HELP! How do I get a good crust with reverse sear?
My first reverse sear. In hindsight I should have followed a recipe, used timers, and a meat thermometer… At least the mac n cheese was good.
Crust! Tips for a good crust. I used salt and pepper. What do you recommend?
by arkane-the-artisan
47 Comments
mihajlo34
You have to sear it once it’s cooked in the oven
Hurricane_EMT
The inside looks amazing. Try patting it dry before you put it in the frying pan. Also, a very very crucially important tip; preheat your pan for like 5 solid minutes, i set my stove directly to medium. Let it actually preheat. Once and ONLY when your pan is emitting very obvious heat waves, add the oil. Once the oil ***begins*** to smoke, lift up the pan, slosh the oil around the base of the pan and lay that steak in there. 45 seconds a side, x2. Never ever put cold oil into a cold pan ***then*** turn on your stove to sear something. It’ll either stick to your pan or look like the steak in your pictures. Hope this helps!!
WookieSuave
Dry brine over night, pat off any moisture, pull earlier, sear hotter and a bit longer.
XBL_Tough
Crank the bish up to the the heat of the surface of the sun
mitch8017
Pat the steak dry and dry brine for at least 1, but preferably 2 hours. This will significantly dry out the surface of the steak. The Maillard reaction occurs around 300 F. You’ll be stuck at 212 and basically steaming your steak while any water on the surface boils off.
No_Temperature_5313
I use a flat weight! Like the ones people use for making smashburgers
traplords8n
It looks like it was trying to sear, but there was too much moisture so it steamed instead.
In order to get that proper browning reaction it needs to be dry.
Use salt after patting down to draw more moisture out of the surface.
Tears4BrekkyBih
Dry brine the night before. Use a cast iron get it just before smoke point and drop the steak in for a minute to 2 minutes on each side
Mainfram
People will give you a variety of difference answers, but really, your pan just isn’t hot enough.
anon3220
A hot pan and pat it down, like everyone else has said, I’ll add: when you think you’ve patted it down enough, pat it down a little bit more.
The bonus tip I’ll give: sear it in lard.
I don’t know if it’s the excessive patting dry that has been getting me great sears or the lard, but honestly ever since I started searing steaks in lard I’ve consistently made the best steaks of my life like time after time.
flickneeblibno
Pan has to hotter and stop flipping it just leave it alone
opoeto
I’m gonna list down a few things, and you can note if you made any error that needs to be rectified.
1) drying steak after oven phase and before it goes into hot pan. Juices can pool after reverse sear. Do you see lots of fond/stuck meat on your pan after your first flip? If yes means you didn’t dry your steak well enough, or not enough oil. If fond forms that fast, your sear is gone cause there’s a barrier now between the pan and your steak.
2) is your steak uneven and does it fully touch the pan. May have to press it down slightly. Constant flip is your best friend.
3) overcrowding. Do you cook multiple steaks at the same time
3) cast iron. If you are using cast iron please don’t mistake gunk and seasoning
NTufnel11
Pat dry and hotter pan. You will smoke up the house, that’s the cost of doing business here.
heliumointment
Make sure the meat is room temperature, and pat-dried it especially after you’ve seasoned it.
Pan should be very hot (oil starting to smoke) before putting the steak in.
Top-Cupcake4775
Salt it the day before and leave it on some paper towels on a sheet/plate, uncovered, in the fridge. This will thoroughly dry the outer layer of the meat. If you want to be fussy you can flip it after 12 hours or so to make sure the drying is even.
KenHeisenberg
Dry brine 3-24 hours
OlDirtyJesus
What temp did you cook that to on the meat thermometer?
Limp-Investment7472
I would like the side dish recipe.
theycallmeMrPotter
Ok I’ll give this a shit again. Thank you so much!
johncas972
500 plus degrees
boyalien0
A RIPPING hot pan
SweatyAd5658
Recently I’ve been salting my steaks 24 hours before I cook them. I throw it in the fridge on a plate, I would use a wire rack if I had one, leave it overnight, I’ve noticed this really does dry out the steak a little bit, the surface is noticeably less wet. I haven’t been letting it reach room temperature sitting out, just get the cast iron properly preheated, I have to go full max heat, a little avocado oil. It gets an insane crust. The 24 hr salt really impacts it 10x more than I thought it would.
TheKingOfSwing777
Look up ‘dry brine’
Best-University72
Make a garlic butter sauce and baste it over the steak while it cooks
Get a leave-in thermometer. Once it’s 10 degrees-ish from your desired temp, pull it and let it rest 10 minutes. Get a pan screaming hot. Personally, I don’t pat dry and I don’t use oil. Just a dry skillet. Put the steak on and let it set for 2 mins and then flip for another 2. Check temp and see if it’s where you want it.
If the weather is nice, I do this in the Weber kettle. Indirect heat with the dampers half open until I get it to 120-125. Pull the steak and get the grill ripping hot. Sear the hell out of it.
Heck, you can use a torch to sear if you want to. The steak is cooked, you’re just crisping the outside.
Dammit, I need some steak.
TheBonusWings
I was a reverse sear guy up until a month ago. Cold sear is the way to go. I get a much better crust. Just make sure its a decently fatty cut and is thick. Takes me about 20 min flipping every 2 on a cast iron.
daegon
I think this might be a tooling issue. Can you describe your “hot plate?” The inside temp looks great on the steak.
After you oven roast the steak, you need to get a skillet extremely hot, like 450-500F. I’d be willing to bet your cooking surface was under 300F.
Pat dry the surface of the steak, then it only needs 2-3 minutes to form a crust.
SickLossesDude
Dry brine over night, season with whatever else that isn’t salt, bake at 250F to 15 degrees below your desired doneness, pat dry with paper towels, get a cast iron ripping hot with enough high smoke point oil to coat the bottom. Flip every 30 seconds ensuring flat contact with the pan and let the crust gradually build as opposed to hammering it all on each side at once. Baste with butter that is infused with garlic and rosemary towards the end of the searing process.
Zanna-K
The key to a great crust and a great tasting steak is to dry brine. Salt your steak (both sides), put it in the fridge overnight. Use a rack, flip it once partway through.
The salt draws out the moisture and then the brine is absorbed back into the steak. The fridge then dries out the surface of the steak.
You can still do reverse sear if you want absolute control over internal temps, but it’s not even necessary for steaks of the thickness you posted (Looks to be about 1″?) Reverse sear is more intended for thick cut steaks that cannot cook all the way through to the center without a massive grey band. If I don’t want to spend a lot of time on reverse sear and I had steaks like yours, I’d just cook it for 3 minutes per side (flipping every 1 mintue) and call it a day.
jopplop
Dry brine in fridge uncovered over night
Edit: or at least for a few hours
No-Crow-7557
Not steak related: Can I get the Mac and cheese recipe?
tvdegestingflea
Get the pan hotter than a June brides titty and throw it on for like 30 seconds each side
theycallmeMrPotter
I was using avocado. It scared shit out of me and thought my house was going to burn down. Never again. Some people have dropped some good tips. Something was definitely wrong.
FiniteSausageFingerz
Lots of good advice here. Mostly for crust my rules are
1. Dry out steak in fridge (unpackaged) 2. Pat dry 3. Salt just before cooking 4 heat pan thoroughly 4. Baste that steak
Honestly, they are so thin I would just Sear! They look great but I think just a ripping hot pan and no oven would do just the trick .
KaiserWC
Use a meat thermometer and a timer.
Heat the steak in the oven until the inside is approx 85-90*F. Then transfer to blazing hot well-oiled pan. Cook approx 2 minutes on each side, checking internal temp every so often. Take off heat when the internal temp is 110-115*C. Then let it sit. The interior of the steak will continue to cook and the temperate will rise faster than you think. For rare, do not let any part of the steak go above 122 -125* For medium rare (best for a ribeye) you can go up to 128-132.
DragonSurferEGO
inside is good. I think the surface of the steak is too wet or the heat isn’t direct enough. you can also buy a blow torch
calzonewithlegs22
I think you could have done “forward sear” and gotten the doneness and crust you were looking for. If the temp wasn’t high enough after the sear you could have put them in the oven until desired temperature.
AzNxPiMpStA
Gotta get it real dry (just pat it down good with paper towel assuming you want it right after the bake), put a nice salt crust, and have a searing hot, thick or good conductivity pan. Weigh it down to get an even sear and don’t touch it until you’re flipping. Browning butter will also help with color
Mean-Ad-4602
Very hot grill.
Archangel_MS05
One tip that helped me. Avoid large peppercorns and salt crystals.
They actually prevent the steak from making contact with the cooking surface. However delicious large crunchy peppercorns are they do not make for a good crust.
The_White_Ram
Do you have an outdoor grill? The reason I ask is that after much trial and error I made my first perfect set of thick costco ribeyes this week.
My method is to reverse sear like normal in the oven to the desired temp.
Then rest for 10 minutes.
While its resting I take the lodge cast iron flat top I bought off of facebook marketplace for $5 and put in on the grill outside and turn the heat up.
After ten minutes I pat down the steaks so there is no moisture.
I then take the steaks to the grill, put avocado oil on the pan, and put the steaks down 15 seconds a side and push down on them with a burger/steak press. I also sear the fact cap. I do this 2x. So every 15 seconds im flipping.
Resting it for 10 minutes and flipping every 15 seconds helps get rid of the gray band.
Gofastrun
Make sure it’s dry. Make sure the pan is hot and there is a good layer of oil. I use a laser thermometer to verify. Other people flick water in the pan to see if it dances, and if it does, it’s ready for oil.
I find flipping often makes a better crust than flipping once, but there is division on this so YMMV
asimplewhisper
Pat steaks dry and season with salt and let sit for AT LEAST half an hour. Longer is better, helps break down the muscle and force out and reabsorb the moisture to make it tender.
Cast iron. Heated medium high. Until oil burns white. Then add some butter(I always make my own garlic butter with fresh roasted garlic, sea salt, and cracked pepper). Assuming steaks are at least 1 inch thick, 1.5-2 minutes on first side. Flip. Same amount of time on second side. Put the entire cast iron in the oven for 4 minutes, preheated to 425.
Take out of oven put on plate or..whatever you like and salt it. Loosely cover with foil and let rest for 5 minutes. Perfect medium rare with crusted sear every time. To get the sear on such a short cook time, you need the pan, oil, and butter hot.
I also usually have garlic cut up ready to go in the pan with the steak.
47 Comments
You have to sear it once it’s cooked in the oven
The inside looks amazing. Try patting it dry before you put it in the frying pan. Also, a very very crucially important tip; preheat your pan for like 5 solid minutes, i set my stove directly to medium. Let it actually preheat. Once and ONLY when your pan is emitting very obvious heat waves, add the oil. Once the oil ***begins*** to smoke, lift up the pan, slosh the oil around the base of the pan and lay that steak in there. 45 seconds a side, x2. Never ever put cold oil into a cold pan ***then*** turn on your stove to sear something. It’ll either stick to your pan or look like the steak in your pictures. Hope this helps!!
Dry brine over night, pat off any moisture, pull earlier, sear hotter and a bit longer.
Crank the bish up to the the heat of the surface of the sun
Pat the steak dry and dry brine for at least 1, but preferably 2 hours. This will significantly dry out the surface of the steak. The Maillard reaction occurs around 300 F. You’ll be stuck at 212 and basically steaming your steak while any water on the surface boils off.
I use a flat weight! Like the ones people use for making smashburgers
It looks like it was trying to sear, but there was too much moisture so it steamed instead.
In order to get that proper browning reaction it needs to be dry.
Use salt after patting down to draw more moisture out of the surface.
Dry brine the night before. Use a cast iron get it just before smoke point and drop the steak in for a minute to 2 minutes on each side
People will give you a variety of difference answers, but really, your pan just isn’t hot enough.
A hot pan and pat it down, like everyone else has said, I’ll add: when you think you’ve patted it down enough, pat it down a little bit more.
The bonus tip I’ll give: sear it in lard.
I don’t know if it’s the excessive patting dry that has been getting me great sears or the lard, but honestly ever since I started searing steaks in lard I’ve consistently made the best steaks of my life like time after time.
Pan has to hotter and stop flipping it just leave it alone
I’m gonna list down a few things, and you can note if you made any error that needs to be rectified.
1) drying steak after oven phase and before it goes into hot pan. Juices can pool after reverse sear. Do you see lots of fond/stuck meat on your pan after your first flip? If yes means you didn’t dry your steak well enough, or not enough oil. If fond forms that fast, your sear is gone cause there’s a barrier now between the pan and your steak.
2) is your steak uneven and does it fully touch the pan. May have to press it down slightly. Constant flip is your best friend.
3) overcrowding. Do you cook multiple steaks at the same time
3) cast iron. If you are using cast iron please don’t mistake gunk and seasoning
Pat dry and hotter pan. You will smoke up the house, that’s the cost of doing business here.
Make sure the meat is room temperature, and pat-dried it especially after you’ve seasoned it.
Pan should be very hot (oil starting to smoke) before putting the steak in.
Salt it the day before and leave it on some paper towels on a sheet/plate, uncovered, in the fridge. This will thoroughly dry the outer layer of the meat. If you want to be fussy you can flip it after 12 hours or so to make sure the drying is even.
Dry brine 3-24 hours
What temp did you cook that to on the meat thermometer?
I would like the side dish recipe.
Ok I’ll give this a shit again. Thank you so much!
500 plus degrees
A RIPPING hot pan
Recently I’ve been salting my steaks 24 hours before I cook them. I throw it in the fridge on a plate, I would use a wire rack if I had one, leave it overnight, I’ve noticed this really does dry out the steak a little bit, the surface is noticeably less wet. I haven’t been letting it reach room temperature sitting out, just get the cast iron properly preheated, I have to go full max heat, a little avocado oil. It gets an insane crust. The 24 hr salt really impacts it 10x more than I thought it would.
Look up ‘dry brine’
Make a garlic butter sauce and baste it over the steak while it cooks
Try a cold sear (the second technique here: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJcO1W_TD74](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uJcO1W_TD74) )
Get a leave-in thermometer. Once it’s 10 degrees-ish from your desired temp, pull it and let it rest 10 minutes. Get a pan screaming hot. Personally, I don’t pat dry and I don’t use oil. Just a dry skillet. Put the steak on and let it set for 2 mins and then flip for another 2. Check temp and see if it’s where you want it.
If the weather is nice, I do this in the Weber kettle. Indirect heat with the dampers half open until I get it to 120-125. Pull the steak and get the grill ripping hot. Sear the hell out of it.
Heck, you can use a torch to sear if you want to. The steak is cooked, you’re just crisping the outside.
Dammit, I need some steak.
I was a reverse sear guy up until a month ago. Cold sear is the way to go. I get a much better crust. Just make sure its a decently fatty cut and is thick. Takes me about 20 min flipping every 2 on a cast iron.
I think this might be a tooling issue. Can you describe your “hot plate?”
The inside temp looks great on the steak.
After you oven roast the steak, you need to get a skillet extremely hot, like 450-500F. I’d be willing to bet your cooking surface was under 300F.
Pat dry the surface of the steak, then it only needs 2-3 minutes to form a crust.
Dry brine over night, season with whatever else that isn’t salt, bake at 250F to 15 degrees below your desired doneness, pat dry with paper towels, get a cast iron ripping hot with enough high smoke point oil to coat the bottom. Flip every 30 seconds ensuring flat contact with the pan and let the crust gradually build as opposed to hammering it all on each side at once. Baste with butter that is infused with garlic and rosemary towards the end of the searing process.
The key to a great crust and a great tasting steak is to dry brine. Salt your steak (both sides), put it in the fridge overnight. Use a rack, flip it once partway through.
The salt draws out the moisture and then the brine is absorbed back into the steak. The fridge then dries out the surface of the steak.
You can still do reverse sear if you want absolute control over internal temps, but it’s not even necessary for steaks of the thickness you posted (Looks to be about 1″?) Reverse sear is more intended for thick cut steaks that cannot cook all the way through to the center without a massive grey band. If I don’t want to spend a lot of time on reverse sear and I had steaks like yours, I’d just cook it for 3 minutes per side (flipping every 1 mintue) and call it a day.
Dry brine in fridge uncovered over night
Edit: or at least for a few hours
Not steak related: Can I get the Mac and cheese recipe?
Get the pan hotter than a June brides titty and throw it on for like 30 seconds each side
I was using avocado. It scared shit out of me and thought my house was going to burn down. Never again. Some people have dropped some good tips. Something was definitely wrong.
Lots of good advice here. Mostly for crust my rules are
1. Dry out steak in fridge (unpackaged)
2. Pat dry
3. Salt just before cooking 4 heat pan thoroughly
4. Baste that steak
https://preview.redd.it/gwkg4thg4fve1.jpeg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=092bfe1aa22008a5bb856c36a56188e5ce63464c
Cast iron skillet which is rocket hot. You need to have it on the burner on high until it passes the water drop test described by others here.
The Good Eats Reverse Sear Ribeye recipe works every time it’s tried.
[https://altonbrown.com/recipes/reverse-sear-ribeye-steak/](https://altonbrown.com/recipes/reverse-sear-ribeye-steak/)
Honestly, they are so thin I would just Sear! They look great but I think just a ripping hot pan and no oven would do just the trick .
Use a meat thermometer and a timer.
Heat the steak in the oven until the inside is approx 85-90*F. Then transfer to blazing hot well-oiled pan. Cook approx 2 minutes on each side, checking internal temp every so often. Take off heat when the internal temp is 110-115*C. Then let it sit. The interior of the steak will continue to cook and the temperate will rise faster than you think. For rare, do not let any part of the steak go above 122 -125* For medium rare (best for a ribeye) you can go up to 128-132.
inside is good. I think the surface of the steak is too wet or the heat isn’t direct enough. you can also buy a blow torch
I think you could have done “forward sear” and gotten the doneness and crust you were looking for. If the temp wasn’t high enough after the sear you could have put them in the oven until desired temperature.
Gotta get it real dry (just pat it down good with paper towel assuming you want it right after the bake), put a nice salt crust, and have a searing hot, thick or good conductivity pan. Weigh it down to get an even sear and don’t touch it until you’re flipping. Browning butter will also help with color
Very hot grill.
One tip that helped me. Avoid large peppercorns and salt crystals.
They actually prevent the steak from making contact with the cooking surface. However delicious large crunchy peppercorns are they do not make for a good crust.
Do you have an outdoor grill? The reason I ask is that after much trial and error I made my first perfect set of thick costco ribeyes this week.
My method is to reverse sear like normal in the oven to the desired temp.
Then rest for 10 minutes.
While its resting I take the lodge cast iron flat top I bought off of facebook marketplace for $5 and put in on the grill outside and turn the heat up.
After ten minutes I pat down the steaks so there is no moisture.
I then take the steaks to the grill, put avocado oil on the pan, and put the steaks down 15 seconds a side and push down on them with a burger/steak press. I also sear the fact cap. I do this 2x. So every 15 seconds im flipping.
Resting it for 10 minutes and flipping every 15 seconds helps get rid of the gray band.
Make sure it’s dry. Make sure the pan is hot and there is a good layer of oil. I use a laser thermometer to verify. Other people flick water in the pan to see if it dances, and if it does, it’s ready for oil.
I find flipping often makes a better crust than flipping once, but there is division on this so YMMV
Pat steaks dry and season with salt and let sit for AT LEAST half an hour. Longer is better, helps break down the muscle and force out and reabsorb the moisture to make it tender.
Cast iron. Heated medium high. Until oil burns white. Then add some butter(I always make my own garlic butter with fresh roasted garlic, sea salt, and cracked pepper). Assuming steaks are at least 1 inch thick, 1.5-2 minutes on first side. Flip. Same amount of time on second side. Put the entire cast iron in the oven for 4 minutes, preheated to 425.
Take out of oven put on plate or..whatever you like and salt it. Loosely cover with foil and let rest for 5 minutes. Perfect medium rare with crusted sear every time. To get the sear on such a short cook time, you need the pan, oil, and butter hot.
I also usually have garlic cut up ready to go in the pan with the steak.
Turn up that HEAT 🔥