As a Fathers’ Day treat, I bought a very thick (almost 3") boneless rib-eye steak. I plan to grill it on my gas grill. I make steak a lot, but never this thick before. I’m wondering if I’m better off cooking it on fairly low temps until the middle reaches just over rare, then switching it to the very hot side of the grill to sear it on each side. Or, if I’m better off searing the sides first and then moving it to the cooler side of the grill to finish. Thoughts?
I have 2 methods. I only cook on charcoal so you may have to modify a bit.
- Sear the steak for 90 seconds to 2 minutes then rotate 90 degrees (gives you those cool grill marks). Flip 90 seconds, rotate then shut the draft and allow the residual heat to finish cooking the meat. For a 3" steak 10-12 minutes will probably do it.
- Build a very low temp fire say 250 degrees. Add smoking wood. Put steak on grill and smoke until internal is your level of doneness. 125 works for me.
Pull meat crank unit to full atomic power add meat back for 90 seconds, rotate for grill marks. Flip and repeat on the other side.
Enjoy.
For steaks sear first, heat to desired temp at lower temp second. It’s roasts that are usually done the other way around.
Maybe I got lucky, but I cooked it low, flipping about every 5 minutes (usually I put a steak down, leave it for half the desired cook time, and flip once…) until near 30 minutes. Checked the internal temp. It was 125. I put it on the hot side of the grill for a few minutes until the temp rose to 132. Took it off and let it rest 10 minutes. It was about perfectly medium rare. Nice char on the outside. Pink all the way through inside. Really, really good. Seasoned with nothing but salt while cooking.
It doesn’t matter at all. A lot of people, me included, prefer to bring the steak up to temperature before searing.
It’s how sous-vide cooking is always done.
I had always done it that way then I decided I wanted some smoke flavor to my steaks.
I cooked a couple of thick ribeyes backward going low and slow first with smoke. The result was fantastic.
Don’t knock it till you try it.
I’ve heard always bring steak up to room temperature before grilling- does that 40 degrees or so really make a difference?
It gets more evenly done if you to it reverse, plus you get a better sear as the slow cooking dries up the meat a bit. I think Cooks Illustrated or America’s Test Kitchen also mentions some enzymatic action that helps tenderize the meat, but I haven’t noticed any difference in that regard. The biggest difference is the even doneness. Reverse sear method all the way!
In my experience using the reverse sear, no. With other methods, it does seem to matter a bit.