Posted on 01/04/2026 4:28:38 AM PST by where's_the_Outrage?
Cooking a steak dinner at home is not for the faint of heart. It can be difficult—requiring a good sear and the insides cooked to the perfect doneness. A lot can go wrong, and it’s easy to feel discouraged after many failed attempts.
Over the years, I’ve learned a thing or two about steak: Pull the meat from the fridge ahead of time so that it comes to room temperature, create a dry brine with coarse salt, and allow the steak to rest after cooking to retain its juices. However, I still feel underprepared every time I make it.
So, I reached out to the steak experts to help bring my steaks to the next level. With countless opinions on the subject available online, it was quite refreshing to get this information directly from experts who cook steak for a living. And to my surprise, they all said the same thing.
The Steak Experts I Spoke To
Joe (AKA Joey Dry-aged) Fraschilla: Co-owner of Porterhouse Party
Matt Moore: Author of A Southern Gentleman's Kitchen
Jimmy Vasquez: Private chef and former sous chef at ZouZous
Nate Molina: Executive Chef of The Genesee Store
The Reverse Sear
According to each expert I spoke with, the reverse sear method guarantees a perfectly cooked steak every time.
For a reverse sear, you cook your steak in the oven at a low temperature before finishing it with a high-heat sear on the stovetop. This method allows you to control the meat's doneness and ensures a more even cook.
After seasoning the steak, Chef Nate recommends placing it on a cold sheet pan and popping it in a 175°F to 195°F oven. (Most home ovens go down to only 200°F—you can use this temperature.) Cook the steaks for 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the doneness you like. The best way to check is to take the internal temperature of the steaks using an instant-read thermometer: 125°F for rare to 130°F for medium-rare.
Just before the steaks come out of the oven, heat a cast-iron skillet on the stovetop with a little oil until smoking hot. Then, sear the steaks for 30 to 40 seconds per side.
According to Matt, if you cook steaks using the reverse sear, they “will not need to be rested, and they will be cooked edge-to-edge to the desired temperature."
Pull the Steaks Out of the Fridge Ahead of Time
Matt says that the worst thing a cook can do is fail to remove the steaks from the fridge before cooking. He says, “Remove any large steaks from the fridge at least 30 minutes and up to a few hours in advance.”
It removes the chill from the steaks. The goal is to get to an internal temperature of 68°F, but even just 30 minutes on the kitchen counter will make a difference.
Chef Jimmy agrees. “You always want to pull your meat from the refrigerator ahead of time ... the closer to room temperature, the more even the cook.”
Joe recommends rubbing the steak with a coarse salt. This will “pull the moisture” and make the meat “even more tender while it reaches room temperature.”
Yep. The link i gave th3y suggest a beer cooler. Can even use the styrofoam ones for even cheaper option, and can cu5 hole in top for the spuse vide wand.
That’s because many so-called high-end restaurants only have
ovens and stoves. A reverse sear is actually just trying to cheat the searing process and is obvious. A grilled steak always tastes better, and a good grill chef knows how.
Thanks for the tip on the duck fat. Will try that on next steak when searing.
Thin steaks are easier to roach than thick ones. I cook most all my steaks to medium rare. If someone wants it rare, I'll do that. I am not going cook a well done steak on purpose. Guests can nuke it themselves.
I have used this method on charcoal egg. Set the grill so it is about 200 degrees on the upper shelf. Cook the steak to 120-125 degrees internal. Set the steak aside and cover with foil. Crank the grill up. When sear the steaks on both sides (about 30 seconds per side). I use Montreal Steak Seasoning.
Here is a link to some really good duck fat by the tub. It is pure enough that it csn be stored without freezing before opening. We have a tub in our freezer and take out chunks every now and again and store it in fridge for potatoes, steaks, burgers, chicken etc frying.
Course the best duck fat is that from a freshly cooked duck, collect the fat znd use soon. While cooking a duck, put some baby potatoes in the bottom of the roasting pan to soak up the duck fat, or drizzle the duck renderings over cooked potstoes if you dont want so much fat on potatoes, but they are wicked good when cooked dirrctly in the fst with the duck. You’ll 5hink you died snd went to heaven.
https://www.farmfreshduck.com/17-duck-fat
Yup. This is how I do it. Sometimes I use cast iron or the broiler for the sear, but sous vide is the way to go.
6 or 7 hours at 129 degrees.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=77XbvFFhvHE
Jacques Pépin’s Tips for Perfect Grilled Steak
“No plastic wrap of any kind ever touches beef in this house.”
Am curious- does plastic wrap affect the safety or quality?
This is similar to what my son does:
Cooks the meat in a sous-vide - takes about six hours - then sears it in a cast iron frying pan.
Comes out amazing, better than an up-scale steak house.
Just a torch, not a laser?
Actually, I researched laser steak searing a while back, and the consensus was that the laser was too focused, and you got an unseared steak, with a few microns of carbon on the outside, where the laser burned the meat, rather than creating a Maillard Reaction.
But that sounds like an engineering issue, and I look forward to the day when you can order a steak, have it pulled from the sous vide of your choice as to doneness, laser seared, and delivered to your table, all in 90 seconds.
There is a mconcern agaisnt “micro-plastics” gerting into foods from all the plastic we use these days, however, we are living into the 80’s and beyond on average, so not sure its a big concern. 80 and beyond (with exceptions living well i to their 100’s) is old enough in my opinion. Its udually cancer or heart attzck that take the elderly anyeaye, even in those who avoid things like plastics, cancer will come from some other spurce usually, or genetics in general.
The old addage says ‘Noone is getting out of this life alive’ something will usually alwzys come along and i terrupt a perfectly good existence. People who never smoke and are never around those who do, die of emphasema.
Interesting. I didn’t know grill pans were available. Also notice he was using a gas stovetop. Probably can’t do that with an electric convection stovetop.
Alton brown suggest not souse vide-ing over 4 hours, and less because over 4 chang3s the texture of the meat- mzkes it mushier (which might be good for tough cuts like chuck or london broil)
No steak today. I am going to make lamburger for lunch from Aldis grass fed Australian lamb $7lb. Last time I bought beef I bought some cube steak. Fried it with green peppers, onions, soy sauce so kinda Chinese style.
Thats a great price for lamb. Its even a great price for burger- we’re paying close to $8 for regular hamburger now- which is as much as ny strip steaks were just a few years ago. (We used to get whole tenderloins for around $9 a lb and cut and vacuum sezl ours3lves. But now its $14 minimum a lb.)
Trying this ‘reverse sear’ as well.
You can sear with charcoal, but it’s incredibly wasteful for a single steak, though the results make it worth the charcoal, cost MUCH less than a restaurant and with stellar results.
Get the coals literally red-hot no more than 2” under the grill. Throw some hickory or oak onto the coals just before searing for flavor.
It’s Chicago style. My preferred Caveman steak. Finish by rubbing softened butter on top before removing to a plate ;-)
Believe this qualifies as a “Guy Thread”, not sure any women have commented.
Lot’s of interesting comments. I didn’t know about Sous Vide, but as luck would have it I few years ago I bought a multi-function cooker and it has that mode. So I pulled out a 3” ribeye from the freezer and plan to cook it very soon using this method with the sear. I have it vacuum packed so plan to season and repackage for SVing.
Thinking about trying some liquid smoke for flavoring (not on this steak, but later provided SVing lives up to the hype). Any thoughts on the liquid smoke?
I am with the sous vide faction.
You need just two things: an immersion heater and a vacuum bagger, with plastic bags that can handle hot water.
During cooking, the bag keeps in all the flavors and odor of the steak, then a quick sear in cast iron and it is done perfectly every time.
I use some Montreal Steak Seasoning by McCormick to season before sous vide, and melted butter prior to searing on the natural gas grill.
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