The Reverse Sear Explained & De-Mystified: Full Tutorial & Pr0n Included!

[JP7794]

A touch overdone but very tasty!




"You don't win friends with salad!" - Homer Simpson

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[buccaneer]

I miss moose...

[Moose]

Originally Posted by buccaneer

I miss moose...

Moose is right here!

[Pitmaster T]

I ahve been tossign this idea in my head about the reverse sear. Recently I got a big ass 5 foot grill.

Now thats big and great for the three Church Fairs we have each year BUT I do not want to be farking around with cooking 50 individual tri tips.

My thought is this, and please answer. What if I could start them out reverse sear, pan them and bring the temp way down to suspend them at, say, rare. (in this way as time goes by I am still left with med rare). This means my pit would be behind me (my big ass brazos) suspended by my stoker at some temperature. I could pull a couple of tri - tips and finish them off and pass them to my slicer.

Can we theorize this for a moment. Is it possible, and for how long? Thoughts... in this case I am open to even the stupid suggestions... mostly because thats where the true genius often lies.

[BBQMaverick]

Great thread. Lots of good info.

[CarolinaQue]

Originally Posted by Pitmaster T

I ahve been tossign this idea in my head about the reverse sear. Recently I got a big ass 5 foot grill.

Now thats big and great for the three Church Fairs we have each year BUT I do not want to be farking around with cooking 50 individual tri tips.

My thought is this, and please answer. What if I could start them out reverse sear, pan them and bring the temp way down to suspend them at, say, rare. (in this way as time goes by I am still left with med rare). This means my pit would be behind me (my big ass brazos) suspended by my stoker at some temperature. I could pull a couple of tri - tips and finish them off and pass them to my slicer.

Can we theorize this for a moment. Is it possible, and for how long? Thoughts... in this case I am open to even the stupid suggestions... mostly because thats where the true genius often lies.

I see no reason why that wouldn't work as long as you keep them tightly wrapped. I think that your limitation though would be holding them in the "danger" zone in the "rare" temp range for to long. But I'd be willing to bet that you could safely hold them for a couple of hours and then finish with a flash sear and serve. I know that I'd eat it. It's not like it's ground beef you're holding or any thing.

[Pitmaster T]

We had a discussion about the danger zone for meats....

I can't remember where the data was... I think it was in Wood Pellet thread where I was insisting something could not be done and according to the powers that be it could. I forgot the info because I figured I would never need it.

I was assuming I would be done in say... 2 hours so I would assume I would slow them down enough and hold them at 165, for instance. I am wondering on the data of how long I had in that rare. med rare zone of low enough I cook finish sear them before the buyer and throw the to the side for the slicer to do his/her thang.

[buccaneer]

In this thread, people are using the term "Reverse Sear" instead of simple searing first or last.

My thought is this, and please answer. What if I could start them out reverse sear, pan them and bring the temp way down to suspend them at, say, rare. (in this way as time goes by I am still left with med rare). This means my pit would be behind me (my big ass brazos) suspended by my stoker at some temperature. I could pull a couple of tri - tips and finish them off and pass them to my slicer.

Reverse sear is a complete method.
It means to bake meat on low heat and finish by searing the external surface.
It is called "Bake and Brown" when taught as a method in cooking courses and has been around since the last century.
It gets confusing when we use the terms in place of something else.
If you start with a sear, then you can't use reverse sear.
The benefit of reverse sear is you get greater control of doneness because it gives you are much larger window in which to cook to the IT you want.
It is slightly moister (if cooked by non pro's) and is far more forgiving for less experienced cooks.
It's weak point is, it cooks in a range of heat that, for the majority of the time, it is below the temps where chemical and elemental changes happen and flavinoids develop.
As for the temp being in the 'danger zone' it is simply not relevant because the bacterial organisms that you fear are external and will be in a heat emp too high to exist, there will not be developing organisms in the internals of the meat exploding in number, contrary to common belief.
If that were so, things like hungi and other non western cooking styles would have killed off other cultures thouseands of ears ogo
In My Opinion and experience

[Pitmaster T]

I also guess that what I am saying is how long can I hold a beef cut suspended in a holder at say, 155, when the steak was stopped using the reverse method at 130-135 for instance?

I guess I actually need to do it maybe.

[Pitmaster T]

let me clarify... I do not let the steaks touch the sear at all until the end. I am not a dumb ass. Yes I understand it is a whole process.... I am aksing for data on for instance, how long can a cut be suspended from the slow smoke portion of the cook until you finish sear it.

[buccaneer]

Originally Posted by Pitmaster T

let me clarify... I do not let the steaks touch the sear at all until the end. I am not a dumb ass. Yes I understand it is a whole process.... I am aksing for data on for instance, how long can a cut be suspended from the slow smoke portion of the cook until you finish sear it.

I know you aren't a dumbass but the way you wrote the post meant ir read the way I responded to it and we aren't the only ones reading the posts.
I have never needed or thought about it but naturally thoughts went to sous vide where the meats are suspended in low temps(115f to 185f) for a very long time.

[Pitmaster T]

Originally Posted by buccaneer

I know you aren't a dumbass but the way you wrote the post meant ir read the way I responded to it and we aren't the only ones reading the posts.
I have never needed or thought about it but naturally thoughts went to sous vide where the meats are suspended in low temps(115f to 185f) for a very long time.

Don't worry about it. If I was mad i would have used an !

No I realized I wrote it wrong.

heres what I got in another thread from foxfire.

This is why I come here... this is what I was talking about the other day about genius.... I think it was in the "stew meat for burnt ends" thread.

True genius on the pit is when you look at a meat and say...how closely can I get it to do this and throw out all the rules, including the rules that got the other meat the way you are targeting, and come up with another way (like my "breaks my heart loinbacks")

I had simply underestimated the possibility that I could pull way under rare.... hold it in pans in the smoker at say 115 or 120 (which is easy to approximate) then finish off in 2 to 3 minutes.

Originally Posted by Foxfire

Am I the only one who tends to pull tri tip off at 115 to rest in foil while I add another half chimney of coals to the low-and-slow fire for a hotter sear? The temp raises a bit while resting so once I sear it's a pretty quick 2-3 min per side to hit 135 med. rare. Or am I weird?

GOD BLESS YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !!!!

I asked this question the other day in another thread and was looking for this advice. I love you man. I did some calcualtions and this will work. I forgot about this.... this will work for my application and you even gave me the done time.

As far as you thinking you are weird, no, you are a genius. I bet you get the feeling I do when I deliver a 25-35 pound shoulder clod and serve it rare to medium rare after a 200, 2 hour, then 400 to 130 IT degree cook, slice it and have people think I am serving prime rib or boneless steamship round. You must feel like I do when you see people in here cook a cold like they do a brisket (thereby ruining it because they are doing something to a clod that a brisket can do better - be served well done).

You sir are my new best friend and yes you are weird. Which is the highest compliment!.

[Pitmaster T]

Now from what I am reading about sous vide.... I am going to have to grill a bit first perhaps. Then bake smoke to 115, wrap a few in plastic, then hold (no I am not going to hold in water bath) then when I am ready I will pull a pack (which may have three tri tips in it.... grill to rare to med rare, then rest and slice to serve.

It broke off but I remember I had a swing in cage like rack I could literally swing into the firebox of my brazos for reasons like this. I was big enough to throw maybe three or four briskets in, sear them, in the high heat (although I would shut the door and dampers so there were not flare ups) and pull in under 5-10 minutes. I stopped using this because it made a great bark but affected my smoke ring.

I did think I could use it for a finish process for searing bark on a "done" brisket but that was before I perfected my tri level process which somehow magically the bark hardens up again after its pulled from the plastic or butcher paper.

Maybe I should try this with tri tips. I don't know.

[NorthwestBBQ]

Genius!

[gtr]

Originally Posted by Pitmaster T

...
I deliver a 25-35 pound shoulder clod and serve it rare to medium rare after a 200, 2 hour, then 400 to 130 IT degree cook
...

This is what I've been wanting to hear about clod.