Or how to derail Train’s Great Steak Fundamentals!
By Johnno
It takes a man with a particular set of skills and a lot of time on their hands to successfully argue a point about steak with Train. He’s literally built a reputation and a brand on knowing how best to prep and cook a steak, simply.
Nonetheless, as Train puts it,
“Feast on Beasts is a community built on the foundations of mutual respect and trust for all those that believe that feasting on beasts is the bone marrow butter that binds our society and separates us from the animals.”
Yup, slightly insane but makes perfect sense the second time round. Alrighty, let me whip you through the theory of the “reverse, reverse” sear method of creating large quantities of juicy, beautifully presented steaks while saving time and anxiety.
5 steps to reversing the reverse sear for a great result… consistently!
Okay, so if we can agree that a great steak, after being rested, will present with a beautiful char or bark that’s dark, offers a little more than token resistance to the knife’s edge before giving way to a consistent, edge-to-edge pink hue, here’s what to do.
- Set your oven to 180 degrees
- Get your pan (cast iron is probably best) on the stove and set it to “jet afterburner hot” as Train might say, or do the same on the hotplate of your BBQ.
- Season appropriately (i.e. generously) after applying your choice of binder (e.g. olive oil).
- Sear: Rule of Thumb here is to go 1 (one) minute per side, just to get some colour happening.
- Slide into the oven for 10 minutes if you’re dealing with a tiny 200g steak (i.e. entrée size). Please note though, that I actually like to go ever slightly longer but at 150 degrees to get to an internal temp of 52 degrees (medium rare) or 54 degrees (medium).
In perhaps a vain attempt to appear open-minded, Train actually did an A-B test of sorts back at FoB Central to see for himself – and the pics speaks for themselves.
Let’s hear it from the man himself:
“Yeah, they were okay… no seriously, a great call but you really need to be on top of temp and time and this is where a food thermometer may help you out tremendously. Unless you’re me (Ed. Ridiculous).”
Okay, that’s the beginning, middle and end of the story. Go forth and cook kilos and kilos of steak. You don’t have to try this method, but you’ll be glad you did.
Feast on!