How to Reverse-Sear Steak

If you have ever cut into a thick steak and found a thin band of pink between two gray layers, reverse-searing is the fix.

The idea is simple. Cook it low until it is nearly done, then sear it hard for a minute at the end.

Why the order helps

A hard sear from raw puts a lot of heat into the outside of the steak and needs time for that heat to reach the middle. On a thick cut, the outer layers overcook while they wait.

Cooking gently first brings the whole interior up together. By the time you sear, you only need the surface to brown, which takes about a minute a side.

The method

1. Dry the steak and salt it. Ideally forty minutes ahead or the night before, uncovered on a rack in the refrigerator.
2. Put it on a rack over a tray. Air underneath keeps the bottom from steaming.
3. Oven at 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Lower is fine and slower.
4. Cook to about 115 degrees for medium-rare. Twenty-five to forty-five minutes depending on thickness. Use a thermometer, not a clock.
5. Rest it ten minutes while the pan heats.
6. Sear in a very hot pan. Sixty to ninety seconds a side. Butter in the last thirty seconds.
7. Serve more or less straight away. It has already rested.

The oven does your drying for you

“Get the moisture off the surface.”

Gray Shipley

This is the quiet advantage of the method. A long spell in dry oven air leaves the surface drier than it started, so the final sear browns almost on contact.

“Let it dry before you, you know, put it on the skillet or put it on the grill so that you get the sear on the outside. You keep that moisture and juiciness on the inside.”

Gray Shipley

When not to bother

• Thin steaks, under an inch. They will be cooked through before you get to sear them.
• When you are in a hurry. It is a forty-five minute method, not a fifteen minute one.
• On a loose-grained cut like skirt or bavette. Those want fast, hot and brief.

Take it off early, as always

“So, I think that's the most common mistake is you're not sure, so you'll cook it a little longer. And you just don't need to.”

Gray Shipley

Which cuts suit it

The crust article explains why the dry surface does the work, the temperature chart gives you the numbers, and cast iron is the right pan for the final minute.

Low first, hot last. On a thick steak it is the most reliable method there is.