Cowboy Rib-eye - Best Steak I've Ever Had

johnmitchell

I think every adjective has been used up on this thread...

^:)^

KiterTodd

That looks awesome!

Have you experimented with the normal sear and compared it to a reverse sear?   Just curious.   Not that it looks like you need to change anything here!  (folks on this forum just seem to be nutty about the reverse sear.)

thailandjohn

You nailed it......

jfm0830

First of all, thanks for the additional comments on this post. It's funny that it is coming back to life when it did. I will be having some special guests soon and I was trying to decide what to make. I am strongly leaning towards making some Cowboy Rib-eyes. 

As for the reverse sear, and this is just one man's opinion, I am not a fan. I have tried it, and it has been reasonably successful, but I personally don't care for it. I like the idea of getting the proper sear on the steak and then taking it up to the desired doneness temperature at which time I can pull it without any hesitation. This works correctly every time whether my grill is running a little high or low in terms of cooking temperature. With the reverse sear you have to try to guess when to start searing the steak. I don't like this because you may guess wrong and end up not getting enough of a sear on it or getting too much depending on how you guessed. Also if your grill is running at a higher or lower than the last time, that can affect the degree of sear you get as well. 

Another reason I like doing thick steaks the conventional way, is I can leave the temperature probes out of the meat while I am doing the direct portion of the cook. When I switch over to indirect I can insert the probes and monitor the cook the rest of the way. Doing the sear at the end I have to have the probes in during the direct portion of the cook too so I know when the steak is cooked. I run the risk of flareups damaging my temperature probes. 

I know one of the reasons folks do a reverse sear is because it is easier to raise the temperature quickly in a Big Green Egg, than it is to lower it. If I need to do a high temperature sear followed by a lower temperature indirect cook, I cheat. Where I have two Big Green Eggs, I can use one for the high-temperature sear and set the other one up to do the lower temperature indirect portion of the cook. I know this is not an option that is available to everybody, but since I have the two Eggs anyway why not take advantage of it? This way I don't have to pull and hold the steaks while I wait for the Egg to reach my higher searing temperature. 

As I said: this is just one man's opinion. For those of you who like doing reverse sear more power to you. I'm not going to tell you that your steak doesn't taste delicious too. As long as we both get the same great final results, how we got there is a lot less important.

Jim

radamo

Awesome looking steak @jfm0830!!!  Is that the BGE half moon raised grid?  Did you use the half baking stone wrapped in foil under it or something else?   

jfm0830

Thanks @radamo !. That is the BGE Half Moon Raised Grid and it is that unit's drip pan I wrapped in foil that is being used. For the record, that setup can just fit two of these bad boys.

minniemoh

@jfm0830 - I wasn't even on the forum yet when this thread started. That is one very nice looking steak! 

With regard to when to sear, I have had a couple of good reverse sears but I too find the guess work a bit too risky to use sometimes - for example on a very large cook. My chest freezer died a few weeks ago. I caught it before all the meat thawed/spoiled and was able to save about 20 lbs of 2" thick New York strips that I had recently purchased. (Also had 15 lbs of 1.5" pork chops to eat) We invited all the neighbors and ate 'em! 

I was too busy cooking to get pictures. Here's one my BIL took after I seared all the steaks and put them on at 300 degrees indirect to finish. I seared with spider and cast iron on the LBGE at 700 in the background.

jfm0830

Thanks @minnimoh these are some pretty fine looking steaks you got there yourself. 

I never though of the risk of doing reverse sear with a very large cook, but that is true too. I am probably going to cook 4 of these Cowboy Rib-eyes in a few weeks. I will do like I mentioned above and like you did with your steaks: sear on 1 Egg and finish on the other. Since we both have multiple Eggs why not take advantage of it? I like the idea of getting the sear right and then the meat takes what it takes to cook to the right doneness. The other way if you guess wrong you have to sacrifice either your desired doneness or a good sear. There is no reason not to get both.