By Dylan Clay
The reason people opt to reverse sear is because it improves a few aspects of the steak:
However, there are downsides:
Dylan’s Suggestion: If you have the time – I’d suggest reverse searing any cut of steak that’s 1+ inches thick.
Any steak that’s less than 1″ thick, I’d opt to simply sear it in a cast-iron pan with a high smoke point oil.
Here’s an example of how thermal radiation (radiant heat transfer) happens when searing steak:
The above results in the surface of the steak being “seared” and the outer layer of the meat going through Maillard reactions.
These Maillard reactions – which people often refer to as a “browning” – are chemical reactions between amino acids and simple sugars.
The result of maillard reactions (apart from color change) are new flavors and aromas that improve the eating experience.
That’s why you sear steak and why you brown food before slow roasting.
A lot of “food websites” will boldly state that searing is to “lock in juices” or something to that affect; That simply isn’t true.
Searing does absolutely nothing to create a moisture barrier.
Moisture is expelled via heat and the denaturing of proteins. Cooking steak to certain internal temperatures is what causes the meat (muscle tissue) to expel free moisture.
There are really two forms of heat we need to concern ourselves with:
Convective heat is heat that surrounds the steak from all sides.
Radiant heat (thermal radiation) is the direct transfer of heat and it doesn’t rely on a medium like air to carry the heat.
That’s somewhat hard to picture, so here’s a diagram:
The meat placed in the “indirect” zone is receiving convective heat via the movement of air.
If the meat was placed directly above the charcoal, it would be experiencing radiant heat.
The prototypical way of searing steak is to first sear the outside of the meat – often people will say to give it a “hard sear.”
Then the goal is to simply take the meat from a cold internal temperature to near your finishing temperature.
When a crust is formed, you now want to offer the meat convective heat from your oven or the “indirect” zone of your grill.
OR if it’s a thin cut of steak, you simply rest it to allow carry-over cooking to occur (more on this below).
The result is less even heating and a “gradient” of doneness:
To simplify these steps:
A reverse sear is simply taking the standard method above and reversing it.
Rather, you’d start by placing the steak in convective heat – like in your oven or on your grill, away from the radiant heat.
Once you’re near your desired finishing temperature (roughly ~5-10F below), you take it out of the convective heat – allow it to rest for 5-7 minutes to minimize carryover – and then place it on the radiant heat.
To simplify these steps:
The result is more wall-to-wall doneness and minimal grey-band:
If you’re a beginner to cooking steak, I’d definitely recommend that you reverse sear.
Side-note on Reverse Searing’s History: Most people have heard of this method from J. Kenji López-Alt; While I think the information Kenji shares is wonderful – he is not the founder of this method (even though People speak as though he was).
Here’s a video from Harvard University where-in Harold McGee discusses Justus von Liebig’s false claim that searing “locks-in” in Juices. In passing he also mentions how even in the 1800s this method of cooking to temperature first and then searing was popular.
Where-as it has only become popular in the past 20-ish years by Modern Chefs (like Kenji).
Carryover cooking is just as it sounds – the internal temperature will quite literally carry over from the hot exterior, to the interior of the meat.
After applying either method – most people will recommend that you rest your steak for 5-7 minutes per inch of thickness.
Something to be cognizant of is that by resting, carryover cooking can take your medium-rare steak (~130F) to closer to near medium (~140F).
Meaning, when you take your take off the heat early – usually 5-10F below your target temperature.
Say your goal is medium-rare, you’d take the steak off at 125F and allow the temperature to climb via carry-over.
The above porterhouse steak rested for ~7 minutes. In that timeframe the meat went from 125F to 130F.
Truth be told, the main reason most people will say to rest is less so about juice/moisture loss and more so about the way the steak appears.
Resting allows the steak to “rouge out.”; Through carryover, the “gradient” is far less pronounced.
