Reverse sear question

Sweet100s

Would you bring a rib-eye or tri-tip to room temp before you do a reverse sear? 

If yes, what is "room temp" for those who start your cook with a meat thermometer in? 

I hot tubbed a rib-eye once  to 73 but then didn't  get enough smoke taste on the meat by the time it reached 128.

Derrick300

Ive done it both ways, but because your cooking low and slow to a given temp (110 for me) it really doesn't make much difference.
But generally/habit, I start with 1.75"-2" rib-eyes, season and leave out for 1.5 to 2 hours. Always turns out great.

Hope this helps

Skiddymarker

I'm a right out of the fridge and into a low temp egg kinda guy, my MBGE is very happy at about 225ºF grid. The cooler meat has a bit longer to take on some smoke before the internal temp gets to the "pull me off and sear me" stage, IMHO. I put SWMBO's on 15 to 20 minutes before mine 'cause she likes hers ruined. Lately, we have forgone the smoke for SV steak with a torch or CI sear. 

If you want smoke, seems logical that a steak with a stable internal temp of 70ºF will take less time to get to say a 120º internal time to sear stage than a 38ºF steak will. The down side of course is that the from the fridge steak will be a touch more done on the outer edges than a room temp steak. 

Guess you make a choice, bit more smoke or edge to edge finish. 

SmokeyPitt

Here is an interesting article that make sense to me.  I think the whole "bring to room temp" is a waste of time in most situations, and definitely not necessary for a reverse sear. It isn't going to hurt anything letting the meat sit out for an hour or so...but it isn't going to help anything either .

http://amazingribs.com/tips_and_technique/mythbusting_letting_meat_come_to_room_temp.html 

A steak cooked reverse sear. In the reverse sear process you are heating gently in a 225°F oven during the initial stage and then searing at Warp 10 at the end. As we have shown, it can take two hours to get to room temp and in the oven/grill/pit it gets there in about 15 minutes. It is actually faster to go directly to the grill from the fridge or freezer.