Botched reverse sear -- what went wrong?

[amr5152]

Hey everyone, yesterday I reverse seared a ribeye with my kettle+SnS that I wanted to be at roughly 130-135, but ended up closer to 145-150. I'm hoping someone might be able to provide some insight as to what went wrong, as the whole thing seemed to be pretty textbook.

Ribeye was roughly 1"-1.25", dry brined for about 24 hours. I lit ~20 briquettes, let them ash over, and banked them to the side of the SnS, and stabilized the kettle at around 220-225. I put the ribeye on and monitored the temps with my Thermoworks smoke. Ambient temps held like a champ. Once the IT got to 115, I pulled the meat off but kept the probe in to see how much I would get with the carryover, all the while getting a chimney of briquettes roaring hot for the sear. Carryover got me to 118.9. I then seared the steak for about a minute each side, twice. But then, I checked the temp using my Thermapen, and it read 150. To be sure I didn't have a probe accuracy issue, I checked with my smoke, and that read the exact same temp. Lo and behold, the interior was brown, as expected after seeing the reading.

What could have gone wrong here? Everything seemed textbook. I can only really imagine 2 things:
1. The sear took me from about 120 to 150. (This seems unlikely. I've seared lots of meat in the past and it usually isn't responsible for nearly that much of a jump in IT.)
2. When I was slow roasting, the part of the meat where the probe was was not as hot as the rest of the meat. (This seems odd, but more likely than #1. I'm kicking myself for not checking the IT with the Thermapen before searing.)

Thoughts?

Thanks!

[Potkettleblack]

I would guess #2.

[HorseDoctor]

Two minutes per side over a roaring hot chimney seems like a long sear for a 1"-1.25" steak???

[smokenoob]

I agree ^

[RonB]

1" is a bit thin for reverse sear - at least for me. It's hard to keep the finished temp down when searing something that thin. You might have better luck with a front sear when cooking a thin steak. I suggest searing first checking the temp regularly and then move to the slow side to bring it up to final temp. I would also sear on an inverted chimney of hot coals, then dump the hot coals in the SnS for the "slow".

Think about it - it's harder to control a rapidly rising temp, (Hot sear), than a slowly rising temp, (Low temp).

[EdF]

That's my take too. Too thin for the method.

[Steve R.]

I think the steak was a little thin for this process. The only way I have any luck in that situation is to back off the indirect cooking some and bring it to a lower IT before searing.

[Polarbear777]

Likely probe tip placement issue on the slow cook side.

That’s hit me before.

Your intuition that you should have checked with the thermapen is good. I never trust any leave in probes completely.

[jfmorris]

It is probably #2, then again - everything I read about the reverse sear says it is best used for steaks 1.5 to 2 inches thick, and do a front sear for thinner steaks.

Now, I've done it a couple of times with steaks less than 1.5 - probably around 1.25 inches thick, and not had the result above. And I monitored it with my Smoke as well, on the thickest part of the steak. Think about it - if the Smoke probe were off center in the steak, it would actually have read higher than the IT in the center, since the steak cooks from the outside in, even when indirect. So there is the possibility that the steak really was 118.9, but at 1000+ degrees over the SNS in sear mode, 1 to 2 minutes was just too much heat for a thinner steak.

I'm actually doing most of my steaks sous vide now, and searing (gasp!) in a cast iron skillet on the stove (cold or raining) or on my Weber Genesis with upside down Grillgrates. That's how I can best have 2 steaks (or 8 steaks if all the kids and boyfriends/girlfriends/fiances come) ready for Sunday dinner, and plate them in a couple of minutes after all the sides my wife is making are ready and everyone is here.

[jfmorris]

fzxdoc Yep glad to hear I am not the only one doing this. Since I only have the one Anova for now, I've just been compromising and doing all the steaks medium, and they've been so tender and well cooked from the sous vide that even the medium-rare guys in the family have been pleased, and the medium-well ones will eat it.

[fzxdoc]

Sounds like a winner of a compromise, jfmorris .

[amr5152]

I also sous vide / sear most often . It's actually hard to mess it up. But for whatever reason I felt compelled to do a reverse yesterday. And now, here I am, sorry that I did!

[Troutman]

I would have to say....Combination of the Two ......

[johnmcq4]

While I enjoyed the energy of the individual singers in this video I like them am searching the key.

[FireMan]

Yup, I am in agreement with A. Seems like thickness or lack of and to much time due to lack of thickness. A CI skillet might have been the choice here.

[shify]

Yup, too long a sear for too thin a steak. If i'm reading it right, you cooked over direct heat for 4 minutes total. You can practically cook a 1 in ribeye from fridge temp to med rare in that amount of time over direct heat so I'm not surprised a steak went from 120-150 in that time.

[scottranda]

I’m in Camp #1, but could easily be a combination of both.

[FireMan]

Oh sure, it’s easy for you to say. Make up yer mind will yuh!

[Hulagn1971]

Hot and fast method works better for thinner steaks. Sounds like your sear at the end was too long.

[dshaffes]

Not a big fan of the reverse sear (my opinion only). Searing first is much easier and if you monitor with thermometer, then you should be able to nail internal temp every time without fear of overshooting. If you've got a nice steak that is well seasoned it will taste great. The advice above is spot on regarding what went wrong with your reverse sear.

[dshaffes]

I've changed my opinion about reverse searing steaks. It does take more time, but recently got a fuel divider for my BGE KAB and it makes it easy.

[DeusDingo]

you gotta check the temps. you can't go based on "1 minute this, one minute that", never check the temps, and expect the same result someone else got. base it on temp. i constantly check temps in multiple parts of the meat when i am searing.

[FireMan]

Yup, & often with steaks.

[Rod]

I've done the reverse sear on 1" ribeyes a lot. I never use a leave in probe. I only use my instant read and I check them A LOT. Watching ABC videos, it looks to me the thickness of the steaks in Dave's videos don't look much more than an inch. There's even one wear I don't think he completed the full 4min sear as they hit the IT early. Probe, probe and probe!

[DWCowles]

I have never try to reverse sear with an one inch or less ribeye. I take Dave’s advice in his cold grate method video and used 1-1/2” to 2” steaks.