Reverse searing for the first time, but not for the reason you think

[wilburpan]

My older boy did really well on his English test, so we decided to treat him to a steak dinner. I also wanted to try a reverse sear for the first time.
 
First I made a cilantro chimichurri sauce. It’s a basic chimichurri sauce, except that I use cilantro instead of parlsey.
 

 
The steaks were sprinkled with a liberal amount of my usual mix of salt, fresh ground black pepper, and cayenne. I set up Smaug to a temp of about 275ºF, put the steak on the main grill with the deflector in place, and let it come up to my target temperature. Then I cranked the vents open, took out the main grate and deflector, and switched to the lower grate to do the sear.
 
Here’s the tower of steak, because who doesn’t love a tower of steak?
 

 
My steak was a bone-in ribeye. It came out nice.
 

 
Cutting it open revealed a nice even pink interior.
 

 

 
So hurray for the reverse sear, right? Not so fast. This steak wasn’t reverse seared. This steak was cooked the old-fashioned way: plunk it down on the sear grate, wait 3 minutes, flip, 3 minutes, flip, 3 minutes, flip, and 3 minutes, flip.
 
Here’s the reverse sear steak. It was a strip steak for my wife. She likes strip steaks more than ribeyes. And she likes her steak medium well. It’s her only flaw.
 

 
This is the steak that I did the reverse sear on. During the first phase, the two ribeyes were on a plate in my kitchen. I brought them out when I switched to the sear part.
 
I haven’t had reverse seared steaks before, but I have had sous vide steaks. I don’t really see that much difference between a sous vide steak and a steak grilled properly with conventional methods. The main reason for doing the reverse sear on my wife’s steak was so I could cook the inside to her liking and still get a sear on the outside. If I had cooked it using conventional grilling, the outside would be burned before the interior would be cooked to a medium well.
 
In any case, the steaks turned out great. They were so good that we were halfway done eating them before we remembered that we had chimichurri sauce to put on them.

[CeramicChef]

Wilbur - again, killer kook on Smaug!  

 

You know, for a guy who is supposedly learning the art of kamado kooking, you sure know how to hit the pill outta the park!  Nicely done!

 

Oh, and BTW, if the only flaw SWMBOI has is liking her steak a little more done than is optimal, you've got the winning ticket!  

[dstr8]

After looking at your steak photos wilburpan...I had to take some steaks out of the freezer today and take a break from pizza making

 

I am a reverse sear griller...but it mostly comes into play with steaks at least an inch thick...and even better at 1-1/4"+ thickness.  

[tony b]

Wilburpan, first, great looking steak cook!, Second, next sous vide steak cook, try this tip I learned from Dennis - Sear it first, then put into the sous vide pouch and finish in the water bath. Interesting variation.

 

Love the multiple ways to cook a steak on the KK. So far, I'm still leaning to the frozen steak cook, but just slightly over sous vide (conventional method - bath first, then sear). Great way to sear a steak first, without overcooking it, especially a thinner cut. I've also learned to give myself extra temperature range for doing a reverse sear (conventional or sous vide) - at least 15F from target final when I start the sear and to do shorter times between flips (15 secs each) - you don't get as much heat penetration that way. YMMV

[wilburpan]

Actually, I’m going to take a pass on sous vide. I’ve had steaks cooked sous vide before, and as I alluded to above, I don’t really see the need for that, at least for the steaks I cook and how I cook them. Plus, that would require the purchase of more hardware, and after bringing Smaug home, I think I hit my allotment for the year.

 

Based on this experience, going forward, I’ll probably only do a reverse sear for my wife’s steaks, just to give it a head start for cooking so she can have her medium well steak.

[wilburpan]

After looking at your steak photos wilburpan...I had to take some steaks out of the freezer today and take a break from pizza making

 

I am a reverse sear griller...but it mostly comes into play with steaks at least an inch thick...and even better at 1-1/4"+ thickness.  

 

These steaks were 1-1/2†thick. Again, I can’t see how reverse searing would have given me better results.

[tony b]

I can definitely see your point on another "pricey gadget;" at $199 for an Anova, it's not a cavalier purchase. But, in my case, I use it not just in the kitchen, but also in my brewing room for getting my sparge water at the correct temperature. Keeps it from being, as Alton Brown puts it, a "uni-tasker." And, I cook a lot more other stuff with it than just steaks. Simplest way to make perfect soft-boiled eggs and seafood comes out amazing.

[DennisLinkletter]

The most amazing item I've cooked sous vide is shrimp. You can cook them to where they are crunchy and squeak on your teeth.

Awesome..  

I was given some 1" steaks which are so easy to over cook..  I sous vide them to 130º then put them in the fridge.

Next day I seared them hot and fast cold.. the outside was browned and the cold protected the inside from getting past the 130º and after the rest they were plenty hot enough to eat.. 

[tony b]

Amazing that I'd never considered cooking the steak sous vide in advance and just stashing it in the fridge (or even the freezer) and just finishing it up on the sear grate. Dennis, you're just crazy innovative!