Beef Reverse Seared Steak

I use the grillmaster rule’s rule. Those that want it rarer get the biggest piece. Actually, you can increase the searing times for additional cooking so all the steaks that way everything has similar resting periods after the low and slow ends. Another method is to give the mediums steaks a head start but on the smoker, I don’t want to open the lid after I load it.
 
What I mean by understanding your proteins is this-if you time your cooks the same for a 1-½” thick Porterhouse as you do for a 2” thick filet mignon, neither of you will be happy with the results.
Thanks Greg, This is great info for my starting point. Looks close to the same on how we like our steaks. The protein makes 100% since again Thanks.
 
My wife invited friends over on Saturday night. The girls decided everyone would bring their own meat and I would cook it.

When everybody showed up I was handed two rib steaks, not even 3/4" thick, three NY strips about 1-1/2" thick, four fillets that were over 2" thick, and a single chicken breast. :rolleyes:

If that's not enough variety, steaks were requested to be cooked from medium rare to medium well done.

Everything went on the Bull, set to 225, at the same time. I put a probe in one fillet and the other in a NY strip. I pulled my Weber kettle out and lit a raging, lump charcoal fire to serve as my searing station.

When the NY strip checked 100, I transferred the thin rib steaks over to the Weber and seared per guest's request and put them in a covered foil pan. When the NY strip hit 115, I moved them, and the chicken breast, over to the Weber. By the time the strips were seared to the desired levels, the fillets were at 115 and I seared those to each guest's desired doneness. By then the lonely chicken breast was at 150 so it just took a couple minutes over the coals to get it to hit 165.

Everyone raved about their steaks. Didn't hear a peep from the chicken breast chick, but I had been harassing her pretty relentlessly about bringing chicken to a steak party. She didn't seem amused.

I was gifted a bottle of this for my efforts...

1601917138673.png


Which I appreciated.

But I told the wife that I will never do this again. If I wanted to spend evenings juggling 10 pieces of meat and cooking each one to individual specifications, I'd get a job in a restaurant. It's waaaaaay too stressful and it's just not any fun.

I suggested that in the future I'd be happy to cook a couple tri-tips or a even a prime rib for this group.
 
Amen @ghuns! You were a saint.

Thank you.

Now please allow me to rant for a minute... 😡

To further my case for beatification 😅 , on Friday I left work at noon to go help cut 2000 pounds of smoked pork loins into 2200 chops for a fundraiser for our local Lion's Club. This entails moving, unboxing, unwrapping, sawing, re-boxing, and stacking re-boxed chops on skids. The average age of our club's members is north of 70. Myself and a couple other guys in our 40s try to do the bulk of the heavy lifting.

I got home at 5 and mowed our 2 acre yard. When I came in, my wife was on a serious cleaning bender, so from 7 to 9 I helped her clean the house.

Saturday at 6:30AM we began unloading and cooking the the pork chops on large charcoal grills made from old oil drums. Cooking was done by noon. We sold out by 1:30. Cleanup was done by 4:30, and I got home at 5.

I was then instructed to haul the patio table up from the barn, the one my wife insisted I put away last weekend after what she proclaimed to be the end of our outdoor entertaining season.

After a quick shower, I helped the wife finish up making some desserts and side dishes. Our guests arrived at 6:30 and didn't leave until about 11. We cleaned up everything and got to bed at 12.

Sunday, I didn't feel at all bad about sleeping in until 10. I also didn't feel bad about doing NOTHING all day long.

Now, to absolutely seal the deal for my sainthood claim, last night after fixing my wife two of her favorite cocktail, espresso martinis, and cooking dinner, I commented to her that I was still tired and not just a little sore. To which my dear, sweet, loving wife and mother of my children replied, how come? You didn't do ANYTHING yesterday. You could've at least emptied the dishwasher.

I just smiled, picked up our plates, and headed to the kitchen.

Call me St ghuns 😇
 
Quick tip---I'm sure that the Bull does this very well, but for those who have the 380 Bullseye like I do, smoke at 225 until desired internal temp--I pull mine around 120-125, then take the steaks off and kick the 380 into riot mode....mine has gotten up to 750 degrees before. I don't have the grill plates, at 750 I sear two minutes, give a half turn for two more minutes, then flip over and do the same for the other side. Perfect medium every time.
 
Just some observations/suggestions.

WillC seasons his ribeyes and lets them sit on the counter for 30 minutes. I agree that ribeyes are my "go to" cut of beef. If you haven't tried dry brining, you may want to give it a whirl. I place a cooling rack over a cookie sheet and then apply sea salt liberally to all surfaces of the ribeyes and place them on the rack and then back in the fridge for a few hours (3 - 4). Then bring them out to the counter for about 30 - 40 minutes to begin to approach room temperature. This makes it easier to get the internal temperature more consistent throughout the cut of meat. Season the meat as desired but avoid adding more salt. Smoke as desired and reverse sear.

ghuns - you have been nominated for sainthood! I experienced the same thing (multiple meats and desired cook level) about 8 years ago. I survived, but it was a valuable learning experience. I have now identified friends that want their meat turned into a burnt sacrifice. When they are invited over, I never serve a nice cut of steak, but rather burgers or hot dogs. I put their burgers on four minutes before ours and it seems to work out well. When we want to get together with folks that want a steak cooked medium well or well done (God forbid), we go out to a steak place for dinner. Truth be known, I try not to dine with those folks. Cocktails and hors d'oeuvres seem to work well when my bride wants to have them over.

Reverse sear is the way to go. I admit to not having tried sous vide but can't believe that it would be any better than cooked on the smoker. I like to get a light smoke into my ribeyes and take them off at about 115 -117 degrees, tent with foil for 15 minutes. I don't have sear plates for my RT-700, but I do have a gas grill (ironically by a company named Bull). I fire it up to screaming hot and toss the ribeyes on the gas grill for about 70-90 seconds per side. Beautiful crust and a perfect medium rare.
 
This is less of a recipe and more of a "If you haven't tried this yet, you really should" I've been told I'm not allowed to make steaks any other way.

Take your favorite steak (I'm usually a ribeye guy) and just barely get it wet with some olive oil. Give it a good sprinkle of salt and pepper. I let these sit on the counter for ~ 30 minutes while the smoker is getting to temp.

Put your sear plates on - I put them upside down to get more surface area. If you don't have plates, use the gas grill sitting in the corner that's collecting dust or just have a good pan ready on the stove. You're not smoking on the plates, just getting them good and warmed up while you are.

Set your smoker @ 225 - I like mesquite wood for this, and I turn on 'extra smoke' on the 680. Smoke until the internal temp is about 105-110. Depending on your meat, this'll be 30-45 minutes.
I pull them, pile them on a plate and just cover with another plate. Crank the smoker up to 400 and go drink a beer for 15 minutes. If you're using another grill or the stove, I guess you could skip this part.
Now throw them on the sear plates for a minute a side (a little more or less depending on how you like them done). I like that good sizzle, so I try to flip them onto a not-yet-used part of the sear plate if I can. Pull, cover, and let rest for 5 minutes. IT of 105-110 and right at a minute a side should get you a nice medium rare on a 1" cut ribeye. Warn any guests that the pink isn't rare, it's smoke. Your 'grill marks' turn out pink-ish instead of brown too.

View attachment 58
Wow that looks good. I have one in the fridge that I think I will try. I will add garlic and a big portabell mushroom to go with it. What internal temperature should I have before searing if I’m looking for medium?
 
Quick tip---I'm sure that the Bull does this very well, but for those who have the 380 Bullseye like I do, smoke at 225 until desired internal temp--I pull mine around 120-125, then take the steaks off and kick the 380 into riot mode....mine has gotten up to 750 degrees before. I don't have the grill plates, at 750 I sear two minutes, give a half turn for two more minutes, then flip over and do the same for the other side. Perfect medium every time.
I will be using the RT-1250 (the bull). Does that matter?
 
I will be using the RT-1250 (the bull). Does that matter?
The Bullseye has riot mode, where it gets up to 750 degrees. The other Rec Teq grills as far as I am aware do not have this feature. You can get up around 500, and if you have the grill plate sear kit you can still do this. Also, I've done this once before too, if you have a good cast iron skillet, you can cook low heat on the 1250, then bring the steaks inside and put them in the skillet on high heat. As much as I love reverse searing on the Bullseye, I do have to say that the cast iron skillet did an awesome job of finishing them off. I put the skillet on high heat with some butter and a little fresh minced garlic and it was very good.
 
The Bullseye has riot mode, where it gets up to 750 degrees. The other Rec Teq grills as far as I am aware do not have this feature. You can get up around 500, and if you have the grill plate sear kit you can still do this. Also, I've done this once before too, if you have a good cast iron skillet, you can cook low heat on the 1250, then bring the steaks inside and put them in the skillet on high heat. As much as I love reverse searing on the Bullseye, I do have to say that the cast iron skillet did an awesome job of finishing them off. I put the skillet on high heat with some butter and a little fresh minced garlic and it was very good.
My 1250 got up to 752° on Sunday. I put it on FUL to do a burn off after a week of chicken thighs and burgers and let it go for awhile and was amazed when I went outside to see 752°.
 
This is less of a recipe and more of a "If you haven't tried this yet, you really should" I've been told I'm not allowed to make steaks any other way.

Take your favorite steak (I'm usually a ribeye guy) and just barely get it wet with some olive oil. Give it a good sprinkle of salt and pepper. I let these sit on the counter for ~ 30 minutes while the smoker is getting to temp.

Put your sear plates on - I put them upside down to get more surface area. If you don't have plates, use the gas grill sitting in the corner that's collecting dust or just have a good pan ready on the stove. You're not smoking on the plates, just getting them good and warmed up while you are.

Set your smoker @ 225 - I like mesquite wood for this, and I turn on 'extra smoke' on the 680. Smoke until the internal temp is about 105-110. Depending on your meat, this'll be 30-45 minutes.
I pull them, pile them on a plate and just cover with another plate. Crank the smoker up to 400 and go drink a beer for 15 minutes. If you're using another grill or the stove, I guess you could skip this part.
Now throw them on the sear plates for a minute a side (a little more or less depending on how you like them done). I like that good sizzle, so I try to flip them onto a not-yet-used part of the sear plate if I can. Pull, cover, and let rest for 5 minutes. IT of 105-110 and right at a minute a side should get you a nice medium rare on a 1" cut ribeye. Warn any guests that the pink isn't rare, it's smoke. Your 'grill marks' turn out pink-ish instead of brown too.

View attachment 58
Did this tonight. Great steak!
 
I've been doing the reverse sear on the Santa Maria, searing on a gas grill, but have just picked up the 1250. Have any of you tried using a cast iron griddle in your smoker for the sear?
 
I have used cast iron and the Grill Grates, both successfully. With the 1250 I've got plenty of room to put the grates or griddle on the far right, start low to get some smoke, then crank up to 375 +/- which only takes a few minutes from 225 - 250 and the infrared temp on the iron or Grill Grates is ready to go when I move on to the sear.
 
I have used cast iron and the Grill Grates, both successfully. With the 1250 I've got plenty of room to put the grates or griddle on the far right, start low to get some smoke, then crank up to 375 +/- which only takes a few minutes from 225 - 250 and the infrared temp on the iron or Grill Grates is ready to go when I move on to the sear.
Thanks Pacman. What do you find to be the difference in temperature between the 1250 thermometer and your infrared on the griddle? How hot does it get?
 

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