The Reverse Sear Steer (or would I steer you wrong…)

I love cooking on my Big Green Egg. It does an amazing job of holding and maintaining temperature over hours. But there are three challenges when cooking with fire on an Egg (much like the three terrors of the Fire Swamp).

First, the fire area is really hard to get to once you start cooking. You have to move the food and lift the grate up to get at the fire area. Since the Egg can go for something like 12 hours on one set of coals, that is not such a big deal for me.

Second, once you get the heat up, it is hard to get it lower. The Egg is a giant ceramic insulator. Once it builds temperature, its going to hold that temperature. All night long. That’s right, all night long.

Last, I haven’t figured out a way to have a two- or three-tiered fire. By three-tiered fire, I mean, a cooking area that is blazing hot, an area that is medium hot, and an area that is much cooler. A split-level effect, with a little path running between them. Useful for cooking a bunch of things.

So, what does any of this have to do with a reverse sear, and what the heck is a reverse sear steer anyhow? A perfectly grilled steak is a thing of beauty. For thick cut steaks (yay!), the usual practice is to initially sear the steak at really high heat (which forms an amazing sear or crust) and then allow the steak to continue to cook for a period on indirect heat, at a much lower temperature. Once you’ve seared the steak, it is very very rare (Paul says it is already slightly overdone). As it sits over indirect heat, the meat slowly comes up to the temperature that you are looking for. A nice method that gives you pretty good control. For bigger cuts of meat this works well.

Only this sear approach doesn’t work so well on a Big Green Egg. That thing only has one temperature zone. Sure you could crank it up over 600°, but then you will never get it back down again. Sure, you could have two grills going, but that seems kind of wasteful, unless you are cooking for a large crowd. So that is where this reverse sear technique comes in. This technique, also referred to as the Finney Method (named after Chris Finney who thought it up), flips the cooking order. First, under low heat (200-250°) you get the steaks to close to the temperature you are looking for (say for a rare steak, to 110°) and then let the steaks rest, while you crank up the heat to finish them off for a final sear (about a minute or so on each side). What you wind up with is a very tender steak. Many fans of this method say this method produces the best steak that they have ever had. While the meat is still cold, you have the opportunity to add smoke flavoring with wood chunks, saturating the steak with extra flavor. Supposedly, cold meat takes smoke flavor better than hot meat. One downside, is that you probably spend a lot more time than you imagined possible to cook a steak. I’ve enjoyed experimenting with this method, but I’ve had a hard time getting the steak to stay as rare as I would like. So this is my non-scientific travelogue with the technique.

So I tried this the first time with a trio of 1-inch New York steaks. What I discovered is that one inch is probably too thin for this technique. There was a narrow window of time where the steaks were where I wanted them. But the final sear took them over the edge. A little more done than I like, but very tasty.

Beautiful New York cut steaks with some Lagunitas Hop Stoopid Ale on the side

High heat fire to finish the steaks

Finished meal with New York steaks, grilled asparagus, grilled romaine, and baked potatoes with everything. Washed down with some Cline zinfandel.

The next experiment took place at the beginning of my Steak-ation. A week where Diane and Kailani left for New York City and left me to my own devices. Probably not a good idea. Paul and his family came over, and we cut a large rib-eye roast into steaks. One ridiculously large steak, one middle sized, and one junior. We had people that wanted rare, medium rare and well. The Monsignor used to tell my Nana Josephine that if you cooked a steak too much, you cooked all the divinity out of it. That is why I like my steak rare, by the way. It’s not just a culinary choice, it’s a spiritual one.

Jerry communing with the rib-eye roast in its pristine divine state.

Paul thought the roast might already be cooked enough.

What the roast looked like after being cut into steaks.

I wish I had remembered to take pictures of the finished steaks. I think I was having too much fun at the time. At least I felt that way the next morning. The steaks were incredibly flavorful, but still a little well done. Maybe it was me, maybe it was the bourbon! Maybe I wasn’t paying close enough attention… Maybe I needed a little high tech assistance. Enter a belated birthday gift, the iGrill. I’m going to save the complete review of the iGrill until later, but for now, lets just say it is a wi-fi enabled duo thermometer with graphing and other functions. And you can read it from your iPad or iPhone, as long as it is within 200 feet. Coolio!

So the last steer adventure starts with a sale on bone-in ribeyes at Safeway. Would the butcher cut me a couple of 2-inch steaks? He was not sure. Was I going to try and eat the whole thing myself? No, one was for me and Paul, one was for the two girls. Guaranteed leftovers. Somewhat mullified, the butcher agreed to give me two steaks. But told me I was pushing it. Moi? This was for science!

The two-inch ribeyes ready for slow heat. Note the original size.

They were beautiful steaks, and the weber was set up for a slow smoking session, to start. I had some pecan wood to provide the smoke.

One probe went into a ribeye, the other on the grill to monitor the temperature

Sorry about the thumb in the picture. The steaks went about 30 minutes at about 250°, until they were at about 110° internal temperature.

Resting ribeyes waiting for the final sear. Look at the shrinkage from the original steaks!

The steaks rested about 10 minutes, while the temperature in the Big Green Egg escalated above 600°. It was pretty darn hot. Ask me later how I managed to burn off my eyebrow (another story).

Ribeyes were finished at very high heat

The ribeyes were finished for about a minute on each side, over a blisteringly hot fire. Then they rested again. OK, they were really tasty, but still too done for Paul and I. But this was still beautiful, juicy, tender steak. I had made up a mushroom wine sauce (heavy on the mushrooms) as a side. Along with baked potatoes and some early corn. Life was good.

Shrooms are almost ready

Kailani approves. Her steak was just right.

What to serve to drink with such an epic steak. Turns out I had a bottle of 1985 Private Reserve Cabernet. To my surprise, but not Paul’s, it was still well preserved and a fantastic wine. I will leave specific comments for Paul.

1985 Georges De Latour Private Reserve Cabernet. I think Paul is OK with this.

Beyond steak, I have also tried this approach with very thick cut pork chops. I think it might be even better suited for these. After brining the chops, I smoked them and then seared them. I wasn’t as upset when these were not rare.

Sparky says that you can take his reverse seared ribeye bone from him when you dare pry it from his evil paws.

Until next time, my friends. Stay hungry.  And cheers! Jerry.