Hi,
I recently started getting into cooking my steaks using the reverse sear method. I’m quite pleased with the results, but I think my crust could be a bit better. This is the process I’m currently following:
– Season with salt & pepper & ‘push’ it into the steak
– Place back in fridge for an hour
– Let it sit outside the fridge for another hour
– Warm up oven to 210 degrees
– Wait until the internal temperature reaches 113 degrees & take it out of the oven
– Let it sit for 10-15 minutes under aluminium foil
– Sear in a very hot steel pan using butter for 1 minute on each side
Some improvements I think I can make to get a better crust:
– Use a cast iron pan instead of steel pan
– Use avocado oil instead of butter
– Pat steak dry with paper towel before searing
Any other suggestions you can give me to get even better results? Some specific seasoning you can recommend?
Thanks!
by tigerx95
30 Comments
The pan needs to be hot. Really hot. Like preheated for a solid 10 minutes on high hot. Get an IR thermometer and get that pan to 600° degrees.
Hot pan and dry meat equal crust
Dry meat and hot oil
Really hot CI pan
Avocado oil
Rub (Kinders prime steak in my case)
Grill press
And did I mention a really hot CI pan?
Also use very fine salt and pepper granules. Big grains can keep the meat from direct pan contact.
IMO 1 minute isn’t long enough. However you also don’t want to overcook it which is why I wouldn’t reverse sear anything under an inch and a half thick. A thin steak is fine but you don’t need to involve the oven at all. Hot pan, a little oil, insert seasoned steak. Turn every 30 seconds until desired crust is formed. Baste with butter and herbs if you want
Butter, then keep spooning it on top of the steak as it cooks.
https://preview.redd.it/mzxti8o82j1e1.jpeg?width=700&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=d4714cdd89c700b61d553189a64e115b4aeb6a23
Preseason with salt and dry brine meat agead of time. Could be an hour in advance to overnight in the fridge.
Let the meat sit to warm up closer to room temp. Pat dry excess moisture from the meat before cooking. Season and spice to taste. Use a hot pan with high smoking temp oil or grill to doness.
Steaks that thin I would cook over an open flame uncovered. No reverse sear. But it looks pretty good to me yummy!
Edit to add more. I always pat dry and if you have to cook inside deff cast iron. Stick with butter imo, add more seasoning for a thinker crust too(pepper)
Ask the knife guy about his crust. So good it dulled his knife.
Regardless, that looks amazing. The cook is fantastic, it looks juicy, and I bet it was REALLY good. My stomach is growling. Nicely done!
ripping hot pan with some oil that has a high smoking point.
wait until the oil ihas actually heated up and use more avo oil then you’re using – this helped me alot
Cook longer it’s still raw.
My kitchen burner never gets hot enough. So I use a camp stove. Butane single burner. Heat for 10 minutes with cast iron. Get it to at least 650. Brush a reverse seared steak with a neutral oil. 30 seconds per side.
Prob gonna get some down votes here with the purists in this sub, but a thin spread of mayo mixed with your seasonings in a ripping hot skillet really does great.
I effing hate mayo any other way, but it makes a great crust .
Dry brine on a wire rack for eight hours before you cook. Paper towel to the meat before you throw it on the pan. Let it get up to room temperature for at least 20 minutes. Your pan should be screaming hot when you throw it on. Your average grocery store steak doesn’t require a reverse sear. 2 1/2 minutes a side on those will give you a nice crust and a medium rare. Reverse searing comes in with thicker cuts.
By ‘very hot’ – it needs to be ‘Ripping Hot’, smoking. Castiron preferably. Wait until it detaches from castiron.
– If using cast iron or any heavy metal pan, make sure it is preheated for a decent amount at low temperature before searing. If you heat up the pan too fast, the surface might still be “oil smoking hot” but the potential energy will not have spread across all the metal on the pan which is what you want so that the surface can retain as much temperature as possible.
– Use a different high smoke point oil other than butter. Use a decent amount of it so that it’ll cover the surface flat.
– Pat the steak dry and let it rest after the oven
– Pan temperature at around 450 degrees. Doesn’t need to be much higher than this.
– When you first put the steak on the pan, press all of the surface down onto the pan. I like to do this with a press/weight I have and I leave the press on top of the steak.
– 1 min on each side x2. So I do 1 min then flip and get the other side for a min, then repeat the process for a total of 2 min per side. This method also lets you see the crust to see progress. YMMV, adjust the timings as you see fit.
Hot pan and oil, then I reduce the heat once sear is almost there to cook the inside
Salt meat 30 mins before leave out the fridge. Dry well, baist with browning fry in hot pan.
I use a HOT stainless steel pan and no oil, the meat will stick to the pan until the crust has formed, and then you flip it over. I never use an oven personally.
Use clarified butter or canola, something with a high smoke point. It allows you to get the pan ripping hot without setting off your smoke alarms. If you’re using a stainless steel pan leave it to heat up for 3-4 mins before you put any oil in at all.
Pat the steaks as dry as possible before you dry brine and leave in the fridge
dry + heat
Pan needs to be hot as fuck. Cast iron makes a world of difference
1. Dry brine meat with kosher salt and leave in fridge uncovered overnight.
2. When ready for searing, dry steak with paper towels, moisture is the enemy of beautiful brown crust.
3. If you can, get a grill and run it as hot as you can, I usually do mine for 90 seconds/side at 700-900 degrees.
4. I’ve also messed around with rubbing the steak in beef tallow or duck fat before searing and have found that helps with crust formation too.
5. If you don’t have a grill and are going stovetop, I like cast iron, preheated hot for at least 10 minutes but ideally 15. Holds heat really well when the cooler steak hits the surface. Just use an oil with a high smoking point.
6. Enjoy!
gotta pay it dry playboy. dry dry dry.
Ideally you want to salt it uncovered in the fridge for 12+ hours, salting for only a couple hours will result in the surface being quite wet as the moisture gets pulled out by the salt but not reabsorbed or dried. Also regardless of how long u salt it for, you should always pat the steak dry before putting it on the pan. Moisture is your enemy when it comes to getting a good sear.
Your suggestions u mentioned are great tips like replacing the butter with avocado oil or even just vegetable oil will do a much better job then butter, as butter won’t fry the steak, it will boil it and burn.
The only tip I haven’t seen yet is investing in a steak press, it’s a thick steel plate that u place on top of the steak to stop it from curling and weigh down the entire steak onto the pan so u get max contact and crust. They make ones with handles that can also be used for making smash burgers and are great for searing bacon too. I got a rectangle cast iron one with a wooden handle and it’s great and can cover two steaks at once depending on the size. U don’t need to press down with the press as that will squeeze all the juice out, you just want to place it on top and let’s it’s weight hold the steak down. I haven’t invested in a cast iron skillet yet, but honestly using one of these steak presses has been the most noticeable improvement for the crust of my steaks, they are so uniform now, it’s insane