrees Fahrenheit. (I aimed for 129 degrees Fahrenheit, but grills are fickle things.) It took about 7 minutes.
All of us agreed the traditional grilled steak was the least tender of the three steaks. As expected, the inside of the steak wasn't as consistent as with the sous vide steaks. However, it was juicy and the outside seared perfectly because I didn't have to worry as much about ruining the sous vide steaks. Nora even said it was her favorite: "Most flavor, I can taste each seasoning."
Steak B: Sous vide at 129 degrees Fahrenheit for 60 minutes
I learned to sous vide steak at 129 degrees Fahrenheit, so it was a good comparison point.
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I cooked Steak B with my normal sous vide method of 129 degrees Fahrenheit for 60 minutes. (Note: I usually do 120 minutes, but shortened it due to time constraints.) Crucially, this steak lies outside the temperature range mentioned earlier. Since the experiment was at a family member's house, I chose to sear the sous vide steaks on the grill, which isn't as precise or powerful as my trusty blowtorch.
Also, searing multiple T-bones with my small blowtorch would've taken an eternity. Likewise, I could've done a better job by not searing all three sous vide steaks at the same time.
I bought four steaks in total, so there were two Steak Bs, with the thinner one turning out slightly more medium after searing.
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As a result, Steak B's crust was uneven, and the flavor wasn't as pronounced as the grilled steak. The fat also didn't render as well as the other steaks. Everyone liked how soft this steak was, with one tester saying it fell apart in her mouth. Still, Steak B was the favorite option of three tasters: Annette, Lauren and me.
However, it was the lowest-ranked steak for the other two respondents. Hank said it was "a little too different for my liking but still enjoyable." Meanwhile, Nora simply liked it but wrote, "would not order again." I'll try not to take it personally.
Steak C: Sous vide at 137 degrees Fahrenheit for 60 minutes (also known as the 137 Club)
In my case, I feel like it was a toss-up between Steak B (middle) and Steak C (left).
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I cooked Steak C at 137 degrees Fahrenheit for an hour before keeping it warm in the 129 degrees Fahrenheit bath with Steak B for another hour. Yes, the extra time affected the final result on Steak C, but seeing that many 137 Club threads suggest cooking for at least 120 minutes, I was fine adding a little more time. The sear turned out a little better than with Steak B.
We all noticed that it wasn't as moist as the other sous vide steak, but it was extremely juicy. However, Steak C was flakier, more tender and seemed to have a deeper flavor because the fat had more time to render out and interact with the meat. Juiciness was the deciding factor for the tasters who preferred the other sous vide steak. But Steak C certainly had fans and was very good, with Hank saying it was "the best of the three in my opinion."
What's the verdict on the 137 Club?
Despite juggling cooking times and completing three steak methods simultaneously, it's always so rewarding to share good food with family.
John Carlsen/CNET
I learned two things from this experiment. First, sous vide steaks cooked at 137 degrees Fahrenheit are just as delicious as other methods. It also seems to render fat more effectively than lower sous vide temperatures with a slightly higher level of doneness. It's ideal when you have a few hours to let the water bath work its magic. This helps balance out some of the confirmation bias of the many positive sentiments on Reddit.
Secondly, whether anyone likes the final result ultimately reflects their personal preferences, and that's fine. While medium rare is very popular for a lot of people, there are individuals -- my wife included -- who prefer medium-well and well-done steaks. (In case you're wondering, she says well-done sous vide steaks are delicious and much more forgiving than on the grill.)
A final bonus lesson is something I've experienced many times -- it's a blast to experiment when you find something interesting that's within your skills. Trying one thing doesn't mean giving up a treasured cooking method or a favorite meal, but it can open up your possibilities and help you find new ways to make great food.