tuftears | Cooking Experiments: Sous Vide Sirloin Steak, Mexican Lasagna Redux

I guess these aren't really very experimental, but...

Those of you following my experiments with sous vide may recall that I praised flank steaks as being really, really tasty. This is still true, but then I discovered that flank steaks are also relatively fatty as far as cuts of beef go. So I decided to try some other cuts of beef, less fatty but still (theoretically) flavorful.

This is a top sirloin steak. It is tasty. Not quite as tasty as the flank steak, but it is quite satisfying. It's served with spinach/scrambled eggs and an attempt at a pilar (leftover rice mixed with chicken stock and mixed veggies). I don't think the pilar worked really well; next time I will probably resort to the microwave in order to remove excess moisture.

So what about the lasagna? I've made it before, what makes it experimental?

I was chatting with a friend who said she might try to make Mexican lasagna herself, but asked me if she should oil the pan first so the bottom tortillas would become crispy while baking. I thought about it a bit. It seemed as if there wouldn't be much point; having wet filling on top of the flour tortilla would prevent it from getting crispy anyway. Then I had a thought. What if you cooked the bottom flour tortilla separately first?

So I tried that.

Turns out that you really want to weigh the tortillas down or else they'll flex upward. I pushed the tortillas down, causing them to break, then I melted some shredded mozzy cheese on top as a protective layer. Then I started putting filling in.

Overall the top layer is the only layer of the tortillas you can really count on to be crispified. The bottom layer really didn't stay crispy as I had hoped. That might change if I actually crisped a full layer of cheese at the bottom, like microwaved nachos. Overall though, that's going to a lot of work just to try and make crispy Mexican lasagna. So, I would say it's not worth trying to crisp the tortillas at the bottom.

Mexican lasagna still tastes great, mind you. So it wasn't a waste of food!