The Perfect Reverse-Seared Steak

Any true steak lover is intimately familiar with how to chophouse sear a decent steak, but how many of you carnivore connoisseurs understands the process of reverse-searing the perfect steak and creating culinary excellence!?!?! Well if you have never tried this process, keep reading for my tips and tricks to execute the perfect reverse-seared steak.

Prep

There are many factors that will affect the overall final outcome of any form of grilling steak. In my opinion, the most important factor is the selection of the cut of meat. For searing, I prefer a fattier cut of steak such as an ultimate bone-out ribeye. Nothing takes the heat and chars as elegantly as ribeye and the rich marbling associated with this cut of steak produces a luxurious flavor that is difficult to beat. Once you have the cut of meat selected, it is imperative that you have an extremely thick cut of meat for reverse-searing. The steak will be exposed to a longer duration of heat and therefore will overcook if you use thinner cuts.

Once you have a nice thick-cut ribeye selected, I try to cook it fresh without freezing it. If I can't avoid freezing it, I thaw it out the day before grilling/smoking and make sure it is room temperature before marinating and seasoning. The marinade I use is quite simple and consists of low-sodium Dale's Steak Seasoning and heaps of minced garlic. I usually thoroughly coat the steak with the Dale's and minced garlic and allow it to set for up to thirty minutes. Never add salt-based seasoning to your cuts of meat until you are ready to place it on the grill or it will pull moisture out of the meat and you will end up with a dry, tough steak that your dog will even frown at! While the steak is marinating, I set my CampChef Pellet Smoker to 225F and allow it to come to temperature.

Once it's ready to to go on the smoker, I take the steaks out to the smoker and apply a liberal amount of Montreal Steak Seasoning, Kosher Salt, and Black Pepper. I insert an internal probe into the thickest steak going on and set the alarm on the probe to 75F.

The Cook

Once you get the steaks on the smoker and set at 225F it is important to set the smoke to high because the steaks will not be on the smoker for long. As the smoker is working it's magic, I fire up my attached side sear box on my smoker and set the flame to high. You could also use a stand-alone propane or charcoal grill depending upon your preferences. By the time the steak reaches the target internal temp of 75F my sear box will be at just about 750F. The hotter the searing grill the better. One day I'm going to break down and buy and OttoWilde Searing grill, but I just can't make myself spend that much money on a grill right now...lol.

I take the steaks and place them directly on the cast iron grates of the sear box and revel in the glorious sounds of the steaks whispering to me how good they are going to be in their magic hissing language of charred meat and fat! I prefer an extremely rare steak so I keep rotating the steaks from side to side and from end to end holding the narrow edges onto the grill using long grilling tongs. I love to have sear marks over the entirety of the steak.

I routinely check the internal temperature of the steak while it is searing so I don't make the mistake of overcooking it. For my personal preference, I remove the steak when it hits 110F and I immediately take it inside, place it in a pan, and cover the pan with foil so the steak can rest for 15 minutes. DO NOT cut the steak prior to resting or it will not have time to re-absorb the juicy goodness and your steak will end up too dry.

Once the steak has properly rested you are clear to plate it, photo it, and get ready to enjoy the best steak you have ever eaten in your life! The final and most important step to the whole process is to go to the fridge......take out your A1 and Heinz 57 sauces......walk over to your beautifully prepared steak and.....pass right by it as you throw those nasty sauces in the garbage! Are you crazy!?!?! You don't burn a perfectly cooked steak by putting that crap on it!!!! lolol Enjoy the purity of the flavors and the process and let me know what you think if you try this method. Thank you for taking the time to read my post and happy smoking!

All That Is Gold Does Not Glitter,
Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost
-Tolkien