Steak in the Oven (as Good as Sous-vide)

Steak in the Oven (Reverse Sear Method) Recipe
How to cook the best medium-rare steak

You'll need:
a roasting pan with a rack
a heavy skillet
an instant read thermometer
1.5 - 2 inch thick steaks (plan on 6-8 oz of boneless steak per person or 1 porterhouse for 2 people)
salt and pepper
vegetable or olive oil (1 Tbsp per Lb of steak)

Steps:
Preheat the oven to 250F and adjust the oven rack to the middle position. Wrap the roasting pan with foil (to make clean up easy). Place a flat rack in the roasting pan.

Trim the silver skin and extra fat off the outside of the steaks. Dry steaks well with paper towels and season very generously with salt and pepper on all sides. Set the steaks on the rack and place in the oven until instant read thermometer inserted sideways into the center of the steak registers 90 for rare, 95 for medium-rare, 100 for medium, and 110 for medium-well (make sure you found the minimum temperature). If you are cooking a porterhouse, stick your thermometer into the wide part of the strip section so that the tip ends up about 1/2 to 1 inch from the bone. How long it takes to get to this temperature depends on the thickness and structure of the steak and your oven. A boneless, 8 oz, 1.5 inch thick steak takes 20 minutes or more and a 2 inch thick porterhouse can take 40 minutes or more. A thermometer is key!

At this point your steak will look extremely unappetizing. Don't panic. Put the oil into a heavy skillet set over high heat. Place a plate in the oven to warm up. When the oil is very hot, add the steaks and cook until browned, about 1.5 minutes. Flip and brown on the other side. Don't they look better now? Brown the steaks briefly on the sides and remove to the warm plate (the one you were warming up in the oven) to rest loosely tented with foil. Stick a thermometer into the thickest part and leave it in. As long as the temperature is going up, let the steak rest (7-12 minutes depending on the thickness). When it starts to go back down, serve. For medium-rare, you want your steak to reach around 130F after resting. If after the first 5 min of rest, you didn’t hit 120F, place the steak back in 250F oven for another 5 min or so and then re-take its temperature.

Grilling Variation: I have tried grilling the steaks in the end instead of searing them on the stove top and it worked really well too. Just make sure your grill is extremely hot so that you get those grill marks in less than 2 minutes per side. To superheat your grill, cover the area where you’ll be grilling the steaks with foil while preheating. Remove foil right before placing the steaks on the grill.

Serving suggestions: You can serve these steaks as simply or as dressed up as your heart desires. If you are in a saucy mood, deglaze the pan with stock (see the recipe in the end of this doc) and wine to make a pan sauce. Other options are topping your steak with garlic herb butter while it's resting or drizzling it with a little lemon juice and olive oil. Just let your imagination guide you.

Equipment and Other Applications:

Reverse sear method for burgers:
   • Medium-rare Burgers (grilled or seared)  

Thermometers:

Thermapen http://tinyurl.com/4vdv2p4y
3 sec response time amazing reliability
$90-100

Thermopop http://tinyurl.com/2zncc47j
6 sec response time amazing reliability
$30

Javelin
http://astore.amazon.com/beyondsalmon...
3 sec response time, probe is very short
$25

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