I gave vacuum steak a second try and this time used a better cut, went with a longer cook time, was more aggressive with salting, and used thicker pieces.

The results were glorious.

From SuburbanAdventureRehost

Sous vide is a cooking style where one brings the food to the appropriate temperature in a water bath while it is in a vacuum-sealed bag. It allows for ridiculous cooking times like say 32 hours to prepare short ribs allowing even tough meats to become buttery. Sous vide equipment can be quite expensive but if something has a short cooking time (less than six hours) one can get close with a cooler, thermometer, and a vacuum food preserving rig.

Today was my first try with sous vide steak and the cut was an inexpensive chuck steak that were thin and bathed for four hours.

Thoughts:

• Igloo cooler lost four degrees an hour.  Far too fast for long cook times without a lot of water changes.
• Chuck steak is a tougher cut compared to most steak cuts.  It needs either a marinade or longer cooking time.
• Water at 140 degrees was too high, shoot for 125 to get a proper medium rare.
• Cut was too thin to get a proper sear without also overcooking the inside.
• When one consumes edamame, do not eat the pods.

Hobo sous vide has potential.  I look forward to trying it again with a slightly better cut.