So a bit after 5 NYE, #1 asks, shouldn't you be setting up the grill?
Am I cooking tonight?
Yes
What?
The steaks
We're having steaks tonight?
yes, I got 4 boneless Ribeyes
SOOOO, here is our chance to do a control test.
Did the reverse sear on one and cooked the other in the traditional/old style sear first and then we shared the results. I used my Weber Kettle only. For the reverse sear, I had a few too many charcoals on one side, the meat and exhaust vent on the other. The kettle ran about 235, a little hotter than I would have preferred and no wood chips/chunks were used. When the ribeye got to about 110, I added a chimney of hot coals and added the other ribeye.
#1 liked them equally, for different reasons. Because I only used the kettle I had some technical issues that made me open the lid more often (two cuts at different stages of doneness) and resulted in flare ups. Put a little more char on the one cooked the old way.
Since food will absorb the smoke flavor until the Malliard reaction occurs, the we'd expect the reverse seared to pick up a lot more smokiness than the one done the old way. I noted the reverse seared ribeye did have a much smokier taste, than the ribeye cooked the old sear first way. So here are my thoughts. Ribeyes are a very robust cut of beef. They can handle the extra smoke flavoring. If you love the taste of the beef itself, the reverse sear may overpower the flavor of a more delicate cut, like a tenderloin. If you love the smoke, as I think most here do, the reverse sear is the way to go, but if you are more of a purist for the beef flavor, the old way may still has its uses.
Since we have two more ribeyes from the four-pack, I'm going to do this again with some minor modifications. Fewer coals to get the temp down to 225 and have the exhaust vent over the coals instead of over the meat. I think this may reduce the smokiness a bit. I'll report back in a few days.
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