ok, glad I didn’t braise it! I feel scolded 
Kenny, these are about 4-5lb - was planning on 225-240 low-and-slow - I do ALL my thick cut steaks reverse sear, perfect every time
I braised it using the Keller recipe for New Years. It was terrific. Big step up from the Costco prime short ribs. Made an amazing French Dip for leftovers. Grilled another. Can’t go wrong.
You’re not inviting your boyfriend? Damn. Hope he doesn’t like Meat.
Good to know! Was feeling rather bombarded there!
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@Kenny_H the steak is 2.5 lb btw - trying it tonight
220-230 should be about right for that weight. I typically do my 1lb steaks at 210.
Guessing 1 hour at 225 ish
Disappointing result with reverse sear, across the board.
I think this cut isn’t very tender, and I ended up with something that had the look of a prime rib (inside), but extra red (even though temperature read as intended), and was a rather dense texture. I reverse seared whole, then when cutting for serving had to slice smaller and stick back on a pan because of the color. I could tell inserting the Thermapen the texture wasn’t going to be very tender, which was disappointing, but too late at that point.
With my remaining zabuton I will definitely be braising it as originally intended, and knowing it worked for @Chris_Johnson
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Curious, Todd, what internal temperature did you cook it to?
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I cook these pretty frequently; typically stick it in the APO at 130F 0% steam to 122 then thin slice and sear for 20-30 seconds a side. They are superb.
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Defective cow 
Low and slow to 125, rest briefly, seared as a whole piece.
i think this is the issue - 125 is too rare for this cut. generally, the less intramuscular fat, the lower you should aim for (the muscle doesn’t have the internal fat to lubricate the meat). 125 is on the rare side - great for a filet, maybe a strip if it’s grass fed and leaner. for cuts with more intramuscular fat, you need some of that to melt. the zabutons i’ve seen here have insane amounts of marbling. if you’d have taken this closer to 135-140 you’d still have a very juicy steak and the texture would have been ideal.
also, the grain goes perpendicular to the long end of the cut (long rectangle shape), so cutting against the grain (for ideal texture) requires slicing the steak into sections and then rotating those sections 90 degrees to slice for portions. this is one of the steaks where this really matters. i mention this generally as i don’t know how you sliced it.
i would def try again as it’s a top steak experience and much cheaper than more famous cuts, imo.
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Agreed. There’s a tendency steak lovers to translate “I like rare,” to every beef cut, which isn’t ideal for texture or fat activation in all cuts or types.
Well perhaps this is why, Sarah and Yaacov!
I was just following orders, sir!
I’ll jump on the bandwagon of “those who grill zabuton”. I treat them like just about any other steak and have never been disappointed. Or if I’m cooking it inside I’ve had plenty of success just putting it into a cast iron and flipping frequently. The fat renders out quickly enough to lube the pan itself, so I’ve not needed much (if any) additional fat in the pan.
That’s worked really well with zabuton steaks, which is how I’d cook them. At about 3 cm thick you can get a really nice crust along with properly cooked interior. Obviously be sure to cut the roast into steaks across the grain.
Have done many chuck eyes and thought it would be similar, clearly not! My bad!
FWIW Kenny, I didn’t think you were off. My experience with Zabuton was Snake River Farms, which has extremely rich marbling. It’s been a few years but if I recall I did 125f as well. I think I must have given it a longer sear than Todd, that brought the internal up high enough to activate the fat, as the texture and flavor were to die for.
Edit: actually I did 120f, but gave it the long sear that I mentioned above.
Yeah, I don’t know. Assuming final internal reached 135, and it was still tough, I find it hard to believe 5 or even 10 more degrees in a reverse sear situation would solve anything. Sometimes you just get a tough cut, nobody is reverse searing brisket. With an unknown cut of meat and no performance record, probing it in advance and even judging flexibility might give you a heads up what kind of initial state you have. Ever hold a chuck eye up in your hand? It would fall apart if it weren’t for all the fascia it contains. That being said, time and temperature is everything where rendering is concerned. Say you hold that 135 internal for 4-6 hrs via sous vide, totally different ballgame. Even a braise can dry out a cut of meat if it is covered and done too aggressively. So I guess if it were me I would run 2 different experiments. Do the SV at 135, with pre and post sear. Then do a slow braise and probe the meat until it is loose. Then decide.