Dry Heat or Sous Vide: The Reverse Sear Saga (now with concise title)

For the last couple of years I have been doing steaks sous vide, then searing on smoking hot cast iron and having nice results.

I thought this was the holy grail of steak cooking methods since the results were so good and predictable.

I have been seeing a ton of reverse sear posts on this board and decided to try it. I got a few herdford(sp) tenderloins that were about 2 inches think. Salt and peppered them liberally, allowed to rest and come to room temp for about one hour. Then placed on a wire rack in a 250 degree oven until the internal temp was at 120F (ten degrees below my target temp of 130F) which took about 45 minutes.

The steaks were then taken out of the oven, allowed to rest for 15 minutes and then seared on a hot cast iron pan for about one minute per side.

The results were excellent, and I think better than my previously favored sous vide method. The sear was much better because with sous vide, the steaks come out kind of wet and moisture ruins a good sear. Secondly, because the heat was distributed uniformly on every surface of the steaks in the oven, the meat was uniformly browned and presentation was much nicer. I also like the benefit of not having to drag out the vacuum sealer.

Going forward, I think I might reserve the sous vide for longer cooks with tougher cuts of meat that can use the tenderizing.

eta pic for those who care.