In the heat of the moment (or the summer sun), with a beverage in one hand and more guests arriving by the minute, the grilling pressure's on. Will you scorch the chicken and leave the inside underdone? Will those beautiful thick steaks go from medium-rare to well-done while you're trying to get a nice sear on the surface? You just. Don't. Know.
Unless you go for the reverse sear, of course.
After blowing my mind about beer-can chicken and loose burger meat, grilling guru and cookbook author Meathead Goldwyn weighed in on why the reverse sear might be the best way to grill (almost) anything.
Fancy steakhouses love to sear their steaks and then finish cooking them in the gentler heat of the oven. The reverse sear is just that same process...in reverse. First, you cook your thick-cut steak or bone-in chicken over indirect (aka low) heat until the interior is almost done, then move it to the direct (aka hot) heat zone to finish it with a sizzling crust.
āIdeally, you have to treat the surface of the meat one way and the interior of the meat another way,ā Goldwyn said.
If you cook a steak only on direct heat, youāll definitely get a crust, but underneath that, itāll be a rainbow of color: tan, pink, and then, finally, a very thin layer of picture-perfect medium-rare meat. If you're lucky. But with the reverse sear, it's easier to nail that moving target of doneness since the meat cooks through more slowly. āYou really want edge-to-edge medium-rare,ā said Goldwyn, āThe way to get there is by starting the meat at a low temperature.ā
Just imagine the backyard bragging you'll be able to do with this technique. After all, you see the same thing going on in Michelin-starred restaurants in sous vide baths. After vacuum sealing and cooking pork or beef for upwards of 70 hours in a water bath, the meat will be almost fork tender but will lack that appetizing brown crust (you are cooking in a bag, after all). To give meat some color and a crisp exterior, cooks will quickly sear it in a pan during service, creating a piece of meat thatās crisp on the outside and almost buttery on the inside. No wonder theyāre getting fancy awards. Here's how to earn a few accolades of your own:
Regardless of whether youāre grilling on charcoal or gas, first set up your grill with direct and indirect heat zones.
The indirect section is for gently cooking your food up to until it's almost at the ideal doneness. Make sure the indirect-heat section of the grill is around 225Ā°F (use a grill thermometer with a clip to check), then cover the grill. āWhen the lid is down, hot air circulates around it, and you can gently warm the meat so that from top to bottom, itās the same temperature and color,ā Goldwyn said. You're basically creating an oven for your meat.
Goldwyn recommends watching the temperature of the food until itās 10-15 degrees below your target temperature (about 120Ā°F for a medium-rare 1 1/2 inch steak). Once the food hits that temperature, itās ready to move to the direct-heat side for a quick sear.
Once you switch over to the direct side, youāll need to constantly flip the food every minute, or as Goldwyn says, ālike a human rotisserie.ā That will ensure that your meat browns evenly all the way around. Take the grilling food off of the grill once it hits your target temperature (130Ā°F for medium-rare steak, 165Ā°F for chicken) and serve immediately.
Reverse sear is great for any cut of meat thatās 1 1/2 inches or thicker. That includes (among other things) pork chops, steakhouse burgers, baked potatoes, and especially chicken.
āReverse sear is made for chicken,ā said Goldwyn, who likes to cook bone-in chicken on the indirect side before searing it on the hot side, skin side down. āCrisp that skin and get it dark brown and golden.ā And just like that, youāll have moist and juicy chicken on the inside without charring the skin.
Any quick-cooking cuts of meat, like skirt or flank steak, donāt benefit from reverse sear. Thinner vegetables like asparagus do better with a quick char, too.
āWhenever you have a thin piece of food, you need to get the surface dark and the interior cooked, you want to cook over direct radiant heat,ā said Goldwyn.
Goldwyn says the most important tool in this whole process is owning a digital thermometer. Use it to guage your grilling surface temperature, check on the doneness of the meat while it's in the indirect-heat zone, and the final temperature.
āIf youāre not cooking with a thermometer, youāre driving without a speedometer,ā said Goldwyn.
Youāll definitely want to drive in reverse from now on.
