Help with Reverse Sear

After a lot of reading I did some reverse sear steaks last week & weekend. The first I did was a sirloin, it was fantastic. Between the seasoning and rest for 2 hours on counter, and reverse sear technique, this was the best steak I have ever made. (not eaten, but made myself - top 5 overall though) The second time I used this method I used NY Strips, they were good too. The meat wasn't all that great, my expectations weren't high to begin with.

However, the last time I did this, I used Ribeye's and wasn't impressed at all. It was a dinner for my fathers birthday. The steaks were cooked perfectly, but they tasted like... burnt grease (for a lack of a better term.) Is this just due to the higher fat content (marbling) in these steaks? Can anyone recommend an improvement on this technique for Ribeye's? or did I just mess em up?

TIA, Brad

Brad, i never use the reverse sear do not believe in it sry, out of the sirlion, strip and ribeye sirlion is the leanest, on strip or ribeye steaks i normally cut away all the fat on the outside of the steaks, also i always cook 1.25 thickness steaks perfect thickness my opinion, i just cook my steaks over HH the whole cook always comes out great

i like the reverse sear method as it works for me. even rib eyes. but yea, the re are very fatty and need some trimming. also while doing the sear i do not allow the flames to reach the meat. i sear until the flames flare and i move the steaks away immediately. sear should really not take more than a minute or so if the coals are very hot as it should be. there truly are no correct ways except the one that works for you. thus you need to try differant ways and methods until you find that way.

I did the reserve sear method yesterday for a couple of top sirloins. They were not trimmed, so it created a large flare up. Even though the sear was about a minute over very hot Royal Oak, the high flames resulted in the fat burning and gave it a burnt taste. Next time I will either trim the fat off or put the lid on.

The reverse sear works best on lean cuts of meat, because it tempers the meat without forcing the fat out. Unless you have a 2-3" thick ribeye, it's not a good method to use because the fat doesn't render enough, therefore you're left with a greasy steak. The reverse sear method works great on beef 'round' cuts, sirloin, and rib roasts. It also works good on pork loin, thick pork chops, turkey breast (boned), thick chicken breasts, etc.

It seams that the problem I had was the flare-ups reaching the meat. I hadn't had those problems with the NYS or sirloin. I will keep this method for the leaner cuts as pointed out. I don't typically get ribeyes, but they were priced right and they looked fantastic.

The steaks still disappeared very quickly, but I was slightly unhappy with the taste.

Thank you all for the help, I plan to give this another try tonight with some bacon wrapped fillets. I will be sure to dance around any flare-ups from the rendering bacon.

Brad

My experience is that reverse sear is best for thick cuts, regardless of fat content. And when I sear, I have the lid on to control flare ups. Is what works for me anyway.