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Reverse Sear vs. Sous Vide

Smoking & Grilling

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Jonathon Team Blue Admin Walton's Employee Power User Kansas Dry Cured Sausage last edited by

Reverse Sear vs. Sous Vide

Learn about Reverse Searing and Sous Videing with Walton's and Meatgistics. Watch the video, read the guide, and then post your questions or comments below.

Reverse Sear vs. Sous Vide

We decided to see which method gives you a more perfectly cooked steak, Reverse Sear or Sous Vide Cooking. We are going to rate these on taste, tenderness and appearance and let you know which was our favorite.

Sous Vide Method - We vacuum sealed a Waygu steak that set our Sous Vide Cooker at 125° and let it sit there for 2 hours. Then we are going to pull it out and sear both sides on our grill that we will get as hot as we can.

Reverse Sear Method - We set our grill at 225° and put our steak on until it was an internal temperature of around 120°, then we are going to take it off the grill and loosely cover it in foil for 5 minutes while the grill gets to max temperature and then sear it for a few minutes a side.

Taste - The taste was exactly the same for each method. This was expected, there wasn’t going to be any identifiable taste difference as we were cooking them to the same temp, using the same seasoning and it was the same cut and type of steak. So this was a tie.

Tenderness - They were both really nice and tender, you aren’t going to go wrong with either of these. However, the Sous Vide method was so tender I could have cut it with the plastic fork if I had wanted too. The Sous Vide won this round.

Appearance - This was a resounding win for the Reverse Sear method in my mind. The sous vide one took longer to get any bark on it and even when it did it didn’t have a nice firm crust, it was mushier. Once you cut them open the Sous Vide was perfectly pink all the way through where the Reverse Sear had a centimeter or so of darker meat down into the pink.

So the winner, in my opinion, was the reverse sear method! I just liked the appearance more and anyone can do it, it doesn’t require any special equipment, just either a grill or an oven and a cast iron pan and you are capable of cooking the perfect steak!

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Making Bone Marrow Burgers
Smoking & Grilling • • Jonathon

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Meat Hacks: Making Bone Marrow Burgers
Learn about Making Bone Marrow Burgers with Walton's and Meatgistics. Watch the video, read the guide, and then post your questions or comments below.
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The meatgistics User Denny recently posted a question about how much bone marrow should be added to a burger per lb. Well, I had never done anything with bone marrow before so I decided to grab some and check out the process.

I started out with a few beef marrow bones, you can pick these up at your local grocery store or butcher shop. The bones I bought were about 2 inches thick which made getting the marrow out a lot simpler than I thought it was going to be. I just pressed on one side with my thumbs and they came out the other end in one solid piece. After doing all the bones I had set aside for testing this I had 5.7 oz.

Once I chopped them all up I wanted to find out how much a Tablespoon of this weighed so we could give advice in both volume and weight measurements, so 1 Tablespoon of this beef marrow weighed 8 grams so .28 of an oz.

Now, Denny pointed out that a demo he saw said 3-4 Tablespoons per 1-2 lb of burger, we are going to go with 4 because I always tend to think more is better, so would be 1.1 oz per lb or .55 of an oz per lb. That’s a pretty big range so we are going to test it by using 4 tbsp or 1.1 oz for 1 lb of burger, then 1.5 lb of burger and then 2 lb of burgers.

Since the purpose of this is to determine the ratio of Marrow to use we didn’t want any other taste to stand out so we aren’t using any patty mix with this, so just straight ground beef. We also are making burgers with no marrow as a control.

So after we grilled all of the burgers the one we added the most bone marrow too was my favorite. The bone marrow adds a really interesting deep flavor but I was most surprised by how much it changed the texture of the burger. It stayed juicier and almost had a creaminess to it that would be hard to replicate with any other ingredient I can think of.

I won’t be doing this every time I make a burger, buying the bones, prepping them and then mixing them in did not take too long but it was an extra step but if I had a bunch of friends over and really wanted to impress them with something then this is a really interesting way to make an over the top burger!
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Sous Vide Steaks
Smoking & Grilling • • Jonathon

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raider2119 sGreat post! We were talking about Prime Rib here and how it would be if we Sous Vide it so we will definitely do some testing on that, thanks for the advice and maybe we will do a side by side comparison of Chuck in Sous Vide vs normal Prime Rib?

You bring up a great point on the Waygu or Prime. I don’t think I’d feel comfortable enough yet doing Waygu this way, I’ve just had way too good of results with traditionally methods of cooking that to risk doing anything else. Specifically longer cook times, even at lower temps would make me nervous that I would somehow destroy the marbling and tenderness, maybe I will try it some day if I ever have a bunch more Waygu (I can only dream for that to happen again!)

Thanks for the input on the Breakfast Sausage, we had also been wondering about that. We sous vide some pepperoni the other day (smoked the rest) and the taste was amazing but the texture and appearance were all wrong, just FYI for anyone thinking about trying that!
Meat Hacks: Cooking cured sausages at the correct temperatures
Smoking & Grilling • • Jonathon

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Meat Hacks:Cooking cured sausages at the correct temperatures
Learn about the importance of protein extraction when making a cured sausage with Walton's and Meatgistics. Watch the video, read the guide, and then post your questions or comments below.
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Why is cooking cured sausages at the correct temperature so important?
One of the issues a lot of home processors have with cooking snack sticks or other cured sausages is that they end up with an overly dry snack stick. A snack stick is not supposed to be as juicy as a bratwurst but it should retain some of its moisture. There are a few reasons for this, the two most common are that you did not have the correct fat content or you cooked your product at too high of a temperature. You want to start cooking a cured sausage of any kind at a low temperature and gradually step it up 15-20° every hour or so. This allows the meat to cook evenly throughout and retain as much moisture as possible.

For snack sticks you really want to start them out at 125 for 1 hour and then 140 for 1 hour before moving on to 155 for 2 hours and then 170 until the internal temp of the meat reaches 160. Some people go right to the 170 degrees to cook the snack stick, this is going to cause a few problems for you. First it is going to dry them out and second if it overcooks the outside of the product it will stop transferring heat to the inside and you end up with a burnt outside ring and an undercooked center!

To show you what happens we are mixing and stuffing two batches the exact same way together but we are going to cook some of them with the approved method and some of them we will start out at a high temperature and let you see the results when they are done.

The snack sticks are done cooking and as you can see the ones that we cooked at the correct temperature are pretty much perfect. The other batch however are tough, dry and the casing looks very unappetizing as well! So on your next batch of cured sausages make sure you are stepping up your cooking temperatures gradually!
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How to Reverse Sear a Steak
Smoking & Grilling • meatgistics meathacks reverse sear steak • • Jonathon

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Meat Hacks: How to Reverse Sear a Steak
Learn How to Reverse Sear a Steak with Walton's and Meatgistics. Watch the video, read the guide, and then post your questions or comments below.
Meat Hacks
Why Reverse Sear a Steak?
Reverse Searing a Steak is a process where you slowly cook the interior of the steak and then finish it off with high heat sear. If you follow this method you should end up with a steak that has the nice red color throughout the entire steak but still get that nice crust on the outside. The process does take a considerable amount of time but I promise you the end results are well worth the time and effort.

To begin, let’s talk about selecting the best steak for a reverse sear. You will want to select a steak that is at least 1.25 inches thick, this is to ensure that you do not overcook the product with the initial low heat phase. Next you will want to look at the marbling of the fat and choose a steak with marbling that runs throughout as much of the cut as possible.

The important next step that many people ignore is to take your steak out of the refrigerator 45 minutes prior to grilling which allows the meat to come up to room temperature. A cold steak thrown on the grill will not have the same taste or tenderness as a room temperature steak. After you take the steak out to allow it to equalize with the room temperature, then you will want to season it. You have probably heard some people say that salt and pepper is all you really need for a proper seasoning, while this can be true with extremely high end steaks such as Kobe, Wagyu or Heartland, the average and normal steak that we buy at from a local butcher, meat market, or grocery store can definitely benefit from additional seasoning. Our number one choice for steak seasoning is the Excalibur Ultimate Steak and Roast Rub. It is one of our best-selling shakers seasonings for a reason, it is simple yet delicious!

Before we begin cooking, we’ll need to pre-heat our smoker to 210-220 degrees. Once it is up to temp and our steaks have rested at room temp for 45 minutes, then place the steaks in smoker and leave them until the internal temperature reaches around 125-135 degrees (depending on the desired level of doneness). This can take up to an hour depending on thickness of steaks and type of smoker. You will need a meat thermometer for an exact and consistent temperature reading. Walton’s recommends one of the fast reading digital thermometers so you can minimize the amount of time the smoker or grill is open. Two of our favorites are the Slimline Digital Waterproof Thermometer and the Folding Probe Thermometer, which may be one of our fastest reading thermometers. Just visit waltonsinc.com and looking under Smoking & Grilling and Thermometers to find one of these thermometers or over three dozen different other thermometers.

Finishing by Searing

Once our steaks reach the desired internal temp, remove them from the grill and cover them loosely with tin foil. We then have two options for finishing our steaks and searing them. We can either turn our smoker or grill up to 500+ degrees and use the grill grates or we can put a cast iron skillet in the grill or smoker and finish the steaks on that.

This holding time is often called napping your steaks and there are different theories on its effectiveness. Since we need to take them off to allow the smoker/grill to come up to temperature, let’s assume that this method is effective.

Once your smoker, grill, or skillet is up to temperature put your steaks back on the grill or skillet for about 1-2 minutes per side. This will give it the desired sear, texture, and crispy crust on the outside. We also like to put a dollop of butter on the steak after flipping it one time. In our opinion, a cast iron skillet is the best option for searing a steak and better than just using a plain grill or skillet. Another good option is to use a Grill Grate. We still like cast iron better, but Grill Grates are a great option which is better than searing them directly on a grill because it funnels the heat from your smoker or grill up to the aluminum grates, and doing this will increase the temperature on the surface by about 100 degrees.

Once we’ve finished searing for 1 to 2 minutes per side, take off the grill and serve hot!
Subscribe to WaltonsTV
Make sure you subscribe to WaltonsTV and remember to tap the bell next to the subscribed button to get notified about all new videos, plus like and comment on this video, and visit waltonsinc.com and meatgistics.com to find Everything But The Meat!
Subscribe to Meatgistics
Easily subscribe to any category or topic on the Meatgistics community site by clicking the green “Subscribe” button to get an email each time a new post is made!
Shop waltonsinc.com for Ultimate Steak & Roast Rub Shop waltonsinc.com for Digital Thermometers Shop waltonsinc.com for Grills & Smokers Subscribe to WaltonsTV on YouTube Reverse Seared Steak Reverse Seared Steak Ultimate Steak & Roast Rub Ultimate Steak & Roast Rub
How To Add Smoke Flavor Without Smoke
Smoking & Grilling • meat hacks meatgistics excalibur seasoning waltonstv smoke flavor hickory smoke • • Austin

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Lori Lindquist Yes you can do that with the Hickory Smoke Powder, but be aware that the liquid smoke we sell isn’t the same stuff you buy in the store! Ours is formulated for commercial application and you can easily ruin a batch of anything.

So, yes, just don’t try to use the liquid smoke!

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Meatgistics is brought to you by Walton's (waltons.com). Meatgistics is a community site, knowledgebase, forum, blog, learning center, and a sharing site. You can find help and ask questions about anything related to meat processing, smoking and grilling meats, plus a whole lot more. Join Austin & Jon from Walton's and sign up for our Meatgistics community today. We have created Meagistics University, where we broke down meat processing into different categories and then broke it down into a class like structure. The introductory classes are 10s, the intermediate are 20s, and advanced are 30s.

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Walton's Inc. sells meat processing equipment and supplies, including all of the Seasoning, Equipment, Supplies, Packaging, and Casings needed to make almost any type of sausage. Walton's sells to the commercial customer with a focus on the small to medium-sized processing plants or butcher shops, and directly to the hunter or processor who makes their own product at home. Whether you are a commercial or retail customer of Walton's you will be receiving the exact same seasoning and supplies, we do not have a different "line" for commercial and retail customers so that everyone can make the best sausage or jerky possible!

Reverse Sear vs. Sous Vide

Reverse Sear vs. Sous Vide

Reverse Sear vs. Sous Vide

Subscribe to WaltonsTV

Subscribe to Meatgistics

Shop waltonsinc.com for Ultimate Steak and Roast Rub

Shop waltonsinc.com for VacMaster SV1 Sous Vide Immersion Circulator

Subscribe to WaltonsTV on YouTube

Walton's 12 in Meat Slicer