Mother's day dinner, have a couple of 8oz prime filets (wifes favorite, of course) l. Going to serve with butter poached lobster and baked potato so didn't need huge filers.
They are decently thick filets (like 1.5") but again, only 8oz. I'm worried reverse sear might not work at that size.
Thoughts on reverse sear vs just a normal cast iron sear and flip often? Medium rare is the goal.
You’ll be fine doing a reverse sear. Put your steak in the freezer for about 10 minutes first, want it to be pretty cold. Get your wood chunks smoking really good. Then get your temps down low, no more than 225 if you can. Keep the steak as far from the coals as possible. Once your steak reaches about 100-110 then remove it to a plate. Open all the vents with the lid off and let the coals get screamin hot, place steak over the coals and flip…EZ-PZ.
Not sure what kind of cooker you have but this is how I’d do it on a kettle with my Vortex.
Last edited by Panhead John; May 7, 2022, 01:40 PM.
So I probably should have mentioned, this is going to be indoors. Raining nonstop here and 20mph winds, and I already spent enough time out there draining off the pool lol.
😂 no problem. I’m so used to hearing reverse sear and thinking "on the grill" The few times I’ve done prime fillets inside was constant flipping on the skillet with butter and just S&P. I’m gonna let more experienced folks help, I’ve never done reverse sear in the oven.
Last edited by Panhead John; May 7, 2022, 02:21 PM.
Yeah I guess thickness isn't the concern. It's just not a huge piece of meat, nor a forgiving one. I'll try reverse sear I think and just keep an eye on the temps, maybe pull a little early.
I put them in my LSG smoke until 105 internal, let them sit for 10-15 minutes while I get the searing are ready. Put them over the flames for 45 seconds, flip, 45 seconds and flip, do all that one more time for 90 seconds total sear time.
I get a plate ready drizzled with EVOO and a big pat of garlic butter in the middle and the hot steak goes on top. Some great dipping....also good with blackened tuna.
An 8oz steak that thick will have four good sides to cook on. This will allow you to cook slowly on the stove top without over-searing. I would use two pans - one for the heating and one for searing. The lower temp pan allows you to braise with butter without risking burning it. When you reach your desired internal temp for reverse searing (ie 110 - 115) transfer the the preheated sear pan and cook all four sides.
Guessing you probably already cooked these? How’d they turn out?
My take is that it’s tenderloin and if there’s not smoke, the benefit to reverse sear is negligible. I’d just cook them like many restaurants and front sear in cast iron and finish in the oven if you don’t have a Sous Vide setup. The biggest benefit to an oven to pan reverse sear might be less banding.
This gets my vote too. I'm a HUGE fan of the reverse sear method, but in this case I would just fry it in a cast iron pan at medium temp. The surface crust will be PERFECT, and the slight banding is negligible. I'd rather have a super tasty crust than perfect wall to wall color on a small steak like this.
Ended up going with a closely monitored reverse sear, and pulled them fairly early. I considered the SV but I decided the steaks were thick enough. Out of the oven into a very hot cast iron skillet where they were seared and basted with beef tallow.
I think my wife has the pictures but overall came out very good and she raved about the butter poached lobster topping - who wouldn't!
Comment