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Lizard23

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Looks great. That crust looks pretty much perfect.

If you are up for trying out the reverse sear, let us know what you think. It would mitigate the banding i highlight in green below.

would be curious to hear your thoughts.

AD8CEDA7-8594-4D2E-866B-CAE8CC5CF174.jpeg
 
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brokencycle

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Looks great. That crust looks pretty much perfect.

If you are up for trying out the reverse sear, let us know what you think. It would mitigate the banding i highlight in green below.

would be curious to hear your thoughts.

View attachment 1569989 View attachment 1569989

+1 on what Lizard said. That's minimal, but I've posted examples of standing rib roasts where there is zero. I also don't understand the aversion from others on why it is difficult to get right. For a 4-5lb roast, it takes a few hours, yes, but there is no guess work: it is dead simple and has been perfect every time. For a steak it adds a bit of time maybe but not much. It is 25-30 minutes in an oven then sear. If you're already searing and then putting into the oven to finish cooking (vs only grill/stove top), the time should be the same.
 

te0o

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This is the reverse sear I achieved the other day on a 2-inch thick bone-in Simmental ribeye - after roughly 30min in the oven, 1 minute on each side in a hot cas-iron, 30 second intervals for turning. Didn't take photos but zero gradient inside.

IMG_3958.jpeg
 

Lizard23

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This is the reverse sear I achieved the other day on a 2-inch thick bone-in Simmental ribeye - after roughly 30min in the oven, 1 minute on each side in a hot cas-iron, 30 second intervals for turning. Didn't take photos but zero gradient inside.

View attachment 1570009

I prefer strip to ribeye, but the size of the spinalis on that guy (TWSS) would have me reconsidering.

i went to a restaurant in the cayman islands once that had a special of “spinalis steak”. Not cut off, rolled and then cut to make into a rolled steak like you usually see, but the spinalis cut off cooked as a solid piece. It had to be 2-3 inches thick. To this day the best steak i have ever had in a restaurant.
 

TheFoo

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Crust seems pretty good on this SRF I made.

View attachment 1569427

Looks great—but there is still banding similar to what I get from traditional sear-than-oven.

I don’t eat much red meat and the wife is a vegetarian anyways, but I did whatever Foo told me to do and this is how it turned out. Some tweaks to be made but overall it came out far more consistent and easier than I would have initially thought.

View attachment 1569978

Looks fantastic—more banding than I saw in mine. Could be differences in pan temp, oven temp, how long the meat sat out before cooking, etc.

This is the reverse sear I achieved the other day on a 2-inch thick bone-in Simmental ribeye - after roughly 30min in the oven, 1 minute on each side in a hot cas-iron, 30 second intervals for turning. Didn't take photos but zero gradient inside.

View attachment 1570009

Beautiful, but I think the sear I get the traditional way is similar. Real test is the inside! Too bad no pics.
 

Lizard23

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A distinction worth mentioning - i am not saying you cant achieve close to zero gradient by sear then baste. I just find near perfect results easier to achieve via a reverse sear, and with more consistency and less hands on time

also, there are times when I am in the mood for a charcoal grilled steak and i do the entire thing on the grill, banding and all. Gradient can sometimes be enjoyable.

But at this point, for a large roast, i would only ever cook it via the reverse sear.

also important to mention again is the dry brine / pre salt overnight. I think this adds incremental benefit as well, regardless of cooking method and i think this got lost in the thread somewhere along the way.
 

te0o

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I prefer strip to ribeye, but the size of the spinalis on that guy (TWSS) would have me reconsidering.
The older the animal, the larger the cap I have found. Yet another benefit of ex-dairy meat in my book.
Beautiful, but I think the sear I get the traditional way is similar. Real test is the inside! Too bad no pics.
I didn't plan on posting it as it would be fairly repetitive - I do it every week more or less. However, I've posted some pics of very similar cuts back in the thread if anyone wants to have a look. One example below. A very small amount of grey on the edge of the rib-eye here but that's my fault for putting too much oil in the skillet - I have found it makes a fair bit of difference. The strip/sirloin on the left more representative.
IMG_2886.jpeg
 

Lizard23

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Agree re: amount of fat in the pan. I pour in a little beef fat or grape seed oil and then wipe out the pan.

also i need to find a source for ex-dairy beef immediately
 

te0o

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Agree re: amount of fat in the pan. I pour ina little beef fat or grape seed oil and then wipe out the pan.
Do you find grapeseed oil has a bit of a weird fishy smell when it gets really hot? I like the high smoke point and all but I'm a bit put off by the smell. It's an unorthodox choice but I use sunflower oil for steak - decently high smoke point and zero smell. Never tried using beef fat myself - need to give it a go.
 

Lizard23

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Do you find grapeseed oil has a bit of a weird fishy smell when it gets really hot? I like the high smoke point and all but I'm a bit put off by the smell. It's an unorthodox choice but I use sunflower oil for steak - decently high smoke point and zero smell. Never tried using beef fat myself - need to give it a go.

i dont find the smell to be an issue with grapeseed oil. Possible a bad or old batch of oil that was sitting on the shelf for a while before you bought it?

its funny you say this because i have an aversion to canola oil in general. I find it to always have that fishy smell even when no one else smells it. I think i read somewhere that sensitivity the off smells of oil is genetic but cant recall where. I might be making it up.

Ill have to give sunflower oil a try though. Beef fat from a trimmed piece of the beef you are cooking is best though, IMO.
 
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TheFoo

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A distinction worth mentioning - i am not saying you cant achieve close to zero gradient by sear then baste. I just find near perfect results easier to achieve via a reverse sear, and with more consistency and less hands on time

also, there are times when I am in the mood for a charcoal grilled steak and i do the entire thing on the grill, banding and all. Gradient can sometimes be enjoyable.

But at this point, for a large roast, i would only ever cook it via the reverse sear.

also important to mention again is the dry brine / pre salt overnight. I think this adds incremental benefit as well, regardless of cooking method and i think this got lost in the thread somewhere along the way.

Also, photo processing matters. In real life and in unprocessed photos from my iPhone, I didn’t see any banding. It was only when adjusting highlights, tone, clarity, etc. that any banding became evident.

Would be a plus or minus to go straight to sear from the fridge, as opposed to getting the steak get up to room temp first? Standard rule is to bring it up to room temp first, but that seems to contemplate cooking the steak completely in the pan.

If you only care about getting the sear right as a first step, perhaps the colder steak might sear better on the outside while cooking the interior less (e.g. less banding). Anyone try this or have reason for why it wouldn’t work?

The older the animal, the larger the cap I have found. Yet another benefit of ex-dairy meat in my book.

I didn't plan on posting it as it would be fairly repetitive - I do it every week more or less. However, I've posted some pics of very similar cuts back in the thread if anyone wants to have a look. One example below. A very small amount of grey on the edge of the rib-eye here but that's my fault for putting too much oil in the skillet - I have found it makes a fair bit of difference. The strip/sirloin on the left more representative.
View attachment 1570012

Looks fantastic!

I’m not trying to be argumentative, but I still see a similar amount of banding—moreso on the pieces to the right.

Agree re: amount of fat in the pan. I pour in a little beef fat or grape seed oil and then wipe out the pan.

also i need to find a source for ex-dairy beef immediately

I noticed this too. When I did my second steak, I minimized the oil, and dumped all out before going to oven. Results were better.
 

Lizard23

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Re: photo processing, ill take your word for it. Not looking to get further into the weeds, especially since this is a self sealing argument.

Re: room temp first, this is a myth that has been proven to have no practical effect by kenji, cooks illustrated, mcgee, and myhrvold.
 
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TheFoo

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Re: photo processing, ill take your word for it. Not looking to get further into the weeds, especially since this is a self sealing argument.

Re: room temp first, this is a myth that has been proven to have no practical effect by kenji, cooks illustrated, mcgee, and myhrvold.

I’m going to try the reverse sear at some point. Just need to muster the interest to break free of habit.

On room temp: then next time I will try searing the steak straight from the fridge. This should further reduce banding. I think. Right?
 

Lizard23

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Not certain, but I think the effect would be minimal because the cooking warms the meat up at such a fast rate.

The biggest reason for banding during the sear is time spent searing.

For this reason, having a dry surface is paramount. This can be accomplished many ways but i think the pre/salt and sitting uncovered in fridge gets the meat very dry on the outside. Cooking in the oven first further dries it out.

ideally you want all of the heat from your pan to create crust vs wasting time evaporating off any moisture, which sucks up a great deal of energy and will dramatically increase the time needed to form a proper crust.
 
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Piobaire

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Request all “banding” talk move to Dumb Threads.
 

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