Ok .. first time attempting to cook a few decent rib eyes I bought at WF.

I tried to follow ninetynine99's method from the OP found here:
http://forumserver.twoplustwo.com/sh...postcount=9731

Meat was frozen and left to defrost in fridge for 1.5 days. Left on counter for an hour until room temperature was achieved. Pat dry and salted both steaks.


I used 2 tbsps sunflower oil (high heat). I was hoping for some feedback on this oil as I think using a high heat oil might have not allowed the sear to develop as hearty of a crust as I desired. Medium heat. This was after 1 min sear on each side and 3 minutes each side flipping every minute. Then in the oven on a preheated plate at 200 degrees for 7 minutes and a rest for 3 minutes on a room temp plate. This is during the 3 min rest.


Then I pan seared for 90 seconds on each side with 2 tbsps of ghee. Thoughts on using ghee? I personally thought the ghee taste really enhanced the flavor during eating.


Resting for 6-8 minutes after searing in the same plate used for the oven cooled to room temperature.


The crust never quite got as crusty as I would have hoped it would. I suspect this has something to do with using a high heat oil and possibly not having my stove as hot as it should have been. I had to guesstimate medium as my stove knob has no medium setting.

Anyway, the taste was totally there, but the crust was definitely lacking. Next time I also want to try and cook the sides initially a little better to render off some more of the fat that was leftover on the outside of the steak which you can see from the pic below.


Here's a closeup:


*WARNING* Here's the EMC!


To echo some of 99's thoughts in his OP I also should have reduced the sear time to 2.5mins per side as the meat was more medium and also slightly uneven with some pieces being medium rare. I can definitely say with confidence this was one of the most tender steaks I've eaten and the flavor profiles were incredible.

Any feedback and/or tips is appreciated. I will definitely be refining my methods and attempting again soon!

reverse seared 20oz 1.75" ny strip via guesswork tonight. 22 minutes at 225deg, then 30 sec sear on each edge and 60 seconds weighted sear on each face in rendered fat.

top


bottom


fat strip side


interior


EMC:


Pioneer woman onion and blue cheese sauce


yum. Best i've made in awhile. salt and pepper then let it sit on counter for about 2 hours before cooking. also, the steak was in my fridge for about 3 days rather than me normally cooking it the same day, so it had started to get that darker red and more firm exterior but i forgot to take a pre-cooking photo. not sure if that helped the sear, but if i can ever be patient and not eat steak in my fridge, I may try that again and see if it made a difference.

pplayer28: Get a cooling rack for the oven portion, or whatever keeps it from being directly on the tray. It's also much better to sear one at a time. And press those suckers down when you do.

The way your overall post is structured was a little confusing. Did you go pan/oven/sear?

RollWave: DAMN!!

pplayer, looks pretty good.

Gotta agree though that the sear isn't quite there. I'm thinking it looks like you could have used a bit more oil and a bit more heat for the initial sear and either pressed the steak down with a spatula so the whole surface had direct contact with the pan or simply weighted it down. I kinda suspect that a lot of people don't really appreciate the difference that more oil in the pan contributes to making a good crust.

I'm thinking the same could be said about the butter sear: way more butter/ghee and a bit more heat with the steak pressed down or weighted for good contact with the pan. When I do a butter sear my steak is pretty much swimming in it.

EDIT: Also, I would forgo the resting on the pre-heated plate in the warm oven. I figured out over time that it kept my steaks too warm and was likely contributing to them cooking a bit more than I wanted them to.


Rollwave, pretty nice guesswork with that strip!

DC,

Thanks for the tips. I will purchase a cooling rack. Definitely going to do 1 steak at a time and put a weight on top next time.

As for the cooking method .. I went 60 seconds each edge, 3 minutes each face flipping every minute. Then 7 minutes in oven at 200. 3 minutes rest. Then 90 seconds ghee sear each face. Then a 6-8 minute rest before serving. I tried to follow 99's method that I linked in my post.

ghee is great but you need more of it in the pan.

Exactly.

Check out these two pics showing the quantity of butter I used to finish off the sear for the beast:





The beast is absolutely swimming in butter!

Thanks for the feedback.

Yeah, you're spot on. I suspected some of what you're saying above while going through the process you outlined but thought I would just stick to what I was doing in order to establish a baseline to go off of.

I was really unsure what I was going to see when I initially cut into the steaks. Should I increase the rest time of 3 minutes before the ghee sear if I forego the 7 minutes in the oven?

Next time I will vamoooo with the ghee.

N****, why you babysitting only two or three dollops
Lemme show you how to turn it up a notch.
First you get a swimming pool full of butter then you dive in.

After pulling from the oven, rest 8-10 minutes on a rack, tented with foil, then sear using a decent amount of oil and the steak's own fat… it should be swimming in the fat/oil combo near the end of the sear.

Rest another 8-10 minutes on a rack, tented, then sear in copious amount of butter.

Rest another 8-10 minutes on a rack, tented, before cutting.

Yeah, lots of resting but that's what you should be doing. There is ALWAYS something else to do during the resting periods.

Make sure the oil/fat and butter are hot enough — but not too hot… can't describe it any better than that. You should know from the sound of the sear — either it is sounding like it is searing, or it isn't. If it doesn't sound like a sear, than it isn't.

So turn that damn heat UP!!!

haha, I'm cracking up .. one of my fav songs of 2013..

Just to clarify, when you start out saying 'after pulling from the oven' what am I doing before that? Are you saying to start out with the oven first? Just a little confused.

To list the steps ...

??
7 minutes in oven?
rest 8-10 mins on rack, tented
sear oil+fat, how long?
rest 8-10 mins on rack, tented
sear butter, how long?
rest 8-10 mins on rack, tented
profit


Also, just wondering what you prefer stainless steel or cast iron? Or does it depend on the steak/cooking method? Does it affect the sear quality picking one over the other?

Normally I cook 95% of my food in my cast iron pans but since I noticed you had used a stainless steel I swapped out for that.

Doesn't really matter what kind of pan you use so long as your heat management is appropriate. Cast iron is good for a lot of anemic residential ranges because of its heat retention properties, you can preheat it a lot and it will store that heat for a proper sear even if your burner couldnt otherwise keep up.

If you have a high zoot range you can use stainless/carbon steel for the same effect with less preheating necessary.

I have bone in ribeye that I will be cooking in two hours. It's 1.2 lbs.

Can I use the microwave to get it to rare then sear it in super high heat in order to create a crust?

Please don't criticize me for asking this question. Normally I just sear first (super high heat) then lower the temp to cook the insides to medium rare but I have never reverse seared.

Thanks for the quick replies. It is 11 a.m. pacific. I'm cooking at 12:30 to 1:00. Please don't criticize. I just need honest opinions.

30 day dry-aged choice ribeye.

seared in clarified butter and grapeseed oil but didn't turn out well. think I had the skillet temp too high.

I wouldn't use a microwave as you can reverse sear using only a pan. Just use medium to medium low heat and flip frequently until the desired internal temperature is reached. Remove and increase temp. Sear. Rest for 5-10 minutes. Eat.

A microwave could probably work pretty well, use a low power setting

Not sure I see the problem here this looks amazing. Was it burnt or something?

yeah man, that looks terrible. you should be ashamed of yourself for even posting it.

lowest microwave setting probably still too high

even defrost cooks stuff too much

It only covers like 1/12 of the plate?

dunk: How thick is it? I cook my steaks of about that size in the pan on medium for about 2.5 mins/side, then sear for about a minute per side on high.

pp: I don't use nearly as much butter as a lot of the guys here, but yeah, you want a little more fat in the pan than that. And higher heat and pressing down or weighting the steak helps maximize even contact w/ the pan when searing.

Roll: Looks perfect!

squash: Yeah, looks pretty good to me too!

Squash do you mean it didn't turn out well done? It looks medium rare.

I meanf the sear hsd a burnt flavor from tge butter and oil being too hot. Kitchen was one giant cloud of smoke after searibg 4 steaks.