Reverse seared steak

[RSpence]

My first attempt at a reverse seared steak, in this case a 1.25 inch ribeye. Try it and you won't go back. It is so tender and flavourful it tastes like a Wagyu steak. You can use any kind of steak but make sure you have some marbling.
Salt one side with a light dusting of salt for uncovered in the fridge for 1.5hrs. For a thinner steak, inch or less, only go for 1 hr. Wash, rub-I used Jeff Phillips Texas rub- and it's ready to go. I heated the smoker to 250, smoked and cooked for 2 hrs. with apple for an IT temp of 130 for a medium steak. If you want a medium rare steak go for 125 IT. Next time I'll only smoke for 1 hr., a little to heavy I thought. After the 2 hrs. tent for 10 minutes. You can either use your grills side burner, which I used, or a flat iron on your stove top. Be warned there's a lot of smoke when searing because you want a really hot pan or side burner. Sear for ONLY 45 seconds to NO more than a minute. Do not use a rub that contains a lot of sugar because it will burn. This rub has only a small amount of sugar. Enjoy people. I know you will.

[Habanero Smoker]

Sounds great!!! I may give your technique a try; will use a different seasoning. What flavor smoke did you use?

When I reverse sear a steak I like to use my 12" cast iron skillet. I put 1 tablespoon each of butter, and canola oil, and a couple of crushed cloves of garlic. Heat the pan over high heat, carefully watching the garlic, and taking the garlic out before it starts to burn. Once the oil and butter begin to smoke, add your steak. Sometimes I use grapeseed or avocado oil instead of canola. Grapeseed is tasteless, but avocado oil has a distinct flavor.

[RSpence]

For this smoke I used apple for entire 2 hrs. Next time I think I'll only go for a 1 hr. smoke using the same wood. That way I can successfully gauge what the correct amount of time to use from then on. I have read doing what you did, Habs, by searing with oil and butter. We have very sensitive smoke detectors so I went with the side burner for this reason. I could also use a cast iron pan on the side burner too. Hmmm...thanks for the idea! A lot of people forget to season the oil when searing, or cooking in general, which is a fantastic way to impart flavour. Lastly, I didn't mention that there is, for my tastes, a bit to much pepper in this rub so I'll cut down on this and kick it up with use some fresh rosemary or thyme we have growing. In my mind, any recipe is a guideline and should be used as written and then tweaked to ones liking.

[TedEbear]

The process sounds good although I take my steaks to 160 IT well done.  I will not eat it if there is still red inside, especially if it oozes red liquid when I cut into it.  I'd post some pics but Photobucket put a $400/yr whammy on doing that.   

[TwistedSanity]

I know this thread is older , but I was thinking of trying this the summer.

Do you let the steak rest after cooking?  if so how long?

[Habanero Smoker]

If you follow the instructions by RSpence you should rest the steak after reverse searing for at least 10 - 15 minutes, before cutting into it.

Another method of reverse searing is to allow the steak to rest prior to reverse searing. If you rest it prior to reverse searing the steak, then there is no need to rest it after the searing.

[Salmonsmoker]

I do the rest after initial cook @ 275 to the desired IT while my pellet smoker heats up to grill temperature. It's a perfect time to do so. After the sear, 1-1/2 min. per side and it's chow time.