Life changing.
I remember, fairly early in my dining out life, making the decision to no longer order steak in a restaurant. Why? It always seemed like the most boring thing on the menu. Chicken, pork and seafood were stuffed and sauced with wonderful accompaniments, but steak usually appeared on its own alongside a baked potato and some overcooked broccoli.
At some point, however, as my experience in dining and cooking grew, I realized I was missing out. Good quality, tender, marbled beef, seared on an impossibly hot stove for a crisp, caramelized crust with a beautifully pink interior. As as my age increased my preference for temperature dropped and today I like my steaks rare as can be.
A few years ago I learned how to cook that perfect steak at home. It starts with really good meat. Plan on spending $20 and up per pound. And yes, that’s a treat in our home too. Then apply the life-changing reverse sear.
What’s that? Well, if I’m going to spend that much money on a steak I want every bite to be as close to my ideal temperature as possible. The problem with cooking it fully on the grill or in a cast iron skillet is that I get a beautiful caramelized crust and a perfectly pink interior, but every other part of the steak is overcooked, from well done near the surface through medium until it hits the rare center.
The reverse sear solves this problem. We slowly bring the entire steak up to the perfect temperature. Let it rest to stabilize that temperature a bit and then sear it in a screaming hot cast iron skillet or over a hot charcoal fire on the grill. The results are truly life-changing. Leaving you free to go out to your favorite restaurant and order the chicken.
How do you do it? Here you go:
Life-Changing Reverse-Seared Steak
Serves 4-6
With the reverse sear every single bite from the crisp caramelized crust to the interior - the same color from edge to edge - is perfect. You’ll roast the steaks an hour plus to reach this temperature. There's very little active work but plan ahead.
Ingredients:
2 8-10 oz steaks cut 2” thick
2 tbs vegetable oil
4 tbs butter
1 shallot, minced
1 tsp black peppercorns
1 cup dry red wine
1 cup chicken or beef stock
1 tbs cold butter Sherry vinegar
Directions:
Pre-heat your oven to 225F.
Roast steaks: Place a cookie cooling rack over a rimmed baking sheet. Season steaks on both sides with salt and pepper. Place on rack and place in pre-heated oven. Roast steaks to just below your target temperature and remove from oven. Rest for 30 minutes. For rare cook to 120F, medium-rare 130, medium 140. This will take roughly one hour to an hour and 15 minutes.
Sear steaks: Heat a 10-12” heavy skillet or cast iron pan over med-high heat. When screaming hot add oil and steaks. The pan will steam. Cook steaks until they release easily and have a crispy, caramelized crust, about 1-2 min.
Turn steaks, add butter, and spoon melted butter over steaks while they sear on the bottom, about 2 min longer. Remove from pan and let rest on a plate.
Make sauce: Reduce heat to med. Add shallot and soften, about 1 min. Add peppercorns and wine. Reduce to 1/4 cup, scraping any brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Add stock and reduce sauce to 1/2 cup. Add in any juices that have accumulated over the steak. Strain to remove peppercorns and shallot and return to pan. Whisk through cold butter to finish, season with salt, pepper and vinegar. Serve over steaks.
NOTE: You can also finish these steaks over a hot charcoal fire, giving them a 1-2 minute sear on each side. Just make the red wine reduction in a pan in the kitchen.
