Hot take: I sous-vided a chuck roast for 36 hours and it felt like cheating
I was trying to mimic the texture of a prime rib for a dinner party in Portland without the price tag, so I cooked a 4-pound chuck roast at 135F for a day and a half. When I seared it, it sliced like butter and tasted like a $100 cut for maybe $25. Has anyone else had a protein that transformed way more than you thought it would with that kind of time?
My neighbor in Bend tried that exact method last winter. The texture was tender, I'll give you that, but it lacked the real beefy flavor and crust of a proper prime rib cooked over fire. That long bath just gives it a uniform, almost soft feel that misses the point of good meat for me. It's a neat trick, but the result is its own thing, not a replacement. The soul of a roast comes from the dry heat and the fat rendering differently.