Similar post to cooking the Perfect Pork Chop, I thought I'd ask the same question of cooking your ideal ribeye. Whether you like a hot iron skillet in butter, a reverse sear on a spin grate, a front sear and roast or a combo of sous vide and sear, tell me what your preferred method is. Over time I've done a good ribeye just about anyway imaginable. I first started cooking them in a pan or broiler then in college got a hold of a small hibachi and fell in love with the charcoal flavor and superior searing. Later I transitioned in to doing them on a gasser with a reverse sear on regular or grill grates. Great results but often times if I didn't time it just right I'd slightly overshoot them ending up with some gray banding. Not a big deal but that seemed to be a good, but not great way to cook steak. It also lacked the flavor that little hibachi and charcoal gave me.
In order to get more flavor by using charcoal and wood chunks, I moved to doing them on a Weber kettle using the front then reverse sear methods. For me both work equally well if employed in the proper manner. I found the flavor profile superior to the gasser and soon adopted that as my primary method of cooking ribeyes. But again, depending on the conditions of and heat of the fire in the SNS, I'd occasionally overshoot with the proverbial gray banding occurring. Not a big deal once again but not ideal.
With the advent of sous vide I've now adopted the SVS method of cooking. The obvious advantage to sous vide is perfect edge to edge cooking at whatever temperature you choose. For me 130*F for one and a half to two hours is ideal. After that I leave them rest on the countertop until they begin to ramp down in temperature a few degrees. I fire up a screaming hot chimney of coals in my SNS and reverse sear for a combination of 1-1/2 minutes per side. The advantage is a pretty near perfectly cooked steak. The second advantage is that it's hands off, you let the sous vide do the work for you automatically. If you decide to finish the steaks later you can just chuck them into the fridge and sear at your convenience, the ultimate for gatherings or mid-week cooks when time is of the essence.
Like everything else the disadvantage is that lack of deep barbecue flavor that the charcoal and wood give you. In essence it's almost returning to the gasser method as far as flavor is concerned. Don't get me wrong that's not necessarily a bad thing but in a blind taste test I'd bet all things being the same a good ribeye cooked over charcoal and wood would win most of the time.
Of course there are other subsets of the above. I've cooked quite a few steaks using open fire on a Santa Maria type grill which yields a superior flavor profile. Unfortunately unless you cook this way often it can be hard to control the outcome, at least for me. There are a ton of variables from heat of the coals to the amount of wind blowing on any given day.
Finally, and again not to be taken as inferior, is cooking ribeyes on a pellet grill sear setup. The heat level provides that excellent sear your looking for. Since I don't utilize this method very often I don't have much of an opinion one way or the other. To me, once again, the flavor profile just isn't there.
It's almost like asking you to choose your favorite child, but which method do you employ that gives you the best results and flavor profiles you seek in a well cooked ribeye steak? I don't think the answer should necessarily be right or wrong but a preference on your part.
So show me your wares, how do you best like to cook a ribeye steak ??
In order to get more flavor by using charcoal and wood chunks, I moved to doing them on a Weber kettle using the front then reverse sear methods. For me both work equally well if employed in the proper manner. I found the flavor profile superior to the gasser and soon adopted that as my primary method of cooking ribeyes. But again, depending on the conditions of and heat of the fire in the SNS, I'd occasionally overshoot with the proverbial gray banding occurring. Not a big deal once again but not ideal.
With the advent of sous vide I've now adopted the SVS method of cooking. The obvious advantage to sous vide is perfect edge to edge cooking at whatever temperature you choose. For me 130*F for one and a half to two hours is ideal. After that I leave them rest on the countertop until they begin to ramp down in temperature a few degrees. I fire up a screaming hot chimney of coals in my SNS and reverse sear for a combination of 1-1/2 minutes per side. The advantage is a pretty near perfectly cooked steak. The second advantage is that it's hands off, you let the sous vide do the work for you automatically. If you decide to finish the steaks later you can just chuck them into the fridge and sear at your convenience, the ultimate for gatherings or mid-week cooks when time is of the essence.
Like everything else the disadvantage is that lack of deep barbecue flavor that the charcoal and wood give you. In essence it's almost returning to the gasser method as far as flavor is concerned. Don't get me wrong that's not necessarily a bad thing but in a blind taste test I'd bet all things being the same a good ribeye cooked over charcoal and wood would win most of the time.
Of course there are other subsets of the above. I've cooked quite a few steaks using open fire on a Santa Maria type grill which yields a superior flavor profile. Unfortunately unless you cook this way often it can be hard to control the outcome, at least for me. There are a ton of variables from heat of the coals to the amount of wind blowing on any given day.
Finally, and again not to be taken as inferior, is cooking ribeyes on a pellet grill sear setup. The heat level provides that excellent sear your looking for. Since I don't utilize this method very often I don't have much of an opinion one way or the other. To me, once again, the flavor profile just isn't there.
It's almost like asking you to choose your favorite child, but which method do you employ that gives you the best results and flavor profiles you seek in a well cooked ribeye steak? I don't think the answer should necessarily be right or wrong but a preference on your part.
So show me your wares, how do you best like to cook a ribeye steak ??
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