Just saw that on May 9, 2014, I reverse seared my first steak. Here was I wrote about my first Ribeye:

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Trying something different with tonight's ribeye - a reverse sear. I'm grilling the ribeye at 225F, pulling the steak at 110F, and putting on scalding hot cast iron pan to sear on both sides until it's 130F. Here is an article on reverse searing thick meats.

...

Absolutely incredible! Evenly cooked the whole way through, a nice char on the outside, and the gray (well done meat) was just sliver thickness before getting to the medium rare meat. This is THE way to cook thick steaks!

Since then, nearly every thick steak I have cooked has been reverse seared. I've tweaked the temperature to transfer from the 225 heat source (e.g. BGE) to the scalding hot cast iron skillet to somewhere between 115 and 120 (i.e. I stop what I'm doing when the Maverick beeps at 115; gather the plate, tongs, and Thermapen; and pull the steak off the 225 heat source).

How many times do you flip your meat while it is on the egg?

Thanks for posting the details, I'm going to try 'your way' very soon with a few thick steaks.

Mmmmmm...... I'm hungry now!!

Thanks for posting. Going to give that a try.

Happy anniversary! I've been reverse searing for a long time. I do it on the open fire of my firebox after smoking the steaks to a temp of 115 or so like you do. If i'm doing them in the house I sear them first in a hot cast iron pan for a couple of minutes each side and then transfer the pan and steaks into a 400 degree oven until I hit the temp of 125 or so.

Nothing beats the taste of a open oak wood fire reverse sear. This is a tri tip getting the treatment I did a few weeks back.

I have been wanting to give this a shot and I have some filets ready to grill.

Thanks for posting this, tatortodd. I may have to try this out this weekend.

Happy steak-iversary!

I can thank your (and lastmanstanding) threads for getting me to try what seems counter-intuitive. I have received many compliments on my reverse seared steaks.

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Originally posted by will347wax:
How many times do you flip your meat while it is on the egg?

That statement may be TMI or DADT or both.

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Originally posted by Sig2340:

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Originally posted by will347wax:
How many times do you flip your meat while it is on the egg?

That statement may be TMI or DADT or both.

During the indirect cooking phase (225f) I flip zero times since it’s indirect cooking. I’ve tried flipping at 80 but can’t taste the difference as the grill marks are charred over by sear.

During the sear stage, I flip about every 60 seconds until thermopen says it reached temp. The beauty of the cast iron skillet is you get an even malliard reaction instead of just grill marks.

Yep it's the only way for me.
Only exception is thin steaks.

Thin steaks just go on the pan for a few minutes each side.

Sometime I get lazy and don't what to take an hour or more to cook a steak. But I've done the reverse sear a few times, and the steaks have come out nicely.

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Originally posted by smschulz:
Yep it's the only way for me.
Only exception is thin steaks.

I've tried the reverse sear method and can't tell the difference to be honest. For me, it's meh...too much trouble when I can get an awesome steak the old-fashioned way.

Granted, I have my steaks cut on the thinner side (3/4"-1") as some of those thick ones get to the point of why don't you just have a roast.

I don't do a cast iron sear either for several reasons. One, getting a skillet that hot is not good for the pan. The antique ones that I have will warp at too high of temps. Newer and thicker ones might fare better in this regard but I don't own/use them so I don't know. Second, tossing a hunk of meat into a smoking hot skillet makes a huge splattering mess and I'm averse to cleaning up after, so why make more work for myself?

I've tried the sous vide method as well and the meat turned out good, but again...too much trouble and too time consuming for an outcome that isn't any better than what I normally do.

Egg to around 600F. Room temp steak of the above thickness covered in Montreal (or Lawry's if I want to mix it up a bit). Toss on the meat. Two minutes. Flip. Two minutes. Flip and add some butter to the top. Shut down egg and smoke for two minutes. Done to a perfect medium rare, and no clean up afterwards. All I have to do is eat and wash the plate. Six minutes start to finish.

If you like this reverse, cast iron, sous vide, whatever method, that's great. Do what you like and more power too you. I'm just a minimalist who abhors cleaning up, and if I can do it another way to get a result that is every bit as good (IMO), why bother?

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Egg to around 600F. Room temp steak of the above thickness covered in Montreal (or Lawry's if I want to mix it up a bit). Toss on the meat. Two minutes. Flip. Two minutes. Flip and add some butter to the top. Shut down egg and smoke for two minutes. Done to a perfect medium rare, and no clean up afterwards. All I have to do is eat and wash the plate. Six minutes start to finish.

This is on my "DO IT SOON" list!!!!

I've been doing reverse sear for thick steaks for a while and it works really well.

I also like to use it for an "eye round" roast, around 3 pounds, marinated for 12 hours, and cooked slowly on the grill with a little smoke, allowed to cool, and then hot seared to finish.
Sliced thin. Serve with au jus or a horseradish and sour cream sauce.

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Originally posted by Gustofer:
I've tried the reverse sear method and can't tell the difference to be honest. ....

Quit hate'n.

There is giant difference, you really can't say that seriously.

Show me a picture side by side of reverse sear and sear first method where you have the same doneness gradient. It simply won't happen. You can heat the steak to near cooked, then sear to get final 10°. You end up with near top to bottom med-rare, instead you get brown-gray-light pink, pink, red. While they may taste 90% the same, there's still a difference. Besides the minor taste difference, the protected threads look a lot sexier with wall to wall dark pink.

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Originally posted by Skins2881:

quote:

Originally posted by Gustofer:
I've tried the reverse sear method and can't tell the difference to be honest. ....

Quit hate'n.

There is giant difference, you really can't say that seriously.

Show me a picture side by side of reverse sear and sear first method where you have the same doneness gradient. It simply won't happen. You can heat the steak to near cooked, then sear to get final 10°. You end up with near top to bottom med-rare, instead you get brown-gray-light pink, pink, red. While they may taste 90% the same, there's still a difference. Besides the minor taste difference, the protected threads look a lot sexier with wall to wall dark pink.

Not only that, saying 6 minutes vs an hour is misleading at best. Two additional time requirements were left out:

It takes much longer to get a BGE up to 600F than 225F and that time needs to be factored into overall time. My 12 to 16 oz ribeyes take about 35 minutes on the slow portion plus the 10 minutes to get it lit and heated to 225. I can hit 225 365 days a year with old charcoal in any climate (Houston, Calgary, or Anchorage), and I couldn't say that for 600F with old charcoal on a rainy/snowy day when I lived in Calgary or Anchorage (it would take new charcoal).

Cleaning time of charcoal. To hit 600F in cooler/cold weather you're either letting it burn out completely (i.e. you have a lot of ash removal time before starting new fire) or you're spending time pitching perfectly good old charcoal before putting in new charcoal.

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Ego is the anesthesia that deadens the pain of stupidity

DISCLAIMER: These are the author's own personal views and do not represent the views of the author's employer.

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Originally posted by Skins2881:
While they may taste 90% the same, there's still a difference.

Well, my caveman palate tastes no difference. Mine are as good as I want and that's what matters.

And, while you guys are still cleaning up, I've got my feet up and sipping a drink.

Seriously though, I'm not knocking the method if anyone wants to do it. I think it's great to explore and enjoy different ways of cooking. I've tried it and it's just not for me.