Did 134 F for 90 minutes, followed by searing on a cast iron placed on my building’s not-so-hot gas grill. I let the cast iron come to temp (about 15 minutes and the gauge read 600) but only got a good result on one of the three steaks. I think my problem was that the first steak seared well but then the temperature of the cast iron dropped. Some pieces were pink and gorgeous throughout while others nearly looked like grey wallpaper…
Any advice for how best to finish multiple steaks when I have at my disposal a cast iron and a communal grill?
Thanks, experts!
by profdeca
22 Comments
I think this sub will say, “It was ruined from the beginning! Do not put butter in the bag!”
Perhaps you should mention how long you seared?
I swear these posts are trolling the sub by now.
Did you do an ice bath?
I’ve had trouble getting cast iron to sear well on a grill before. It just doesn’t apply enough heat to the cast iron to keep the temp high. As soon as you open it up and start searing the temp drops and it goes to crap. You might try keeping the lid closed while searing but I think you’ll still get marginal results. Your situation might be good for one of those propane searing attachments
Maybe the pickle you allowed with them into the water bath created an unintended acidic reaction that made it sear faster than normal?
Honeydew in the bag with the steaks, interesting choice
What cut is this?
The first steak seared well because you let the skillet get hot? Then do the same thing before searing the second steak.
I’m not allowed to edit the post but, the butter / honeydew / pickle you see in the bag is in fact a rosemary + thyme infused beef tallow sold by a local steakhouse / butcher.
Also, the cut is ribeye 🙂
I am surprised nobody said to cook @ 137F.
Butter not needed in bag.
Throw in freezer or ice bath for a bit before sear. Dry the steak before the sear.
Found my best sear was cast iron pan with ghee or a bbq ripping. Have seen the charcoal chimney sears and those seem to work super well.
Your entire issue is the grill. If you keep the lid closed, there is a good chance you will overcook the steaks. Obviously, if you open the lid, you can’t generate enough heat. No solution with your given method unless you can remove the grate and put your own platform closer to the flame. In this case, I think you would have been better off cooking the steaks on the grill and ditching sous vide. Unless you have a great heat source for searing, sous vide or reverse searing simply won’t produce great results.
Weirdly enough I had good luck by searing with a lower heat (400-450f) skillet fully preheated and using an ice bath before. Always struggled with skillet sears before but the above changes felt like a breakthrough for me
As a hopefully actual helpful suggestion, you have a cast iron, you could get an induction single cooktop for like 70 bucks and that will heat the cast iron right up.
Searing steak takes practice. You’ll probably screw it up sometimes.
If you want a low-variance prep, get some Sir Charles and cook it at around 140-142 F for ~36 hours.
Virtually impossible not to get an amazing result.
Looks okay to me
A few questions…
A) what was your process after taking the steaks out? More specifically, did they rest or go straight on the grill?
B) did you dry the steaks before searing?
C) I think you said else where that you closed the grill when searing, is that right?
D) how many steaks did you sear at once?
E) were you using direct burner heat or indirect?
Torch
Late to the game.
Ice bath as mentioned
Try adding oil to (very dry) steak before sear
You want to experiment with a bigger pre-sear -> water bath -> post sear
Induction hob will heat your pan back up faster than a grill.
Coincidentally, I ruined a scotch fillet last night during the sear. Had been SV for 4 hours at 135f. I was pretty pissed and turned the wrong dial off (turned the gas off under the cast iron, instead of the oven). Had a perfect crust on one side, grey on the other. Made the ill-fated decision to set the steak aside, bring the pan back up to temp and sear the grey side properly.
The spinalis was perfect, but the eye was MW and I was partly bummed out and slightly ashamed.
Kinda ruined what I was really looking forward to – Scotch fillet with potato gems (I think in the US they are called tater tots) and Stilton blue cheese sauce, some roast broccoli (cos health) and a big glass of brandy (cos blue cheese and cabernet don’t pair well).
You gotta dry your meat really well before the sear otherwise it will steam the meat 🥩 before it browns.