Finishing sear on cast iron skillet (without flames?)

[Mark R (LR)]

I finally broke down and bought a cast iron skillet for searing steaks. My first effort did not go smoothly. My plan was to do a reverse sear by cooking a thick ribeye on the grill at low temperature (approx 250F) until the internal temperature hit 120F, and then doing a finishing sear in a scorching hot cast iron skillet on the stove set at 500F. I pulled the steak at 120F, used paper towels to dry it, brushed on a small amount of Canola oil, and put it on the hot skillet. The oil immediately burst into flames. Luckily, the tongs were long enough to rescue the steak without losing any arm hairs. I got it off fast enough that I was able to finish it without completely ruining it. If I'm going to use a scorching hot cast iron skillet, am I going to have to refrain from brushing on any Canola oil? Have any of you had success with a reverse sear process like this, where you do the initial cook on the grill (for the grill taste) followed by a cast iron sear on a stove-top? If so, how did you handle the searing step? Thanks

 

[ChuckO]

then doing a finishing sear in a scorching hot cast iron skillet on the stove set at 500F

500 degrees in CI, is pretty close nuclear fusion. You don't need that kind of heat using CI. The oil probably added to your fire, I wouldn't think you'd want that either. Did you get the ribbed CI Skillet? That makes for some purdy grill marks

 

[Mark R (LR)]

No, I got the plain, flat CI. I get nice grill marks with my GrillGrates but was hoping to up my game and get a good, full surface, sear using CI. I'll probably try it again without the oil.

 

[JimK]

Pics, or it didn't happen.

I'm surprised it would burst into flames like that. Don't know if that is a freak event, or if there is some science to say that would be expected. Are you stuck on the reverse sear, or would you consider searing in the pan, then just throwing the pan and steak onto the grill?

 

[Mark R (LR)]

Ha! Yeah, I'm much better about taking pictures of my successes ... not so much when the steak is literally going up in flames

I'm fine with trying different methods eventually, but I want to give reverse sear a few more tries before moving away from that aspect of it. I may try just putting the pan over the charcoal, do the initial cooking over to the side, and then put it in the pan over the coals to sear. I got a 3-pack of ribeyes from Sam's so that I can experiment some.

 

[Mark R (LR)]

I found a YouTube video that explains where I screwed up. I set the stove on the highest setting and left the CI skillet on for a long time. It seriously felt like I was standing next to a fireplace. I noticed that most of the bottom of the pan had a grey-ish look. The guy in the video did virtually the same thing, said that if you get a grey-ish circle in the bottom, it's too hot ... after which, he poured some Canola oil into the pan, and it immediately burst into flames. It sounds like the way to do it is to heat the pan in the oven set at 500 so that you don't overshoot it and get it too hot. That will be my experiment tonight. If I start another fire, I doubt I'll get pictures this time either. I'm not calm, cool, and collected under that kind of stress. Wish me luck

 

[Cliff Bartlett]

I've got a ton of cast iron pans, but I've never used them for a sear as you described, unless it's my ribbed pan that Chuck mentioned. For a reverse sear steak, I usually cook indirect on the grate and when ready to sear, flip it over to a scorching hot direct fire, as hot as I can get it. If I were to try your method, I would grill the steak on the grill to 120 as you say, but instead of coating the steak with oil before and slapping it on to the hot pan for a sear, I would wipe my CI pan with a paper towel oiling the pan slightly. Heat the oiled pan gradually on the hot side of the grill and when ready for the sear place the steak in the pre-heated oiled pan for a sear on each side. There should be no problem. You might keep a lid handy. In the event it does flare up, you could cover it immediately, smothering the flame. You might make sure you use a high temp oil also when wiping out the pan, Peanut or something like that. Good luck!

 

[Brian D. Williams]

I like to sous-vide the steak at 122 degrees F and then reverse sear in a "rocket hot" CI skillet. Then I make a delicious pan sauce with shallots, vinegar, stock,green peppercorns,umami paste, capers, thyme, and a dollop of whipping cream. No grill involved, sorry. you can sear them on the grill, but I'm a little attached to the adulation I get from my pan sauce. You can sear on the grill, but lose the fond in the CI pan. Check out Sansaire sous vide for pics.

 

[ChuckO]

Wish me luck

Good Luck

 

[Mark R (LR)]

Experiment #2 worked better and was flame free. It still filled the kitchen with smoke. Next time, I plan to put the CI skillet directly over the coals, cook indirect to around 120F, and then move it over to the pan to sear. I also think I'll try peanut oil in place of canola oil. I didn't think to check it before, but it looks like peanut oil has a higher smoke point. Brian, that pan sauce sounds fantastic! I like to do a fairly simple red wine reduction with shallots, garlic, cream, and butter. Capturing the fond was another one of my reasons for trying to figure out how to use a CI skillet. Thanks for the suggestions!

 

[Tommy B]

interesting thread. I love the reverse sear. I normally put thick cut rib-eyes on the top rack of my WSM. I bring smoker temp to 185 and put on the steaks. When the internal temp of the steaks are 115 (normally 55 min) I pull them off and let them rest for 10 minutes. During the 10 minutes I turn on my gas grill with the sear station to full blast. I normally can get grill to 700ish degrees. I sear steaks two minutes per side and then check internal temp with instant read probe. I shoot for 135 internally. Rest 10 min and enjoy.

I am thinking about buying something cast iron to finish the steaks in to get a better crust. I better watch up throwing cast iron on a 700 degree grill.

 

[Mark R (LR)]

Tommy, I've tried a similar set up, using the WSM for the low and slow part and the OTG for the high heat sear. I never figured out why, but the steaks usually came out with a strange taste, so I'm trying a different approach. When you put the steaks on your full blast sear station, do you put any oil on them or just put them on dry?

 

[THoey]

This is where the GrillGrates come in handy. I fire up my gasser, brush it off, put the GrillGrates on the left side upside down (flat side up), and then turn off the center and right burners. When the temp stabilizes (somewhere around 400*), I put the steaks on the right side. I monitor the IT until it hits around 120*. When it does, I throw it on the GrillGrates to sear a nice crust and bring it up to 130*. Pull it off, and let it rest.

 

[Mark R (LR)]

Version 3: I took the cast iron outside. Low & slow on the grill at around 240F indirect until the steak hit 122, with the cast iron over the coals to heat up while the steak was cooking indirect, then dried steak with paper towels, lightly oiled it with peanut oil, and seared on CI skillet 4 minutes, flipping every minute (with a pad of butter added the last minute). This was by far my favorite of the 3 efforts. The reverse sear part got the steak very tender. Now it's a matter of dialing in the sear. I got pretty close this time and look forward to playing with it some more. Here are some pics:

Cooking indirect, just before moving to CI skillet:

Searing on CI, almost ready to pull:

And plated (before the red wine sauce was added):

I'm not quite there yet but think this technique has promise. The steak gets VERY tender using reverse sear, has a good, wall-to-wall, color, and tastes great. I probably erred on the side of too little searing this time out of fear of burning it. Very good first effort for CI on the grill, and I'm optimistic that I'll be able to dial it in and up my game from good criss-crossed sear marks to a good full surface sear. Thanks for the ideas and suggestions.

 

[Tommy B]

Tommy, I've tried a similar set up, using the WSM for the low and slow part and the OTG for the high heat sear. I never figured out why, but the steaks usually came out with a strange taste, so I'm trying a different approach. When you put the steaks on your full blast sear station, do you put any oil on them or just put them on dry?

When the steaks are on the smoker I do not use any wood. I did one chunk of pecan before and the steaks were horribly over smoked. I also let the smoker come up to temp and then hold at that temp for 15-30 minutes prior to putting on meat. I wanna make sure any crud has burned off and I am cooking with the "thin blue smoke." I do not oil the steaks prior to putting on the grill. I put virgin olive oil on the steaks prior to cooking so the black pepper sticks better. When the grill is heating up I normally spray the grates with the weber grill spray so they don't stick.

 

[Noe]

Mark to get a perfect reverse sear let the steak rest 10-15 minutes before searing the steak. Let internal temp of steak drop below 100 before searing the steak. Good luck!

 

[Mark R (LR)]

Excellent information. Thanks Tommy & Noe! Time to thaw a ribeye and try again. I normally don't freeze steak, but I knew I was going to have to burn a few as I learned to play with CI, so I got a big pack at Sam's to save a little during this experimentation stage.

 

[Teddy J.]

Adding oil of any kind to a CI pan heated to 500+ degrees, and I'd anticipate some sort of smoke. On a pan like that, 500 degrees is HOT HOT! If you dont cook with CI much, start off with lower temps and work your way up. When I use my CI pans, I usually only need about 1/2 or 2/3 of the heat required for the non-stick stuff.

 

[Mark R (LR)]

Thanks Teddy. The last couple of times, I've put the CI on the grill over the coals. That has worked fairly well, but I'd like be able to do the sear indoors to make it easier to throw together a pan sauce after searing. I think I'll dial the heat back a bit and give it another try indoors.

 

[Teddy J.]

Thanks Teddy. The last couple of times, I've put the CI on the grill over the coals. That has worked fairly well, but I'd like be able to do the sear indoors to make it easier to throw together a pan sauce after searing. I think I'll dial the heat back a bit and give it another try indoors.

You can always pre-heat the pan in the oven at X temperature before throwing it in. This may be a little more exact than letting it pre-heat on the burner.