Given this thread has 1055 posts (1056 if you count this one), how far back should I start reading?

Read the first post, but you're off by a factor of 25

This is post #26378. Good luck.

found the person that reads 2+2 at 25 posts per page and confused page count with post count.

When I mess up, I really mess up.

Lets move on.

NY strip, sous vide 140 for 2 hours.

130 yo.

i def looks rarer than 140 but the crust is nonexistent

stinkypete method killing it. altho i wonder, why pre-sear when you're bringing up to temp in a 250 oven? searing would obv be a lot better on the dried out exterior after bringing it up to temp in the oven.

also bigdaddy, that crust looks wayyyy better than some of those uber-thick mega pan crusts that you've been displaying the past few weeks. this last one has a way more aesthetically pleasing brown color to it with little bits of variation in the shade- probably tasted better too, no?

i kinda tend to think of it like batter/breading- when you cook it too long and it gets too crunchy, the flavor profile changes and gets more oily tasting. true or false for mega crusted pan steaks?

stinky - 10, haven't seen one of those in a while.

And Im with you with the slightly higher temp on a really well marbled ribeye, those extra couple of degrees make a big difference.

Rep, the crust was confirmed delicious. It did take a solid 20 minutes to build up, followed by a brief rest, then finished on med-hi in new butter. I didn't notice an enormous difference with other steaks I've finished with a hard/fast sear, though the butter permeated the crust to a larger degree on this one.

I think I partially benefitted from some really great natural light on an overcast day. Here's a comparable ribeye I posted in January that (IIRC) was pan on the low cook, followed by 2 x 45 in ghee. The light here was pretty nice as well:

I'm definitely looking forward to trying the StinkyPete oven-reverse sear next. What I love about this thread is that it encourages experimentation and versatility. Serious steaking means you can never be afraid to evolve.

I disagree, as long as the crust isn't burned the thicker/crunchier the better. Never noticed an oily taste

I may start doing this as well so I can let the steak sit in the fridge exposed beforehand to get the surface really dry pre-sear.

It's sometimes difficult to get the surface really dry post sv even with thorough paper toweling. Has anyone tried other methods to better dry the surface between sv and sear? Like really low oven for 10 mins? Don't think fridge would do enough in a short amount of time, but I'm not sure.

thats good to know. some of those mega crusted pan steaks from BD in past weeks just looked like turds, was always kinda offputting to look at.

The Mu Ramen dude is back a year later for more Beefsanity!

I know you do strong work on the grill, but give a pan seared steak a shot & share your technique. I'm always happy to learn. And aside from my pre-Christmas filets where I burnt/blackened the butter, I think my recent submissions have been reasonably strong.

oh i've def done some pan steaks, thats how i did my wagyu. in general i find that with normal steaks, pan searing is an art that takes a lot of finesse to get just right. i always had trouble getting a good even crust without pressing down, and never was able to press down without creating gray band. and i like the smokiness that charcoal adds.

maybe tmrw i'll try a 250 oven followed by a pan sear and see how it goes. since you're the best of the best with cast iron, what's the secret to a good crust without pressing down? liquid depth?

So it's interesting that you mentioned pressing down. Most of my recent steaks I've used the bacon press and would rotate back and forth to constantly introduce hot new oil. But the one from yesterday I didn't do any pressing (maybe that contributed to the texture difference you noticed?). In any event, lots of fat in the pan is key to prevent a spotty sear. And the best antidote to gray band is just patience and resting. Rest after the low cook, rest after the first sear, and rest before eating. Gray band happens when the surface gets really hot and stays really hot (this is why people that say only flip a steak once are morons; flipping frequently helps prevent GB) . Resting allows the surface heat to dissipate into the air and through the steak, evening out the temperature gradient and reducing GB.

Agree with pan steaks being an art; while I think I'm pretty capable I'm not yet at a point where I can do 10/10 quality steaks almost every time.

No offense, but it seems like this thread went from tips on making a good steak to a game of one upmanship. And it seems like people put a lot of effort into creating food to eat. Great if that is your sort of thing, but is probably more than your average joe wants to do.

I say this after reading some of the oldest posts.

Part of the charm to this thread, IMO, is the ripping of "sub-quality" steaks from the elite. With some of the high quality steaks in this thread, some of the consistent top quality posters have earned that right. I've worked in restaurants before that were serving $60-100 steaks that didn't come out close to the great ones in this thread.

So you think you can make a good steak with the same amount of effort you put into breakfast cereal?

I don't go all out like some of these guys, but this thread has upped my steak game immensely without adding much work.

I had a delicious NY Strip tonight which took about 5 minutes of "effort" -- toss sealed steak into sous vide, 2 hours at 128F. Heat up skillet, pat steak dry, render fat strip for ~ 3 minutes, sear each side for 45 seconds or so. Mediocre crust by thread standards, but so what.

Sorry man, this thread's unceasing commitment to steaking excellence has made it one of the premier bodies of steak preparation knowledge on the internet today. The problem is there is so much bad information out there (e.g. sear to seal in the juices! Only flip a steak once! FFS Jamie Oliver has no idea what he's doing) that a thread like this becomes necessary to disabuse people of many failed techniques. And while a weak-seared, gray-banded steak may still taste OK to decent, this thread proves that so much more is possible.

tl; dr competition is good and ensures that this thread promotes the best steak preparation techniques