Do you know how to cook the perfect steak and what exactly is reverse sear ?

In this post, I would love to share how to cook the perfect steak as well as explain what exactly is reverse sear ?

4 x 300g scotch fillet or porterhouse steaks
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

OR

3 x 600 – 700g rib eyes
Olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Chimichuri sauce – to top your steaks (when serving)
1/2 red onion, finely diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tbsp finely chopped oregano
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
1/2 tsp sweet smoky paprika
1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
100ml extra virgin olive oil

First things first – your steaks must be brought to room temperature before cooking. This is essential.
Place steaks in a dish, brush with olive oil and season with a little salt and pepper.

To make chimichuri mix together ingredients, adding enough oil to make it moist and season well with salt and pepper.

Fire up the barbecue to as hot as you can get it. A weber genesis (one of the barbecues I use) will soon hit the 250oC mark.

For scotch fillet or porterhouse :

Place steak onto a piping hot barbecue grill and cook at 45 degrees to the bar on one side for 2 minutes, turn 90 degrees – cooking on same side. Cover and cook for a further 2 minutes. Now flip the steak over and repeat on the other side. Turn using tongs (not a fork).

For ribeyes :

Same as above however 3 minutes cooking each interval (rather than 2 minutes) so total cooking time is 12 minutes)

Rest your meat for a minimum of half it’s total cooking time ie. If it took 8 mins to cook your steak to perfection, rest it for 4 minutes before slicing or serving.

Serve with chimichuri on top.

Steak will be cooked to medium rare when it feels soft with back of tongs. A meat thermometer will show the internal temperature of a medium rare steak as 55-60 oC.

Steak will be cooked to medium when it feels springy with back of tongs. A meat thermometer will show the internal temperature of a medium steak as 60-65oC.

Serve these steaks with the stunning stone fruit salad I posted here and your life will be rockin’ in many great places.

What exactly is the reverse sear cooking method

I actually really stand by this method. Basically you are reversing everything you may have done before when cooking the perfect steak. Reverse sear method gives you a lovely evenly cooked steak. You will never have a blue rib eye again (unless you want this of course).

You need to cook your steak shy of 10 degrees internal temp in the oven of your desired finished steak temperature. For example, for a medium steak, the internal finished temperature is around 60 oC and therefore, you will pop it out of the oven at 50 oC before resting and finishing on a hot barbecue.

Preheat oven to 135oC

Place steaks on a wire rack over a baking tray

Place in oven for approx. 45-60 minutes or until the internal temperature of the steak is between 50 oC (for a steak that when cooking is finishes, will be cooked medium).

Allow to rest for 10-15 mins very loosely covered with foil.

Get your barbecue grill on as hot as it can go and cook steaks for a maximum of 1 minute each side. No need to rest the steak now as you have done that when out of the oven.

Steak preference                                                                         Finished internal temperature

Rare                                                                                                  45-50 oC

Medium-rare                                                                                   55-60 oC

Medium                                                                                            60-65 oC

Medium-well                                                                                   65-70 oC

Well done                                                                                         70 oC +

I cook steak indoors quite different to this method and I turn more frequently and add aromatics to the pan during the process. Very different but both done well…..are absolutely sensational.

Our next barbecue masterclass at Relish Mama will be held Sunday 7th May. Click here to reserve your place.