Interesting Rib Steak Recipe in NYT

[flavorguy]

I provided a link to a recipe that was posted in Wednesday's NYT... it appears to be something that might work very well in our Pellet Smokers...

The concept is to take 1.5 inch thick rib steaks, freeze them for 1 hour, sear outsides in oil (or blow torch), and roast at 200'F between 30-60 minutes until an internal temp of 122'F - 130'F...

This almost like the reverse sear method that BP uses, but the trick with the freezing makes it possible to sear without raising the interior temp of the steak all that dramatically. The steak is allowed to cook very slowly which impacts dramatically the color and texture of the meat.

I have done a beef tenderloin (from Chris Lilly Bob Gibson's BBQ book) in a similar fashion - slow roasted/smoked at 225'F and the meat does take on an amazing texture.

Anyway - I thought I'd at least share the link. If I get around to doing some steaks this way, I'll post my results.

Seared Frozen Rib Steaks:
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/18/dining/seared-frozen-rib-steaks-recipe.html?ref=dining

 

[TentHunter]

That is an interesting method. Thanks for sharing!

 

[Big Poppa]

great link Thanks!

 

[sparky]

thats a pretty cool steak recipe. thanks for that.

 

[ACW3]

That might be worth a try.

Art

 

[Rip]

Thanks for the link, sounds interesting....I'm thinking a little glue & rub before putting in for the one hour freeze.

 

[scooter]

It's all about cooking the internal meat and the external meat differently so what you end up with is uniformly pink interior meat from edge to edge, top to bottom and a nicely carmelized seared exterior (Maillard reaction or effect). The options are to cook the external meat first (TRex style) or to cook the external meat last (Reverse Sear or Finney Method). In the restaurant industry they use a process called sous vide (pronounced "sue veed") and usually an immersion cooker is used where you place the meat in a plastic bag and immerse it in precisely controlled warm water bath cooking very low and slow until the entire piece of meat reaches the desired temp (interior meat cook) then it's taken out and quick seared in some fashion with intense heat (exterior meat cook). I've heard one steak house who's done away with the water and bags and uses clarified butter in their immersion cooker and places their steaks into the clarified butter to slowly cook. Sounds pretty good to me.
I learned reverse sear from BP but a guy named Chris Finney (the Finney method) developed and championed the method in the BBQ world where you low and slow smoke the meat in a smoker until desired temp then remove and flash sear over rocket hot coals on a grill. In the restaurant industry they use precise temps in the immersion cooker and call it sous vide but in the BBQ world it's called Trex (sear first) or Reverse Sear (sear last) or the Finney Method (in honor of the creator) or as Meathead has coined, "Red Neck Sous Vide".
I can tell you that one distinctive advantage that red neck sous vide has over it's hoity toity french cousin is that it takes advantage of the low and slow smoking stage to impart smoke flavor where cooking meat in a plastic bag imparts zero flavor.
Whether you sear first or sear last is a personal choice and you should try both as they both have pros and cons. You will need to determine for yourself which you prefer. I go back and forth between them and I can honestly say I can't tell the physical difference in the end results of either method. Although there's a procedural difference in TRex that I find very attractive! The recipe you posted uses sear first (TRex) and advocates freezing the meat for an hour first. The quick freezing helps protect the interior meat from cooking while you're searing the external meat.

One note on using a blow torch to do your sear. I've tried it and can tell you that there is a big difference between radiant heat (heat coming from coals or a hot pan or broiler etc) and fire heat like a blow torch. I bought a weed killer torch (or in the BBQ world better known as a charcoal starter) and tried a series of steak experiments with it. See: http://www.pelletsmoking.com/pellet-smoking-com-lounge-9/space-shuttle-searing-671/

The results were not very satisfactory as I found that radiant heat will give you a better maillard browning where fire heat seems to go directly past maillard browning right into burning or charring. Anything you seasoned the meat with other than salt and pepper will instantly be charred/burned giving you a slightly bitter taste as anything burned will. One other effect I noticed was that using a blow torch left the meat lacking the grill flavor you get when fat drips on a hot surface, vaporizes and goes up to flavor your meat. That great grilling flavor was totally lacking using the torch method.
So, if you decide to use a blow torch to cook your exterior meat, I'd suggest you go carefully with it or you'll torch a good steak! Pun intended.

 

[So Cal Smoker]

Thanks Scooter, you saved me two good steaks.

Bill

 

[Carter13]

Scooter,

I work for a municipality and was in the streets dept for 7 years. We used that same torch with 10' of line attached to a 5 gal propane bottle to dry wet pavement for small skins and berms. It really blasted and I can only imagine how fast the steaks seared.