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Is TRex Method just a gimic??

Unknown
edited November -1 in EggHead Forum
Not sure why this is so used. Is there so much a difference made during the resting period? It just seems to make a pretty simple cook so much more time consuming and difficult? [p]Just curious - has anyone every taken 2 steaks from the same piece of meat and cooked one regular and one TRex then found either one to be juicier than the other?[p]Howard

Comments

  • Nature Boy
    Nature Boy Posts: 8,687
    Howard,
    TRex learned this method from a seasoned steak cookin chef he knows down in Texas (if my memory be servin' me okay), so I doubt it's a gimick. A hard heavy hot sear makes sense, and resting the meat after applying really hot temps to the surface makes sense too.[p]One thing I like about the method is that it works great if you happen to have only one egg. Sear heavy, then you can close off the air to your egg...while the steak is resting on a plate....and after 10 or 20 minutes, your egg is ready to finish off the "roasting" part of the steak. If you had two eggs, and could move the seared steak over to a 350 roasting environment right away, instead of resting it, you'd prolly have a righteous steak anyways. Only way to know for sure whether the rest-after-sear helps is to do a side by side experiment. But you'd need identical cuts of meat to learn anything.[p]If your steak is thin enough to get cooked all the way through by simply searing hard on each side, then no TRex is needed. [p]Either way, whether it's the hot sear or the rest, the method has produced many a fine steak. Can't be a gimick. But it's worth looking at while you come up with your own method.[p]Beers!!
    Chris

    DizzyPigBBQ.com
    Twitter: @dizzypigbbq
    Facebook: Dizzy Pig Seasonings
    Instagram: @DizzyPigBBQ
  • Howard,
    Trex is no more difficult than sear and dwell. How difficult is taking the steaks out of the cooker, putting them on a plate and letting them rest? The idea is to let the meat fibers rest and relax after the searing. Nature Boy is right, Trex got this from a professional steak cooker.[p]TNW

    The Naked Whiz
  • db
    db Posts: 103
    Howard,
    Sounds like I need to do an experiment this week.

  • SirKeats
    SirKeats Posts: 159
    Howard,[p]I'm a believer now. Tried it for the first time a month or so ago and it produced a MUCH better steak than I was getting previously. Give it a go and decide for yourself... I bet you'll like it!!
  • FL Bob
    FL Bob Posts: 39
    Howard,
    I've tried both methods several times and have not notice a signifcant difference. Remember we are a cult as eggers go!
    Bob

  • Howard,
    I use this method all the time. IMHO the effects of the rest are marginal but you need that rest time to cool down the Egg. You can’t sear and roast on the same fire. Before I learned of this method I just didn’t sear. I still made good juicy steaks (it’s been pointed out many times here that searing does not hold in juices) I was just missing the sear flavor. The road to non-seared steaks came about from burning the outside of many steaks and having the inside still mooing from trying to cook over too hot a fire. BTW this was pre BGE days.[p]Trex rocks.

  • Howard,
    gimic or not, its the only way i'll cook a thick steak....i really think that if you do it exactly as described, you notice a difference, not in taste, but in the texture of your finished steak. . .just my opinion. . .

  • fishlessman
    fishlessman Posts: 32,668
    Howard,
    ive done the test on the stove, searing on cast iron over a wok burner and dwelling verse searing on cast iron resting and roasting. when searing and dwelling the meat keeps cooking from the outside and the medium rare im looking for is just in the center. the trex gives a nice iniform med rare and you have time to get other things ready while its resting, like another beer, sides, pan gravey etc. i dont find it harder or more time consumeing, it just slows the pace down for a more enjoyable cook.

    fukahwee maine

    you can lead a fish to water but you can not make him drink it
  • Brayon
    Brayon Posts: 24
    What happens for cases where steak is in fact not thick enough to require TRex. Should it be cooked a little longer at 700 or so and that's it?[p]Because once I tried to shorten both the searing time and dwell time, but maybe I should have done it all the way through at 700.
  • Photo Egg
    Photo Egg Posts: 12,110
    Brayon,
    On a thin steak, the high temp sear after rest will normally get you to a finished steak. Some people would prefer to just cook a thin steak at 400 degrees till done. In a pinch I have quick seared on cast iron on the stove at the highest temp I could get with a cold steak just to get a good char and finished on my grill with the side dishes. I try and avoid a skinny steak if I can. Just find a system that works for you. T-Rex, Bowflex, Hot Tub, Cold Shower, if you think it's a great steak it does not matter how you did it.
    Darian

    Thank you,
    Darian

    Galveston Texas
  • BobS
    BobS Posts: 2,485
    fishlessman,
    I can connect with your explanation of the benefits of Trexing better than any I have read so far. I can hardly wait to try it now.[p]