Searing steaks - Silver B?


 
Jeff Padell

Jeff Padell

TVWBB Pro
I keep hearing about searing steaks and actually like the thought of a reverse sear. The problem is that the Silver B while it says it gets up to the top of the themometer (800?) doesn't seem to give a good sear.

I was thinking of using my OTG to sear while cooking on the Silver B, I was thinking I could get the coal fire really really hot to do a quick sear before the end of the cook.

Has anyone done that, what are the options to get a sear on the steaks, I don't want to buy a separate searing unit i.e. another grill.
 
I do something similar to that when I do a reverse sear. I'll set one of my wsm's at around 225F for the first part of the cook and time it so that I have a good hot searing zone on my OTG when they're ready for searing. GrillGrates also help with searing and give me those cool criss-crossed sear marks. One of these days I'll try to get good enough with fire control to manage both zones on the OTG, but using two units makes it easy to establish and control a low & slow zone and a high heat zone.
 
I upgraded the porcelain cooking grates on my silver B to the Weber cast iron grates and that helped a lot with the sear. Still my performer does a better job of searing even with the metal grates. I normally use my performer for both for the indirect cooking and the reverse sear when I do steaks or almost anything I want to sear. It's real easy to do with the charcoal baskets.
 
Rich
I have to admit to hardly using my OTG, usually in too big a rush, light it and cook it, tends to be me. I get home light the Silver B, go in get the steak out of the fridge and go back out and toss it on.

I do have the charcoal baskets for the SB, I will try them this weekend, I would assume one will have very little in it, to maintain say 400 degrees and the other would be loaded.
Or maybe I will just use the SB for the main cook and sear on the OTG.
 
For indirect on the OTG, I move both baskets over to one side and fill both. If you're doing both parts of reverse sear on the OTG, I'm pretty sure that you don't want a charcoal basket under the indirect side.
 
Mark R (LR) said:
For indirect on the OTG, I move both baskets over to one side and fill both. If you're doing both parts of reverse sear on the OTG, I'm pretty sure that you don't want a charcoal basket under the indirect side.
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As Mark said indirect means no heat directly under the food.
I know where you’re coming from but if you're going take the time to fire up the OTG for a two minute sear why not do the whole cook on the OTG, get the good charcoal flavor, save some gas from the B and not waste a load of coals for a two minute cook. You will get a better product for the time you spend.
Also if you know you're going to cook a steak when you get home prep the OTG before you leave in the morning. Have your charcoal in the chimney and sitting in the OTG so when you come home light it and in a few minutes you're ready to cook. Really doesn’t take too much longer then getting the gasser up to temp.
 
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Jeff Padell said:
Has anyone done that, what are the options to get a sear on the steaks, I don't want to buy a separate searing unit i.e. another grill.
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When I get my steak up to the temp I want I throw a couple wood chunks on the fire, let them ignite and get them burning hot, and then sear the steak over the flame. My goal has never been grill marks but rather a good, consistent crust all over.
 
Joe Milczewski said:
My goal has never been grill marks but rather a good, consistent crust all over.
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Good point! I want to eventually get to the point where I can consistently get a good all-over crust without burning and screwing up a good steak. For now, more times than not, I chicken out, take the easy way out, and settle for grill marks.
 
Mark R (LR) said:
Good point! I want to eventually get to the point where I can consistently get a good all-over crust without burning and screwing up a good steak. For now, more times than not, I chicken out, take the easy way out, and settle for grill marks.
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You just have to live with the fact that the difference between an awesome char and a catastrophic burn is about three seconds. I've learned to embrace some of the burned bits in pursuit of the greater good.

I've got a buddy in town who bought one of the new in-home sous vide machines. That's been fun. You can get the entire piece of meat, top to bottom, to whatever temp you want and then put a hot flash sear on each side. You lose some of the smoked, caveman type flavor you get from longer periods on a grill but you get a perfect temperature and a lot of beef flavor.
 
Jeff Padell said:
Rich
I have to admit to hardly using my OTG, usually in too big a rush, light it and cook it, tends to be me. I get home light the Silver B, go in get the steak out of the fridge and go back out and toss it on.
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Next time, pull the steak out of the fridge as soon as you walk in the door. Let come to room temp and light charcoal. Season steak. Sear, and slide (if needed). Rest it a bit while you plate sides and pour your favorite beverage. Enjoy what's probably the best steak you've had in a while. Then and only then, would I worry about trying the RS. Beef is too expensive not to do it right, but your confession is heard and all is forgiven. :)
 
I had a charcoal grill with CIG's and I've done the charring. In my opinion the flavor can go to bitter, and there's no need to overdo it. Here's my best steak yet, which happens to be a RS. It was mighty tasty.
 
Joe Milczewski said:
You just have to live with the fact that the difference between an awesome char and a catastrophic burn is about three seconds. I've learned to embrace some of the burned bits in pursuit of the greater good.
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I LIKE your philosophy! I need to man up, ruin a few steaks, and get comfortable with eating my mistakes if I miss that three second window of greatness.
 
Another thing that has upped my game on steaks is taking the time to do something akin to a short dry brine. If I can make it home for lunch on a night when I'm going to grill, I rub both sides with crushed garlic, hit them with Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, and leave them on a wire rack in the fridge for the rest of the day while I'm at work. The theory that I've read and that makes sense is that, supposedly, the salt brings moisture to the surface, and the moisture dissolves the salt and is re-absorbed into the meat along with some of the other seasonings that you've applied to the surface. When you get home in the evening, do the usual routine of taking it out of the fridge and bringing it to room temp. The best steak I've ever done was a reverse sear after taking those steps. The reverse sear method seems to make it more tender and juicy, and the dry brine gets flavor a little further beneath the surface.
 
Mark R (LR) said:
Another thing that has upped my game on steaks is taking the time to do something akin to a short dry brine. If I can make it home for lunch on a night when I'm going to grill, I rub both sides with crushed garlic, hit them with Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper, and leave them on a wire rack in the fridge for the rest of the day while I'm at work. The theory that I've read and that makes sense is that, supposedly, the salt brings moisture to the surface, and the moisture dissolves the salt and is re-absorbed into the meat along with some of the other seasonings that you've applied to the surface. When you get home in the evening, do the usual routine of taking it out of the fridge and bringing it to room temp. The best steak I've ever done was a reverse sear after taking those steps. The reverse sear method seems to make it more tender and juicy, and the dry brine gets flavor a little further beneath the surface.
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The dry brine is something I've only done a couple of times, but there was a blogger I came across a while back that experimented with it a good bit. If I'm not mistaken, he said that he found it beneficial to brine even just 45 minutes. He found that any shorter than that and the surface moisture would inhibit searing.
 
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