Searing steak with a good crust

Direct sear in cast iron on egg. Pull tent with foil while put indirect piece in. Place pan back on egg

Chubbs said:

Direct sear in cast iron on egg. Pull tent with foil while put indirect piece in. Place pan back on egg

I've never done it this way, will this give better flavor from being on the egg?

I have cooked steaks using Alton Brown's method (oven and BGE) and the reverse sear.  Reverse sear is the clear winner.  Taste tests confirm the basic theory.  Cook slow, so that the whole steak is cooked to the same temperature - outside to inside.  Then crank up the heat to sear the outside.  That way you have a steak that has a crust on the outside, but is uniformly cooked on the inside.  Searing first gives you a steak that gradually shifts from grey (well done) to rare or medium rare in the middle.  You can do this procedure inside or outside.  Some folks in the restaurant industry put the steaks in a butter bath to hold them to (say) 120 or 125.  Think sous vide in butter.  (Yum!)  They keep them at that temp until they have an order.  The "warmed" steak is then seared to bring it to the customer's preference  - rare or medium rare.

This reminded me or another Alton Brown steak method: Directly on coals.
Anyone try this?  http://altonbrown.com/steak-on-coals/

Tony_T said:

This reminded me or another Alton Brown steak method: Directly on coals.
Anyone try this? 

LOL...

YukonRon said:

I can't remember the last time I used a cooktop 

I used mine (stove top) to make tea for Butt Blast. It didn't know how to act. Oh no....I let the secrete out of the bag.....I bet everyone thought I boiled the water (for the tea) on my egg. 

Powak said:

Is a cast iron grate worth picking up for a large egg?

Two things, yes it is worth it, and 2, you can and will be able to use it for more than just egg use. 

I use my cast iron pans more than my eggs.

Tony_T said:

This reminded me or another Alton Brown steak method: Directly on coals.
Anyone try this?  http://altonbrown.com/steak-on-coals/

Once you go caveman you'll never go back.

OK, you might just add it to your repertoire.  I like to caveman when I'm having people over that I don't know that well.  It's a great conversation starter.  And it works well with better cuts - not just the skirt steak in that video, but the timing on the thicker cuts is a little different. 

I know that many here are - appropriately - not fans of Steve Raichlen (because he used some egghead pics as his own), but I think this is the best video I've seen about caveman steaks for thicker cuts.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hhDTcHFLP7Y

I'm not a fan of the caveman style, though I've tried to like it.  The outside seems to cook much faster than the inside.  I prefer cast iron or a regular grid.

I have the cast iron grate and use it more than my stainless grate.  I would recommend checking out your local TJ Max or something of that nature and just see what they have.  I found a Lodge reversible griddle that I use a lot now for half the price they sell them on the Lodge Website.

i don't know how others do it, but if you sear with the dome closed, you are not only searing the underside, but also cooking the rest of the steak by roasting.

if your goal is to sear only, while adding minimum extra heat (to minimize carryover), you'd do well to keep the dome open.  that way only the underside of the steak is being seared/cooked

all of these methods are essentially the same: sear the steak (for color, flavor, etc.), and roast or heat the steak (in order to bring it most of the way to its final temp).  you can do that in either order, and by a number of different methods.

the more separate those two steps are, the better you can control each

Here is the in between item for cast iron grate and cowboy style.  This is a weber diamond pattern thick cast iron grate for $35 from amazon, and it fits perfectly on the spider in the large and gets steak right down close to coals.  So you can do reverse sear with adjustable rig with steak up high with this grate under the stone, then when ribeye at 115 internal, pull all out except the weber grate, get it up to 550 or so, and 45 seconds per side sear with nice cross hatch grate pattern.  http://www.amazon.com/Weber-8834-Gourmet-System-Grate/dp/B0044ERTDY/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1462323092&sr=8-4&keywords=weber+cast+iron+grate

This is a great product if you have the spider.  I also cook my burgers on this , can do about 4 at a time--is it not as big as the factory grate since it sits further down in the egg

I use the Lodge double-sided griddle....
it does a good job getting those sear marks on the grill side, but you can also flip to the smooth side for the roast portion of the cook. This Lodge piece sits well in a Large Egg. 

Or I'd look for a pan with short handles like this one....  

buzd504 said:

I'm not a fan of the caveman style, though I've tried to like it.  The outside seems to cook much faster than the inside.  I prefer cast iron or a regular grid.

Works if you SV or hot-tub or reverse sear the meat, but otherwise slapping it on cold - you're right.