I picked up some nice-looking steaks at Sam’s and decided to do a reverse sear. To pull this off properly, you need good thick pieces of beef — you cook or smoke them low and slow to a specific internal temp, let them rest, then finish with a short, hard sear on a hot grill.

 

The Smoke

Since I knew this would be a short cook, I only used about 20 pieces of charcoal. I went with mesquite for the wood — a short cook meant I wanted to pack in as much smoke flavor as I could. I haven’t used a lot of mesquite over the years since it’s such a powerful flavor and too much can easily overpower the food. I coated both sides with a little olive oil, salt, and pepper before starting the smoke.

 

Here’s where things stood about 25 minutes in, at the flip.

Pulling and Resting

I checked the internal temp and found it at 122°F — a little higher than I wanted, so I pulled the steaks at the 50-minute mark.

 The Sear

I let them rest while I fired up the propane grill and got it to 600°F. I seared them for just 1 minute per side, then let them rest another 5 minutes before serving.

 Result

Here’s the finished product — cooked to medium, where I really prefer medium rare. The mesquite flavor was incredible, and the steaks were very tender.

Want to see the same reverse sear method applied to a much bigger cut — a bone-in tomahawk? Check out my Reverse Seared Tomahawk Steak post. Reverse Seared Tomahawk