Low temperature steak recipe?

Sometime ago, I saw a Mark Bittman recipe for steak where you put it in a low oven – 250F or so, as I recall – and then just seared it in a pan at the end. Or maybe the searing was first, followed by the low oven. The idea was achieve an even degree of doneness throughout the meat, with the pan just to brown the outside.

I can’t for the life of me find his recipe or any other one like this. Anyone know the trick/recipe?

It’s called the reverse sear technique. Low oven followed by a hard sear on the stove (I use a cast iron pan). I can’t quite remember the temperature to which you’re supposed to cook your steak in the oven, but I’m sure you can find it on google. Highly recommended, makes great steaks!

Edited to add that I usually use the Cook’s Illustrated recipe. Here’s a version I found that isn’t behind a paywall: This Week for Dinner: Cooking the Perfect Steak - This Week for Dinner

Here is a version from. Heston Blumenthal though this one is 24 hours in the oven with a blowtorch sear to start

Part II

That is how I do ribs, every summer on Block Island.

Great, Victor, but this thread is about steaks, not ribs. And how you cook them really isn’t dependent on location or your gratuitous reference to your summer vacation place. But otherwise, a very helpful response.

Sounds similar to the goal of sous vide cooking, which many (including me) are not a huge fan of for steak. However in an oven it may avoid the textural issues of SV steak. There are so many good/great steak techniques that I’m not sure why you would want to go this way. And I would never try the 24 hour in the oven method referenced above. Again, not sure what the advantage would be – I don’t want my steak cooked to 200+ degrees, I prefer closer to 130.

24hr steak? He’s clearly having a wank. Why not 72 hours? That’d be three times better.

I cook at 225 and take the temp up to 110-115. Rest them 15 minutes while heating the pan and then sear each side a minute to two depending on thickness to crust. The idea is that the crust should change the internal temp.

The similarity to sous vide, I guess, is the low temperature, but this doesn’t involve sealing the meat, with the weird effects that has.

Thanks everyone. I’d Googled several times and come up with nothing.

No cooking method ‘seals’ the meat.

Unless you are talking about vacuum sealing for sous vide vs leaving the steak exposed in the oven, then I agree.

That’s what I was talking about. Read the post of Chuck’s that I was responding to.

You could adapt the directions for cooking a prime rib roast “low and slow” and adapt it to a thick cut steak:

Count me as one who does not like SV cooking a steak. One of the big problems with the “sear second” method is that the outside of the steak has a ton of moisture at that point. You’ve got to cook that off before the browning will start. It seems much easier to me to brown an uncooked piece of meat. Maybe I’m just imagining this.

I salt my steaks in the morning and leave them on a wire rack in the refrigerator. Then I take the meat out of the refrigerator an hour or so ahead of cooking. It’s not difficult for me to get a perfect medium rare with very little brown meat on the edges. The low heat method seems like a good idea but I’ve found with a little bit of practice, it’s just not necessary. I do cook steak once a week or so. Maybe if someone’s only cooking every few months it might not be as easy…

all you need to know is here - Beef Guides

My process.

Salt and put the steak on a wire rack overnight in the fridge. Next day turn over to 275 (I like the texture a little more than 250) for about 25 minutes (check your own temp).

Let rest.

Sear in cast iron with oil, butter and herbs. Serve immediately

Low temp and searing can be done in either order (before or after).

I have a preference for doing the sear first because
a) I was doing it that way for years before the reverse sear method became popular
b) It can be done in one pan so long as the pan is oven proof. Do the sear, then put the entire pan in the low heat oven.

But most people here have a preference for the reverse sear. I’ve tried it with good results but find the extra step of transferring the steak and, of course, drying it before putting it on the pan annoying.

Somewhat coincidentally, I was reading a B.A. article last night about Ludo Lefevbre and he said something along the lines of ‘If you’re going to cook a piece of meat, at least treat it with the respect it deserves and use a hot fire, none of this sous vide crap’. Guess he’s opinionated.

I don’t know much about him other than what I’ve read & seen on TV & recall he & Bourdain became best buds with Ray when they did that Burgundy Parts Unknown episode & went to Ilan.

FWIW - I use the old stand-by hot sear first technique on steaks, but rely solely on reverse sear for any larger cuts/roasts.

I’ve worried that putting the very hot searing pan in the oven defeats the low heat method – that the high heat and contact with the meat will give you graying deep into the meat that you wouldn’t get on a rack in the oven at ~250F.

I wonder if he’s not alone in his disdain for sous vide. In addition to personal issues with the end result, I’ve heard a couple of chefs talk about how it’s “dumbed down”, idiot proof cooking. Not really respected by some folks.