Reverse-Seared Rib-Eye Steak Recipe
Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) and freshly ground black pepper.
Ingredients
- 1 (2-inch-thick) bone-in rib-eye steak (about 2 pounds)
- Kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal) and freshly ground black pepper.
Preparation
- Step 1 Take your steak out of the fridge a half-hour or so before you plan to cook it, so it loses its chill. Salt it well and, if you like, hit it with some freshly ground black pepper.
- Step 2 Heat the oven to 200 degrees and set a wire rack in a rimmed sheet pan.
- Step 3 Set the steak on the rack and roast it until its internal temperature is around 110 degrees. That will take something between 20 to 30 minutes, but don’t use time as your guide. Use the thermometer.
- Step 4 Rest the meat for 20 minutes while you light either a charcoal grill or heat a gas one until it’s ripping. (You can definitely finish the steak on a stovetop, but you’ll get a lot of smoke.)
- Step 5 Sear the meat to deeply brown, about 90 seconds a side, then check the temperature. It should be in the low 120s for rare. Rest for about 5 minutes and carve.
- This recipe scales easily, if expensively. For parties, I might reverse-sear four or five steaks to serve a crowd.
I would recommend salting day before and leaving in fridge uncovered on wire rack. This creates a better crust when you finally sear the steak.
This method is close to fool-proof and the only way I cook steak. Instead of using the oven, I use the grill with one burner set to maintain 225F.
This method sounds like the sous vide method.
Regarding salting, or as some call it, dry brining. Zuni Cafe in San Francisco salts its legendary steaks at least 24 hours before cooking and retired San Francisco Chronicle food editor Michael Bauer, who notes he’s the son of a Kansas City butcher, endorses it as well. I salt it generously, about the amount I would salt the sliced steak as I ate it. Not sure any means other than a cast iron skillet on a gas stove would be hot enough to sear a two inch thick steak in 90 seconds a side to get a crust like the one shown in the illustrating photo while leaving the meat that lusciously rare. Now to pick a good red wine to go with it.
What temperature is “ripping hot”? Does it depend on the steak’s thickness?
