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Grilled Rib Eye Steak: Reverse Sear and Thermal Principles
Elderberry:
Thermoblog June 7, 2017 By Martin
If there were a President of Steaks, it’d be the rib eye. There’s something special about the cut, with tender, well-marbled meat that smells somehow better than any other steak. It’s a great way to celebrate anything: Father’s Day, Independence Day…Dinner. In today’s post, we’ll be showing you how you can get the best results when grilling this amazing cut, and we’ll also talk about one of the best way’s to top it: homemade compound butter.
This rather expensive steak is one you really don’t want to mess up by overcooking. To eliminate any chance of that cardinal food sin, you should cook your steak by the reverse sear method.
What is the reverse sear method?
A traditional sear is an old trick for cooking steaks, whereby you’d sear the steak in a hot pan or on a hot grill and finish it in the oven at a lower temperature. This helped prevent overcooking—in part—but also created a delicious crust.
The reverse sear is the opposite of that: you cook the steak in a low-temp environment first until it is about 15°F (8°C) below your target pull temperature.
Beef Temperature Chart
Beef Doneness Final Doneness Temperature
Rare 120–130°F (49–54°C)
Medium Rare 130–135°F (54–57°C)
Medium 135–140°F (57–60°C)
Medium Well 145–155°F (63–68°C)
Well Done 155°F (68°C) and up
Then you sear the steak to give it that tasty crust and to finish the cooking.
Why reverse sear?
By cooking the steak evenly throughout, you can be assured that you are getting just the doneness that you want. The gentle early cook gives you greater control over meat temp because the temperature gradients from exterior to interior remain relatively mild throughout. If you sear first, you’re setting up a steep temperature curve through the thickness of the meat that can push you into doneness range with unexpected rapidity. Getting your meat close to done and then pushing the surface to a crust just gives you more control over the finish, the perfect pink that you are looking for.
Put another way, by grill-roasting a rib eye—or other—steak in a 220°F (104°C) environment, the thermal gradients within the meat are kept broader, meaning the center temp is much closer to the surface temp. When the steak reaches 110°F (43°C) internal temperature, the outside region is still much cooler than it would have been if you had seared it first. If you then sear the steak quickly over high heat, you get a great Maillard-browned crust but little to no grey-ring in the steak.
Reverse sear is the best way to get edge-to-edge even doneness on a thick steak without a thick band of battleship gray meat just under the crust. —The Science of Great BBQ and Grilling, by Meathead Goldwyn
(Incidentally, when the pink pigment myoglobin heats beyond 140°F (60°C) degrees, it denatures and turns brown. And while this change from pink to brown is not what makes a piece of beef well done, it is indicative of the kind of heat that does cook meat to well.)
How to set up your grill for reverse searing steak
To grill a steak by the reverse-sear method, you need two zones: a direct and an indirect cooking zone. For gas grills, that means turning one side of your grill to high while leaving the other side off. For charcoal or wood grills, that means banking your coals to one side while either leaving the other side empty or even putting a pan of water in the space.
More: https://blog.thermoworks.com/2017/06/ribeye-steaks-smoked-reverse-seared/
240B:
I will never do this. For me, there is one way to cook a steak. It should be crusted on the outside, pink in the middle, and red in the center. I enjoy rare steak so overcooking is the worst sin of all. For me, broiling or an open flame is best. Cook it fast and cook it hard. The outside winds up scorched or even blackened, but the center is still nice and pink.
I do agree with the chef that the less spices used the better it tastes. I never use A1 or any other 'steak sauce', because that is all you will taste. The meat gets lost in the background.
catfish1957:
Ribeye?
As one butcher told me...... A criminal abuse of a Rib Roast.
Elderberry:
--- Quote from: catfish1957 on July 07, 2018, 01:21:32 pm ---Ribeye?
As one butcher told me...... A criminal abuse of a Rib Roast.
--- End quote ---
So what cut do you prefer for your steaks?
catfish1957:
--- Quote from: Elderberry on July 07, 2018, 01:47:47 pm ---So what cut do you prefer for your steaks?
--- End quote ---
Not saying it's the best, but I prefer a thick well marbled Porterhouse
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