Cookaholics Bulletin Board

I've been looking around for reverse sear recipes (other than sous vide). I know of one by Kenji for prime rib but could have sworn I saw others either by him or by CI. If anyone knows of any, please let me know. The recipes could be for any type of food, although I'm most interested in smaller cuts like chops, steaks, chicken parts, fish, etc. Thanks as always.

Gerard

Gerard,

I have no recipes but, we now reverse sear most steaks, chops and roasts. I have yet to try lamb, veal or poultry.

We usually cook pork to 135-140 at low temp and sear for 2 to 3 minutes per side depending on thickness and the pan. Part of that time is to sear the fat cap. Beef is usually cooked to 100 (thin cuts) to 120 (thick cuts) to 125 (roasts).

I will sometimes cook to a lower temperature to allow for a longer sear and resultant fond.

We also reverse cook fish for a change in texture. Cook to maybe 120 and broil/saute just to crisp the skin. This works very nicely with whole white fish, trout and salmon.

Tim

I reverse sear most proteins because of sous vide, but I know that's not what you were asking.

Amy

Amy - the reason I ask this question is that sometimes my SVP (sous vide supreme) is busy with something that takes 48 hours to cook and I need to figure out how to cook something else before its done!

Tim - I'm assuming that when you say low oven - you mean low as in 200 degrees or even less. If I've got this wrong, please let me know. Using target temperatures rather than time makes sense.

Thanks for your responses!

Gerard

Gerard,

I lack the patience to slow cook that low even though Kenji says 200 is optimum. I usually go for 275.

Tim

FWIW - I finally found the CI article that deals with reverse sear - it's in the May/June 2007 issue (p. 6-8). The title of the article is "The Problem with Thick-Cut Steaks". More importantly, the title of the recipe is "Pan-Seared Thick-Cut Strip Steaks".


Gerard

Gerard,

Actually, I vary the temps from 200 up to 275 depending on the time and my patience.

For a dinner party last weekend, I had whole pork tenderloins that weighed 2 pounds each. These were cut into 3" medallions and scrunched down to make a filet as big as a beef tenderloin. The reverse sear started at 225, seemed to go too fast and I cut back to 200. Then I had to go back to 250 to finish at 135. (My lack of patience is a problem but you all know that!) The then went to another oven at 135. A four minute sear allowed me enough time to make bearnaise and microwave some aromatic pork viande. Viande under, bearnaise over. I am so FIGJAM, I am embarrased!

I have recently decided that the two worst candidates for reverse sear are hanger steak and flat iron steak. Both are subject to a liver aftertaste.

CC

FWIW, CI also has a reverse-sear recipe for "Pan-Seared Thick-Cut Pork Chops" in the March 2009 issue.

Gerard

I've done those steaks. It's my favorite way to do New York strip.

The May/June, 2007 article was written by some weird sounding duck named, Kenji Alt...

While CI no longer carries the complete article the most essential part is there: [quote][We found it was essential to sear the steaks quickly to keep the meat directly under the crust from turning gray. The key was to start with dry meat. We moved the steaks straight from the fridge into a 275-degree oven, which not only warmed them to 95 degrees but also dried the meat thoroughly. At this temperature, when the steak met the hot skillet, it developed a beautiful brown crust in less than four minutes, while the rest of the meat stayed pink, juicy, and tender./quote] It is not critical that CI left out a whole page of his investigative efforts but I do believe it is critical the part they left out of the above his notation, "I seasoned some steaks as usual, ..." which introduced the above technique. Thus, as the meat is coming to temperature (95F) the seasonings are going to work. Cookaholics will recognize that this is a critical step as shown by McGee and Alt for the enzymes to rock & roll.