The reverse sear method may be the reason you WILL prefer your steak to be cooked. The process of reverse searing involves baking your steak in the oven and then searing the meat on a pan. This will give you the perfect charred brown crust on the top and a tender beef within.
Most cooks choose a thick cut of filet mignon or ribeye and prepare it on a pan. They will sear it to get a golden crust and a pink center. However, this is not a foolproof method. There will be times when you nail the right temperature and there will be times when the beef is just too rare or overdone.
With the reverse sear method, you will be able to control the odds of making the perfect steak while getting the most of its flavors. By only making little changes to your cooking and gently cooking the beef at a low temperature in the oven first and then searing it at the end will give you the best ever cooked steak.
Here is a step by step guide on how to reverse sear a steak:
Buy halal meat and get it cut to an inch and a half or two inches thick. This method is best for thick cuts. Anything below this thickness will cook very quickly. Choose a steak of high-quality with some marbling such as ribeye, top sirloin, New York strip, porterhouse or filet mignon.
Prepare the Oven and the Steak
Place the oven rack in the middle of the oven and another one in the lower third position.
Preheat the oven to 275 °F (135 °C). Now place a large skillet or a heatproof pan in the oven in order to preheat. This process will help boost the cooking process and speed it up.
Line a baking sheet with foil and place a wire rack on top of the foil.
Dry the steaks to remove any excess moisture. Make sure that the steaks are dry.
Place the steaks on the baking sheet and season both sides with salt and pepper.
Cook the Steak in the Oven First
When you cook the steak in the oven, use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature of the steak. After the first 15 minutes, check the temperature and recheck it every 5 minutes until you reach your desired temperature.
90 – 95 °F (32 to 35 °C) for medium rare
100 105 °F (38 to 41 °C) for medium
Note that the steaks will still finish cooking in the skillet therefore you do not want to cook it in the oven all the way through.
Pan-Sear the Steak
Take out the preheated cast iron skillet from the oven and transfer it to the stovetop.
Turn the stove up to high. When the pan is smoking hot, add any oil that has a high smoke point temperature. You can choose from vegetable oil or ghee.
When the oil is hot enough, sear the steaks for 2 to 3 minutes on each side.
You can add 1 tablespoon of butter just at the end of cooking. Baste the steaks with the hot melted butter to enhance the flavor and the color.
Lastly, sear the sides of the steaks to render the fat. That will take about 30 to 60 seconds per side.
Rest the Steak
Take the steak off the pan and place it on a clean plate or a wire rack. Let it rest so it has a chance to finish cooking. The internal temperature of the steak will rise about 5 degrees in 10 minutes. Keep that in mind and then cook your steak to achieve that perfect temperature in the end.
Your perfectly reversed sear steak is ready to eat.
Why Should You Reverse Sear Your Steak?
Reverse sear got its name because this method is the opposite of how you would traditionally cook your steak. Every cookbook in the history has taught you to sear your meat first before cooking it in the oven. Mostly, the reason to sear was to lock in the juices. Well, today, it is totally false.
Searing does not lock in the juices; it just adds a little bit of flavor. Flipping the formula and searing the meat in the end produces the best results for a cooked steak.
Here are some of the benefits on why you should reverse sear your steak:
Even Cooking – By starting your steaks in a low-temperature oven, you will end up with no overcooked meat. As a result, you have juicer meat.
Better Browning – When meat is seared, you want to have a crisp, dark brown crust. Your goal is to make sure that the temperature and the evaporation buckets are as small as possible. That way you can quickly fill them up and move to the process of browning.
Tender Meat – By slowly heating your steak, you are aging it so that it becomes tender.
More Flexibility - When cooking steak at a high temperature, you only have a small window of opportunity to get the center of the steak to be a perfect medium-rare. If you cook your steak for one minute too long, it will be raw; if you cook it for one minute too long, it will be overcooked. Slow cooking substantially expands that window of time, making it much easier to maintain the correct temperature time after again.
Once you have tried the reverse sear method, it is guaranteed that you wouldn’t want your steak any other way. The only way you will prefer is, to reverse it. Just be sure to buy good quality beef steaks and other meat products.
