Reverse sear with a lil cast iron

Powak

Thinking about doing a reverse sear with some big ‘a ribeyes. Planning on doing the roast in the oven and the sear on the egg but instead of going direct on the coals in thinking about throwing my Lodge griddle in and searing on that because we love that cast iron burn. Anybody else done this on the egg? Wonder how hot I should run it for searing on cast iron? Normally I’m at 650° for open flame direct sears.

Foghorn

Yes.  I'm doing it this evening.  Anywhere at 500 or higher works.  I don't seem to get much more from going higher.  I actually don't know what temperature I use these days because I just do it with the lid open as the flames are heating the cast iron.

ChrisgrillsSTLMO

Greetings-

Well, I usually go for 600° for 2 min, then flip for 1 min, then rest. I am sure there are others who can speak to this as well. Please post some pics!

Cheers,

Money_Hillbilly

@Powak I cook burgers, steaks and fish on a cast iron griddle raised direct on a Woo regularly.  I will tell you the best approach i have found is to use an infrared thermometer on the cast iron. There is little correlation between dome temp and the actual cast iron temp depending on when I place it on the grill. I shoot for 500 on the griddle.  If you go much hotter it tends to burn before the protein is ready.

Powak

Egg was frozen shut! Had to resort to the kettle but still came out damn good.

lentsboy007

Powak said:

Egg was frozen shut! Had to resort to the kettle but still came out damn good.

Get u a Rutland gasket to replace the stock gaskets if u want to solve that frozen shut problem . 

Carolina Q

Rutland is not a cure-all, but it is a cure-most. Mine has frozen once or twice - since 2009. Same gasket too.

nolaegghead

PSA - dome temp isn't going to be the same as the temp of some hot CI on your grate.  Like @Money_Hillbilly said, an IR gun works well.

You might hear about Ruth's Chris using 1200F (or whatever the temp is) broilers to sear their steaks.  regardless of whether or not the heat comes from the top or bottom, the radiant heat can be very high and you have plenty of time before you burn your steak.  Consequently, conductive heat, from a pan, transfers so quickly you can easily immediately burn a steak on hot cast iron. So you don't want your cast iron over 600F, and 500F is better.

Another consideration:  When you are using pans with a much lower thermal mass than thick cast iron (stainless steel, carbon steel, etc), you can overshoot your temp a bit because that cool steak will lower the temp of your steel before it starts burning.  There's some moisture on the surface that needs to evaporate before the burning starts. 

Searing too many scallops at once is a good lesson on the moisture dropping the heat on the pan.

Mark_B_Good

500F to 600F is the sear zone ... and you won't need long ... 10 seconds for thinner steaks ... 15 sec to 20 sec for thicker steaks PER SIDE.

Powak

lentsboy007 said:

Powak said:

Egg was frozen shut! Had to resort to the kettle but still came out damn good.

Get u a Rutland gasket to replace the stock gaskets if u want to solve that frozen shut problem . 

I installed mine in the fall and it still froze! Couldn’t believe it. 

GrateEggspectations

lentsboy007 said:

Powak said:

Egg was frozen shut! Had to resort to the kettle but still came out damn good.

Get u a Rutland gasket to replace the stock gaskets if u want to solve that frozen shut problem . 

I routinely Egg in 0 F temps and colder, and have not yet had the Rutland on my LBGE or MMBGE freeze. 

nolaegghead

GrateEggspectations said:

lentsboy007 said:

Powak said:

Egg was frozen shut! Had to resort to the kettle but still came out damn good.

Get u a Rutland gasket to replace the stock gaskets if u want to solve that frozen shut problem . 

I routinely Egg in 0 F temps and colder, and have not yet had the Rutland on my LBGE or MMBGE freeze. 

It's highly dependent on weather/climate.  Colder, dryer climates will have some degree of less ice formation and sublimation of small amounts of ice.

nolaegghead

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paqman

nolaegghead said:

GrateEggspectations said:

lentsboy007 said:

Powak said:

Egg was frozen shut! Had to resort to the kettle but still came out damn good.

Get u a Rutland gasket to replace the stock gaskets if u want to solve that frozen shut problem . 

I routinely Egg in 0 F temps and colder, and have not yet had the Rutland on my LBGE or MMBGE freeze. 

It's highly dependent on weather/climate.  Colder, dryer climates will have some degree of less ice formation and sublimation of small amounts of ice.

My gasket never froze until this winter.  Not sure what is going on but it happened a couple of times this year.  Must be COVID 🤷‍♂️

Powak

paqman said:

nolaegghead said:

GrateEggspectations said:

lentsboy007 said:

Powak said:

Egg was frozen shut! Had to resort to the kettle but still came out damn good.

Get u a Rutland gasket to replace the stock gaskets if u want to solve that frozen shut problem . 

I routinely Egg in 0 F temps and colder, and have not yet had the Rutland on my LBGE or MMBGE freeze. 

It's highly dependent on weather/climate.  Colder, dryer climates will have some degree of less ice formation and sublimation of small amounts of ice.

My gasket never froze until this winter.  Not sure what is going on but it happened a couple of times this year.  Must be COVID 🤷‍♂️

HAHAHAHAH I think my egg caught covid. I’ve never had a Rutland freeze before but this one did.

Mark_B_Good

I put metal spacers in between my gaskets ... keeps the gaskets apart enough to prevent it freezing together.

GrateEggspectations

paqman said:

nolaegghead said:

GrateEggspectations said:

lentsboy007 said:

Powak said:

Egg was frozen shut! Had to resort to the kettle but still came out damn good.

Get u a Rutland gasket to replace the stock gaskets if u want to solve that frozen shut problem . 

I routinely Egg in 0 F temps and colder, and have not yet had the Rutland on my LBGE or MMBGE freeze. 

It's highly dependent on weather/climate.  Colder, dryer climates will have some degree of less ice formation and sublimation of small amounts of ice.

My gasket never froze until this winter.  Not sure what is going on but it happened a couple of times this year.  Must be COVID 🤷‍♂️

Do you have Rutlands? Pre-Rutland, I had to keep foil between gaskets, but post-Rutland, I haven’t yet experienced freezing. My suspicion for your experience this season is the humidity. It’s been a damp, mild winter to date.

Mark_B_Good

I honestly don't know what the big deal is ... just buy like 4 of these for $1 and stick them between your gasket, and close lid. Problem solved ... don't know why we are making a mountain out of a mole hill.