Forward sear/reverse sear Gordon Ramsey method moved to the egg

Powak

SWMBO and I have made some mean thick steaks in the house doing both the forward sear and the reverse sear with butter bath in the cast iron skillet. Are there some sure fire ways to translate this to the egg to avoid smokin the house out? I love using the cast iron because of the sear. Kinda wondering about doing a forward sear with the egg at 450-500, preheating the cast iron in it, searing then closing the dome for the finish. Thoughts?

Foghorn

It takes the egg a long time to cool down, so forward sear at 450-500 means you will also be roasting the steaks at a pretty high temp - unless you can wait 30 minutes or more.

I've been using a cast iron plancha as my heat blocker instead of my ConvEGGtor (platesetter).  I roast the meat at 225 or so on an upper swing grate until it gets over 100 degrees and then swing the upper grate off to the side and leave the lid of the egg open.  I shut the bottom vent so the fire spreads across the top of the charcoal.  When the cast iron is very hot (500 or so) I put some butter on it and then sear the steaks for about 1.5 minutes per side.  

I haven't standardized the sear temperature or time, but with an infrared thermometer on the cast iron I could probably do that.

Here are some pics and some results.

Powak

Boy that looks delicious! I could swing that with my grid extender/d-grate over my cast iron skillet 

Foghorn

That should work.  For years, I would read posts on here about how people don't like going out for steak because they can do better at home.  I was only able to achieve that level of execution sporadically until I started doing this.  This has gotten me consistently good results.

JohnfromKentucky

@Foghorn where did you get that cast iron plancha if you don't mind me asking? I like that design

Foghorn

@JohnfromKentucky, I honestly don't remember.  I think it was Williams Sonoma, but I just searched their site and they don't seem to have them in cast iron any more - although the shape and handles are the same as what I have.  Mine doesn't have the grooves for grease runoff.

The Cen-Tex Smoker

Foghorn said:

It takes the egg a long time to cool down, so forward sear at 450-500 means you will also be roasting the steaks at a pretty high temp - unless you can wait 30 minutes or more.

I've been using a cast iron plancha as my heat blocker instead of my ConvEGGtor (platesetter).  I roast the meat at 225 or so on an upper swing grate until it gets over 100 degrees and then swing the upper grate off to the side and leave the lid of the egg open.  I shut the bottom vent so the fire spreads across the top of the charcoal.  When the cast iron is very hot (500 or so) I put some butter on it and then sear the steaks for about 1.5 minutes per side.  

I haven't standardized the sear temperature or time, but with an infrared thermometer on the cast iron I could probably do that.

Here are some pics and some results.

I think I was there for the cook in the top pic. If not,
it looked a lot like it. Listen to this man-  One if the best steaks i have ever eaten. And he was
limping around on a bad wheel while he did it. 

Powak

I wound up doin the ole reverse sear without the pans. Put the fire to it. Came out killer! 

Foghorn

That looks great.  Do what works for you - and that obviously did.

JohnfromKentucky

I had to look it up (forward sear/reverse sear) and I am going to try this next time I cook steaks. Looks great!

Hansm

Not an issue on the BGE at all. I sear steaks on  the lower part of the Eggspander. Then do the butter bath on the top of the eggspander more than 200 degrees difference  from the bottom to the top

lousubcap

@JohnfromKentucky - when you try the reverse sear give the caveman method a shot for the finish.  Plenty of info here on the caveman:
Caveman steak. Give it a go. Some pics and how to make it happen-