Steak – Reverse Seared

I’ve recently been experimenting with cooking steaks using the Reverse Sear method.

Common wisdom on cooking steaks on a grill is to put the steaks on a hot grill, until the outside is seared, then either turn down the heat or move the steak to a cooler spot to cook the steak through.

The problem with this is that when the outside is done, the inside might not be, and to continue cooking it can turn it to leather. Also, the traditional method gains nothing from cooking over wood, as the steak is cooked too quickly to receive any additional flavour from the smoke.

The Reverse Sear, as it sounds, reverses the process. The steak is first cooked at a steady low heat, to bring the inside of the steak just short of the required temperature – rare, medium rare etc. Then the steak is taken off for a short while, while the grill is brought up to maximum heat; it is then placed back on the grill for a furious sear of just a minute each side. If cooking with wood, this also provides adequate time for the steak to get a nice smoked taste. I’m currently using mesquite.

My previous attempts at this were both exceedingly tasty, but I failed to get a rare steak. So yesterday I bought myself a 2″ thick steak to cook today, on the theory that a thicker steak might take longer to cook through.

The steak was placed on my GMG Davy Jones pellet grill at its lowest temperature of 150°F (65°C), and allowed to smoke for an hour. I then cranked up the grill to 550°F (290°C) for the sear.

Once again, it was *almost* right. The steak tasted incredible, but it was not quite the amount of done-ness I was looking for.

Obviously, I am smoking it for too long. 150°F is as low as I can go as a grill temp, and the internal temp of the steak is obviously getting up up to at least 140°F for the steak to be medium. I didn’t think the centre would come up to temperature that fast, but obviously it is.

Up to now, I’d been trying to do things by the seat of my pants, but I think to really succeed, I am going to have to use a temperature probe, and take the steak off earlier when an inner temp of about 120°F is reached. In other words, “I’m going to have to science the shit out of this”.