Cold grate technique for steaks


 

Kristof Jozsa

TVWBB Fan
I might be among the last ones on Earth learning about this, but in any case, I'll share this with you, as this turned out to be a game changer in how I prep steaks on the grill.

I was about to cook steaks last night (2 sirloin steaks and 2 chuck roast) and I tried out the so called cold grate technique (coined by David of Adrenaline BBQ Company, as far as I know). This method promises having no grill marks and ending up with a completely even brownish surface on both sides of the meat.

It starts as a simple reverse searing, heating the dry brined, fridge cool meat indirectly up to a 115-120F core temperature, getting there slow as possible. Reaching this point, one removes the cooking grate from the kettle and lets it cool. Meanwhile a thin layer of oil and fresh pepper is applied on the steaks (I used only salt at the start). While the grate gets cool being out of the kettle, I heat up the kettle itself (I simply poured fresh lump over the hot ones). In about 20 minutes I have a roaring sear zone and a cool grate to start with and that's where the fun begins.

I put the grate inside the kettle and start searing the meat over it. In about every minute, I rotate the grate quarterly (90 degrees) and place back the steaks to the sear zone rotating. This is how it looked after rotating them twice:





A short vid of some of the wildest action at the end: here

Searing 2-2 minutes each side this way while rotating the grate around gets the meat an even dark golden brown color on the outside without having grill marks at all, as the grate itself isn't hot enough to burn the marks and on the meat.. The late photos from yesterday are pretty bad due to lack of light but the results were very different from a simple searing and tasted really astonishing!

Mmmm juicy..





(Note that this piece of sirloin on the left got slightly overcooked but that's a common problem with the reverse searing approach as one has to guess the right temp for the start of the sear.. Luckily, one of my guests preferred it that way, so it did not ruin the night :) )
 
1. why don't you want grill marks?
2. i'm terrible at reverse sear, almost always over cook it. I pull at 120f and sear for enough time to get a crispy shell and pull. almost always comes out medium.
 
Robert, I simply prefer the homogeneous dark golden brown exterior to a lighter color with even darker grill marks. So far I was quite successful (lucky? :)) with reverse searing and I tend to pull at 120F too.. don't give it up!
 
I've had lousy success with reverse searing. I think I really just need BIGGER BEEF for it to be a real player for me. My wife likes the poor thing one breath from becoming fuel for the next cook I prefer it reheated to living temperature and thrown on the plate!
 
i'm terrible at reverse sear, almost always over cook it. I pull at 120f and sear for enough time to get a crispy shell and pull. almost always comes out medium.

Steaks need to be at least 1-1/2" thick ( and preferably 2 to 2-1/2") for a good reverse sear. Kristof's looks just about perfect and the steaks look to be around 1-3/4" (4.5cm in Budapest). If your steaks are thick enough, but you still get a medium result, take them to about 110 before sear.

It's almost impossible to get anything less than medium-well reverse searing a 1" steak. What works pretty well with thinner steaks is a super hot fire, seat one side nice and brown, flip for 30-90 seconds and serve with the pretty side up. The bottom will be dull gray, but you can get a nice medium rare.
 
That's pretty much my method unless I get a mammoth (2") for me and diminutive (1") for her. Cook mine about the length of time she likes one side of hers done!
 
That's pretty much my method unless I get a mammoth (2") for me and diminutive (1") for her. Cook mine about the length of time she likes one side of hers done!

I do reverse sears only on large cuts of meat, on smaller cuts I do a sear first or no sear at all.
I'm lucky both Barb and I like our beef rare to med rare, as long as we don't have to chase it around the plate it's done.
 

 

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