reverse sear

Boilermaker Ben

Last time I cooked steak (strips) I T-rexed 'em. This time I've got a couple ribeyes, and I'd like to try the reverse sear technique. Do you do raised grid or indirect for the low-temp portion? 300-ish? And to what temperature would you recommend cooking a 3/4" ribeye before raising temps and searing?

stike

i think you might risk overcooking with a 3/4" inch steak.

you could probably sear it entirely and not do the roast portion of the cook. if you like rare, just sear at 500 maybe 600 to your liking.

if you like medium rare, you could go at 400-500 for a longer time. that will slow the sear enough so that you can get by just searing and still get to medium before the exterior is toast.

those two-stage cooks (Trex, Xert, even hot tubbing) work best on thick steaks...

Nicolas_Kershanko

Here is a link to a person that quotes the Cooks Illustrated method of cooking steaks (reverse sear). I have the magazine at home with it in it and I have done it a couple of times. It's how I will do them from now on.
How to Cook a Perfect Steak

Nicolas_Kershanko

Here is another summary and after reading through it, it does quote pretty closely the data that was in the original Cooks Illustrated article:


Cooking the Perfect Steak
Summarized by Emery Paine from an article in Cooks Illustrated, May-June 2007

Cooking thin steaks is easy. You take your thawed steak, slap it on a grill or a smoking-hot oiled skillet, flip it a few times and you’ve got dinner. However, try this with a thick steak, one that’s an inch or two thick, and by the time it’s cooked through and the outside is nicely seared, you’ve got a strip of dry, grey, chewy meat between the well-browned crust and the juicy, pink center.

You can avoid this. Here’s how: thaw the steak (strip steaks, rib-eye steaks and filet mignons) in the refrigerator, marinated as you will, and put it directly into a 275 degree oven for about 20-30 minutes, depending on how well done you want it. For medium-rare it’s about 20-25 minutes, until the internal temperature is about 90-95 degrees. For medium it’s about 25-30 minute, with an internal temperature of about 100-105 degrees. If you’re cooking a filet mignon, add about five minutes.

This does a couple of things. For one, it dries the outside edge of the meat, making it so that the skillet or grill doesn’t need to boil off the liquid before it starts searing the steak. Second, it raises the temperature of the steak, making it such that it takes less time to cook. That gives the steak less time to dry out and form that grey strip. It also speed-ages the meat. There are enzymes in the meat, called cathepsins, which break down the connective tissue and make the steak more tender. As the temperature within the meat rises, the enzymes work faster and faster, until the temperature reaches 122 degrees, at which point they stops. Warming the steaks before cooking them gives the enzymes more time to work.

Now that your steaks are ready, heat up the grill or an oiled skillet over high heat until it’s smoking. Place the steaks on the skillet or the grill and sear until well browned and crusty, which should take about 1 ½ to 2 minutes. If you’re using a skillet you should lift the steak once about halfway through to let the fat redistribute underneath each steak, reducing heat if it begins to burn. Turn over to brown the other side, which should take from 2 to 2 ½ minutes.

If you want to sear the sides, you need to be able to hold the steaks vertically. Tongs work, though there are undoubtedly other ways to do this. Each edge should take about 1 ½ minutes to sear on medium heat.

The result of this process should be thick, juicy steaks with a tender, pink interior and a beautifully seared crust. Enjoy.