Steak Searing

[EricV.]

Which Pellet Grill SEARS the BEST?​

 

[Jim C in Denver]

The one that has a griddle inserted.

Pellet grills cook mostly by convection. So do gassers. Convection is the weakest type of heat energy for searing.

IR radiation is better for searing. Cooking direct over charcoal. Or using an IR burner on a gasser.

Conduction is the best searing method. Food in direct contact with hot metal. Smashburgers on a griddle; steak in a hot cast iron pan.

 

[DanHoo]

My pit boss with the sliding cover to open the flames over the pellet burn pot worked great once it got going.

 

[LMichaels]

What do you do about the grease getting into the fire pot? I'm thinking that is not the healthiest to the grill itself for maintenance and such. And quite honestly if I do a 2 step steak, up to very rare, pull and foil it. Then crank the grills up to 400+ I get a nice crust. No blackened lines but a great crust

 

[DanHoo]

What do you do about the grease getting into the fire pot?

On the pit boss, the semi round heat shield has a sliding cover, and in this pic it's open for flame searing.

Any grease dripping immediately caught fire. This was just one steak, but once the flames get going you can toss a steak or two in the fire over the burn pot and let them light off for 10 or 15 seconds, then flip them to a cooler part of the grill.

Grease never got into the burn pot once the pellets were on fire.

This was a reverse sear. I think it went 90 mins at 180F then I cranked up the heat for the sear.