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

[RevZiLLa]

A pic is worth a thousand words

[buccaneer]

Originally Posted by 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.

My point is, sous vide safely holds eat at these temps so you can too using a pit.
I see no food safety issue.
I use a BSKeg and part of my method on certain cuts is to smoke and cook lowish(275-325) and take it out to rest while opening up the BSKeg and putting the meat back in for the finish, very hot.

[Scubadoo97]

Originally Posted by buccaneer

Tatoosh, sorry, but you can't reverse sear if you cook confit or sous vide.
I love sous vise and confit, congrats, they are amazing techniques!!

I want a sous vide bath real bad....next toy!

That's not true. The reverse sear technique involves low temp precooking followed by a high temp finish.

The sous vide water bath is nothing more than a water oven with very precise temperature controller unlike the home oven. A home oven cycles 10 degrees above and below the set point. The sous vide bath due to PID controllers may vary by .1-.5 degrees. Once out of the vacuumed bag the meat can be seared in a ripping hot cast iron pan or torched to get the crusty exterior that searing brings to the table. The meat can be smoked post SV as well. Some like to smoke at a low temp before using the water oven. There are advocates of both methods. Sous vide epitomizes the reverse sear

[JandJbuidasmoker]

Originally Posted by mbshop

i've been doing reverse sear for years. i hated the soggy crust i was getting. so i switched up and havn't looked back.

+1 this isn't new to me either! Thanks though for validating me!

[Scubadoo97]

Originally Posted by 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.

Depends on the size of the meat. A steak of say 40mm thickness will pasteurize at the surface and come to core temperature in about 3 hours at 130 degrees. Faster if at higher temp. Still within the four hour window

Another example; a boneless short rib 50 mm thick held at 160 f will be pasteurized to the core in about 2 hours. Again within the 4 hr window. Not long enough to make it tender but it will be safe to eat

These examples come from safety nomograms used in sous vide cooking. Due to the accuracy of the water oven these examples may not hold as true for a smoker.

Also it should be noted, collagen breaks down at much lower temperatures used in smoking and grilling, just takes longer