Reverse Sear Chart

Reverse Sear Cutting Board

Reverse Sear Plated

Did a reverse sear
again. This time, the steak from Savenor's was 2 inches, 1/2 inch thicker than the last time. I wanted to leave plenty of time to cook the steaks so I stuck them into the oven set to 170ºF. I used a remote temperature monitor to track the temperature from my office while it cooked and I kept an eye on my estimated finish time that I calculated by estimating the degrees per minute that it was heating up at each measurement and extrapolating it to my "pull temperature" of 122ºF for a medium-rare doneness after searing and resting - 135ºF serving temperature target.

At 3:43PM, I realized that my steak was going to arrive an hour early at this rate - I was trying to finish at 5:30PM pull for a 5:45PM sear completion with 15 min for resting, slicing an serving - 6PM serve time. I turned off the oven, but kept the steak in the slowly cooling oven. Because of the residual heat in the oven and the hotter parts of the steak heating the center (where my thermometer was placed), the temperature continued to climb, but slower and slower. At 5:06PM, my oven temperature was 118ºF and I was down to 0.1ºF / min heating so I turned the oven back on.

At 5:46PM, I hit 122ºF, pulled the steak, seared it on a cast iron skillet and let it rest on the cutting board for 10 min. I then sliced the steak and served. It turned out well.

I definitely want to improve my calculation for time in the oven, although this thing with turning off the oven seems to work. I also noticed, again, that with my thermometer near the center of the steak pressed against the bone measured a temperature about 4ºF warmer than the center of the colder steak. I wonder what the best way is to guess the coldest part of the steak.

Time Steak ºF / min Est. Fin. Time Notes:
2:38:00 PM 45ºF 0.0ºF Oven set to 170ºF
2:42:00 PM 46ºF 0.3ºF 7:46:00 PM
2:51:00 PM 49ºF 0.3ºF 6:30:00 PM
2:56:00 PM 52ºF 0.6ºF 4:52:40 PM
3:01:00 PM 55ºF 0.6ºF 4:52:40 PM
3:08:00 PM 60ºF 0.7ºF 4:34:48 PM
3:15:00 PM 64ºF 0.6ºF 4:56:30 PM
3:21:00 PM 70ºF 1.0ºF 4:13:00 PM
3:30:00 PM 75ºF 0.6ºF 4:54:36 PM
3:38:00 PM 80ºF 0.6ºF 4:45:12 PM
3:43:00 PM 84ºF 0.8ºF 4:30:30 PM Turned off oven
3:55:00 PM 91ºF 0.6ºF 4:48:09 PM
4:00:00 PM 93ºF 0.4ºF 5:12:30 PM
4:07:00 PM 96ºF 0.4ºF 5:07:40 PM
4:14:00 PM 98ºF 0.3ºF 5:38:00 PM
4:21:00 PM 100ºF 0.3ºF 5:38:00 PM
4:25:00 PM 101ºF 0.3ºF 5:49:00 PM
4:30:00 PM 102ºF 0.2ºF 6:10:00 PM
4:42:00 PM 104ºF 0.2ºF 6:30:00 PM
4:48:00 PM 105ºF 0.2ºF 6:30:00 PM
5:06:00 PM 107ºF 0.1ºF 7:21:00 PM Turned Oven On
5:14:00 PM 108ºF 0.1ºF 7:06:00 PM
5:18:00 PM 109ºF 0.3ºF 6:10:00 PM
5:20:00 PM 110ºF 0.5ºF 5:44:00 PM
5:26:00 PM 113ºF 0.5ºF 5:44:00 PM
5:30:00 PM 115ºF 0.5ºF 5:44:00 PM
5:34:00 PM 117ºF 0.5ºF 5:44:00 PM
5:46:00 PM 122ºF 0.4ºF 5:46:00 PM 118ºF with instant thermometer

My temperature chart from excel.

Recipes prepared