Charcoal Searing grill

christopher.j.esteves

My thoughts on this were to improve the sous vide steak. methods of finishing steak i've commonly used are pan sear in cast iron, pan sear on a cast iron grill pan, and Blow torch. All of these things do not yield that thick crust that i love in steaks without overcooking the steak.

All things being equal, the steak is cooked SV then dried oiled and prepared for cooking, the searing process seems to be the most difficult in this equation. I don't have access to liquid nitrogen and i don't want a cold steak from the freezer, so my thoughts is to build a super hot charcoal grill to finish. (while i'm waiting for my searzall to arrive)

I think if i used something so simple as a large computer fan, a charcoal chimney and a grill grate i could achieve the heat needed to get that perfect crust without overcooking my steak.

It would be small and very hot. the fan underneath the coals would give the extra air needed to burn the coals as hot as possible.

Has anyone played with this thought?

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Comments

Tim_Sutherland_52834

I've done this Alton Brown method a few times when at the deer lease for people. Most say it is one of the better steaks they have had.

Just SV the steak and use the chimney starter on top for the crust.

Jack_Mayer_85396

I had forgot about that technique @Tim, I'll have to give it a try!

nasv

How about using a chimney starter. I followed the technique where a 3" bone-in ribeye was dried, and then frozen for 30 minutes. I then started the charcoal grill (that I would use for many things outside the steak), and before dumping the coals from the chimney starter, I put the grate on top of the chimney starter. I had color within 10 seconds.

Harley_Hong_50136

i like to chill my steaks into an ice water bath after i sous vide them. after they're chilled i'll pat them dry and season them and throw them on a very hot grill. its important that they're dry so they form a really nice crust. because they're chilled, they're a little more resistant to overcooking and i can get a really nice char on the steaks.