Reverse Sear

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Oh boy, here it goes. I'll let one of the four, or five guys, on this board that claim to have invented the reverse sear method explain it to you.
 
If I call it the "Rempe Reverse" I can get a reaction from the senior members, it really came form Larry Wolfe and Finny ... Cooking red meat at a grill temperature of 250° to an internal temp. of 100° at that point pull it and loosely tent with aluminum foil off the grill. Bring the grill to to 400°+ and sear 1, 2, 3 Minutes per side to ... Extra-Rare - 125F, Rare - 135F, Medium-Rare - 145F, Medium - 160F, Well-Done - 170F.
 
You cook the steak very low heat until the middle is warm, then you take it over to a grill and burn the outside and when you cut it is is pink all the way .... it is really good if you have time and like stuff like that... Go for it !!
 
Griff said:
Oh boy, here it goes. I'll let one of the four, or five guys, on this board that claim to have invented the reverse sear method explain it to you.
LOL!
 
Don't mean to step on the original method at all, but here is how I do it with great results.

So... this is the "Cline Reverse Sear Method of Grilling Steaks and Chops"

I either use my Primo with the divider, or the 22" weber with coals on one side.

Dump your chimney in one side of your grill, then toss your steaks on the other side as far away as possible.
Throw some wood chips or chunks on the fire for smoke. Vents wide open.
As the grill heats up to searing temps, your steak will slow cook.
When Steak gets to 100 to 110 degrees, your fire will be good and hot.
Shut off your intake vent, but leave exhaust open
Throw steaks right over coals for 1-2 min per side (or until done to your liking) I pull mine at 120-125 for Med. Rare

Reasons why I do it this way:
I don't like the thought of bringing the steak up to the 100 to 110 mark and bringing it away from the heat for the time it takes to heat up the grill. Just my preference and feeling of being in the bacterial "danger zone".

The reason I shut off the vents right before the sear is to keep the fire from flairing up during searing.

So, I basicly do it the same way as Finney, but with some modifications. I do ALL steaks this way as well as Pork Loin chops and have excellent, juicy results.
 
Gary, seems like a really good idea and not as difficult, but would get the same results. When it is cold you have to run the tented steaks in the house try to get the fire up to that 400°+. I'm going to give the "Cline Reverse Sear Method of Grilling Steaks and Chops" a try, thanks for the idea.
 
Gary in VA said:
Reasons why I do it this way:
I don't like the thought of bringing the steak up to the 100 to 110 mark and bringing it away from the heat for the time it takes to heat up the grill. Just my preference and feeling of being in the bacterial "danger zone".


The only area of the steak that could possibly be in the danger zone would be the exterior, which after a 400º+ sear would not be an issue.

Gary, your method is fine, especially if it works for you. But, it should take 10 minutes or less to get an already partially lit grill from 250º to 400º or more, so timing wouldn't be an issue even for pork or poultry using the original reverse sear method of 'removing the meat while bringing the grill up to searing temps'. As long as the finished poultry or pork are handled properly and cooked to appropriate finish temps the 'danger zone' worry is moot for such a short time frame away from the heat.
 
Also, bacterial danger is for long term applications. That is for a storage issue, not under a long term application of low grade heat. Smoking is a fine example where meat sits in a danger zone, with nothing going bad. So Gary, you have absolutely nothing to worry about. Bacteria are fast, but not that fast. Optimally their generation is 20 minutes, but this is far from optimal, and your original population is way too short to worry about.

Reverse sear takes advantage of elastin/collagen proteases which only work at low temperatures. Once gone high, you've denatured those proteins (enzymes) so you've taken out the ability to cut them up.

Also, I find the reverse sear much easier to follow than the forward sear method. You can judge by the colour of the meat and the change in the rigidity of the meat, how well it's "baking" on low temp.

Cheers
 
not sure what a protease is, but who's taking beef (the meat this cooking
benefits the most from) past 140? I don't think collagen breaks down
until at least that point.
 
A protease is an enzyme that breaks down protein. They work well below any of the temperatures we apply to meat. But slow heating can make them work faster. Above a certain temperature they too denature and lose their ability to function, as they too are proteins. Enzyme kinetics are what we are using when we do a reverse sear. Hanging meat is the slow method of doing the same.
 
They are essentially the same thing. The connective tissues you break down are aided by heat (denaturing the protein itself) also augmented with proteases. The plateau we see is likely a thermodynamics thing where the heat is absorbed into activation energy to break protein bonds (quite likely hydrogen bonds).
 
BeeRich said:
A protease is an enzyme that breaks down protein. They work well below any of the temperatures we apply to meat. But slow heating can make them work faster. Above a certain temperature they too denature and lose their ability to function, as they too are proteins. Enzyme kinetics are what we are using when we do a reverse sear. Hanging meat is the slow method of doing the same.

Jim, this is why a reverse seared piece of meat will be more tender than an identical cut cooked the traditional 'sear first' method.
 
I recommend preparing a grill where you can test it both ways. I did that, made a video. I didn't see much difference, but I now use the reverse sear because of the control it gives me. I'd have to do much more testing to see if there is a noticeable difference. I would guess it might change with different cuts and grades of meat.
 
BeeRich said:
I recommend preparing a grill where you can test it both ways. I did that, made a video. I didn't see much difference, but I now use the reverse sear because of the control it gives me. I'd have to do much more testing to see if there is a noticeable difference. I would guess it might change with different cuts and grades of meat.

I totally agree and would recommend using the reverse sear method ESPECIALLY on leaner cuts such as top and bottom round cuts.
 
that makes sense, so I'm guessing you guys are going to reccomend this method
only for lean cuts of meat, which means grilling only, correct?
 
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