Reverse Sear

[normstar]

Gents,

When you reverse sear a steak, what is your target temp for the roasting portion? Also, how long do you let it rest? A guru whom I know does a low temp roast in the oven - about 250 - in a cast iron skillet. Then he lets it rest for about an hour, a long time, and allows the temp to come down. Then he does a HARD sear on a cast iron skillet. That way the chance of overcooking is minimized.

What do yall do?

[MacKenzie]

normstar, I trust you are open to hearing a woman's point of view,    I put the steak on the grill at 250-275F and just let it be until the internal temp. was 125F. Take it off the grill, cover and open the vents and when I have a good set of lump in flames the steak would go back on the grill to sear for perhaps a minute then flip to do the other side. When doing steak on the grill I like mine to be reasonably cooked. I'm not into rare. Now if doing the steak by sous vide I'd have the bath set at 132F and it would come out cooked but it would look very red:)  I do my burgers the same way but I'd cook them on the grill until the internal temp was about 150F not the usual 160 or so because normally I'd grind my own beef so hopefully missing all the bacteria contamination associated with ground meats from the store. It certainly takes longer to cook this way but I'm not is a rush, just want to enjoy the results. That's my 2 cents..

[dstr8]

I have a sous vide set-up but lack the patience on most occasions for using it for reverse sear.  So I just place the steaks on an oven proof dish in a 200* oven for about 20-30 minutes, until the interior temp comes up to 120*F and then finish it on our hot KK.  But regardless I believe the long-ish post sear rest is key to a juicy tender steak.  

[ckreef]

I definitely like MD rare and can even go closer to the rare side. I also like a good Sear.

With that said, when doing a reverse sear, I will pull in the 115* - 120*. Then get the coals rageing and do a 2 minutes per side Sear. I usually only do reverse sears on steaks greater than 1 1/2" thick.

If they are really thick (greater than 2") I'll let it go to 125* before the Sear.

[MacKenzie]

ckreef, I want one of your steaks

[ckreef]

ckreef, I want one of your steaks

TY MacKenzie - if you can actually find the Backyard Bistro and show up me and Mrs skreef will cook a dinner and desert of your choosing.

The cheese crusted steaks are top shelf for sure.

[tinyfish]

For the Reefs cooking I would hunt high and low to find the bistro.

[MacKenzie]

Tinyfish, I'll stop on my way and pick you up between the two of us we should be able to find him easily

[Cookie]

Here is a chart that created and have saved in my iPhone:

 

 

 

 

[tony b]

If you're doing a reverse sear, you need to flip often and quickly so you don't overcook the steak. Initially roast it to about 15 degrees below your final temp. You pick up about half of that during the reverse sear and the remainder during the rest period. Final sear on the KK (lower grate, not sear grate) screaming hot fire - 1 minute each side, then rotate 90 degrees  for 30 seconds each side, to get sear and grill marks, without overcooking.

 

Like ckreef said, you do need to make adjustments for the thickness. I normally cook steaks in the 1" thick range, hence the flip quickly and often method. The big boys (1.5" + range) are a lot more forgiving on the reverse sear, but obviously take more time in the roasting phase. That's one of the side benefits of sous vide - the thickness doesn't really change the cooking time in the bath, since it's so long to start with (typically 2 - 4 hours).