There is a reason the steakhouse charges what it charges, and it is not the beef. It is that somebody back there knows how to cook a thick steak so it is the same rosy pink from the crust all the way to the middle, with no grey band in between. That trick has a name — the reverse sear — and it costs you nothing but an extra half hour and a thermometer.
You cook it backwards from the way most of us were taught. The steak goes into a low oven first, barely 250°F, until the inside comes up to temperature slowly and evenly. Only then does it meet a cast iron pan hot enough to make you nervous, for about a minute a side, purely to build the crust. The temperatures below are for a classic medium-rare. The USDA recommends 145°F for whole cuts of beef; if you are cooking for anyone who should not eat rare meat, take it there.
Divine Bovine goes on before any of that happens, while the surface is still dry. Our Montreal-style rub is coarse — cracked black pepper, garlic and whole caraway, coriander, mustard and dill seed — so it stays put and toasts rather than scorching. By the time the steak comes out of the pan the seasoning has baked into the crust instead of sitting on top of it.
Late October is the right month for this one. Nobody minds the oven being on for forty minutes, the collards have had their first cool nights and gone sweet, and the sweet potatoes are out of the ground across the Carolinas. One good ribeye, rested and sliced, feeds two people at a table properly.
Reverse-Seared Ribeye with Divine Bovine
A thick bone-in ribeye seasoned with Divine Bovine organic steak rub, brought up slowly in a low oven to an even pink edge to edge, then seared hard in cast iron for the crust.
Ingredients
For the steak
- 1 bone-in ribeye, about 1 1/2 inches thick (1 1/4 to 1 1/2 lbs)
- 1 Tbsp Divine Bovine organic steak rub
- 1/4 tsp Divine Bovine, for after it is sliced
For the pan
- 1 Tbsp avocado or grapeseed oil, or another oil that takes high heat
- 1 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 2 cloves garlic, smashed, skins left on (optional)
- 2 sprigs fresh thyme or rosemary (optional)
Instructions
- Pat the ribeye completely dry on both sides and the edges with paper towels. A wet surface steams instead of browning, and this is the step people skip.
- Coat the steak all over with 1 tablespoon of Divine Bovine, pressing the coarse grind into the meat with your palm so it stays put rather than falling off in the pan.
- If you have the time, set the seasoned steak uncovered on a rack in the refrigerator for 45 minutes, or up to overnight. The surface dries out and the crust that follows is noticeably better. If you do not have the time, carry straight on.
- Heat the oven to 250°F with a rack in the middle. Set the steak on a wire rack over a rimmed baking sheet so the warm air can move underneath it.
- Roast until an instant-read thermometer pushed into the thickest part, not touching the bone, reads 115°F for medium-rare. On a 1 1/2 inch steak that is usually 35 to 40 minutes, but go by the thermometer and not the clock.
- Take the steak out and leave it on the rack while you heat the pan. It is doing nothing but good in those few minutes.
- Set a cast iron skillet over high heat until it just begins to smoke. Add the oil and swirl it once around the pan.
- Lay the steak down away from you and press it flat for solid contact. Sear 45 to 60 seconds, turn it once, and sear 45 to 60 seconds on the second side.
- Drop in the butter with the garlic and thyme. Tilt the pan and spoon the foaming butter over the steak for about 30 seconds, then stand the steak on its fat cap with tongs for another 30 so that edge renders and browns too.
- Pull the steak at 125°F and rest it on a board for 5 to 10 minutes. Slice against the grain, scatter the last 1/4 teaspoon of Divine Bovine over the cut slices, and serve.
Why cooking it backwards works
Sear first and roast after and you get a grey band of overcooked meat sitting just under the crust, because the outside is far hotter than the middle for the whole cook. The reverse sear turns that around. The low oven brings the whole steak up together, so it is the same colour from the crust to the centre, and because the surface comes out of the oven warm and dry the final sear only needs a minute a side.
The thermometer is the recipe
There is no way to time this one. An instant-read thermometer costs less than the steak does and it is the difference between medium-rare and a disappointment. Pull from the oven at 115°F for medium-rare, which lands at 130 to 135°F once it has been seared and rested, or at 125°F for medium, which lands near 140°F. Check in the thickest part and keep the probe off the bone, which reads hotter than the meat around it.
Where the 55 minutes actually goes
Ten minutes of prep, which is drying and seasoning the steak. Then 35 to 40 in the oven, a couple of minutes in the pan and 5 to 10 resting on the board, which is the 45 minutes of cooking on the card. The optional 45-minute rest in the refrigerator sits outside both numbers because the refrigerator does that part without you.
Which steak to buy
Thickness matters more than grade here. Ask the butcher for a bone-in ribeye cut a full inch and a half, and do not let anyone talk you into two thin ones instead. A steak under an inch thick has no inside to protect, so the reverse sear buys you nothing and you may as well sear it straight off. Boneless works on exactly the same timings if that is what the counter has.
On the salt
You will not find salt in the ingredient list and that is deliberate. Sea salt is the first thing on the Divine Bovine label, so the steak is already seasoned. Taste a slice before you reach for the salt cellar. If you cook salt-free at your table, Zilch. Nada. None. is the blend built for that job and Divine Bovine is not it.
What is in season right now
The oven is already on, so put something from this month in with it. Collards have had their first cool nights across the Carolinas and gone sweet, the sweet potato harvest is in, and fall cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower are coming into the markets now. Any of them can be cut into wedges, tossed with oil and a little Divine Bovine and roasted alongside the steak while it comes up to temperature.
Feeding more than two
Two steaks fit on one rack with room between them and nothing about the timings changes, because the oven is bringing each one up on its own. The pan is what limits you: sear them one at a time rather than crowding the skillet, and the first one will be perfectly happy resting while the second one goes.
What is in the jar
Divine Bovine is our USDA Certified Organic Montreal-style steak rub, built on sea salt, organic garlic and cracked black pepper with whole caraway, coriander, mustard and dill seed and a little organic red pepper. No MSG, no fillers and no anti-caking agents, made in small batches by our family.
The seasoning is gluten free and kosher. The rest of this recipe is beef, oil and butter, so there is nothing else here to read a label on — though if you are putting bread or a bottled sauce on the table, those are worth a look. We make Divine Bovine in a 5 oz resealable pouch that lies flat in the cupboard and opens one-handed, which beats wrestling a jar with greasy fingers, and in a 2.4 oz glass jar that is the one people put in a stocking.
More to put beside it
For the same rub on a Sunday, Dutch Oven Pot Roast is the long braise and Divine Bovine Christmas Roast is the one for the holiday table. Pepper Flank Steak is the weeknight answer when a ribeye is not in the budget, and Beef Stroganoff and Philly Cheesesteak Skillet are where the leftovers want to go.
If it is a different crust on a steak you are after, Cocoa Butt'Er Steak takes the cocoa-and-coffee route instead. Put Crispy Smashed Potatoes or The OG Mashed Potatoes on the plate beside it.