Yesterday I listened to an archived BBQ Central Radio Show from March 25, 2008 where Greg Rempe interviewed Chris Finney and discussed the concept of the reverse sear for steaks. Very, very interesting as I had not ever heard of this concept before. I tried it out tonight on a New York from Costco. Here's how it went . . .
Here's the subject steak . . .
Rubbed with kosher salt, CBP, and garlic powder . . .
I had to prop the lid of my Weber Genesis E-320 gasser open in order to get my temp at the grate level to be around 250*, even with only one burner on its lowest setting. The ambient air temp was about 55* with no wind when I started the cook. Not bad for March in Montana!
Flipped the steak over when I registered 80* in the center . . .
Took about 10 minutes to get to 100*, then I tented it under foil on a cutting board and cranked the grill up to full blast furnace. Steak temp continued to rise to 113* while tented, before falling back down to 109* before I put it back on for searing.
Grill temp was around 575* for searing. Didn't take long to sear both sides to a point where I was satisfied/worried about overcooking the steak. Here's what the final product looked like:
The steak was great. Very juicy and flavorful, but it's hard for me to say if it was any better than it would've been if I had seared first. I don't know if my taste buds are smart enough to know the difference.
Overall I was very happy with how the steak turned out and, although it took longer than it would if I had cooked it conventionally, I'll probably go with this method at least for now, because I believe in the science. Thanks for following along!