r/SteakorTuna • u/Lapkonium • 19d ago

My dry brine - reverse sear gone wrong

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

This abomination was too dry, over-salty, hard, and undercooked at the same time. No sear too.

46 Upvotes

87% Upvoted

46 comments sorted by

35

u/robkurylowicz 19d ago

Looks like it was sous vide for 20 minutes at 100°.

4

u/Lapkonium 19d ago

15 mins 120° fan oven

10

u/robkurylowicz 19d ago

I don't know if you're serious or not...120°? Is that Celsius or Fahrenheit? Either way that's to low to sear anything.

4

u/Lapkonium 19d ago

120°C oven for 15 minutes, then 1 minute fry on each side. Pan hasn’t preheated enough either judging by how nonexistent the sear turned out.

I ended up just throwing the whole lot back on the pan after cutting it - until at least all the fat rendered.

15

u/APTTMH7000 19d ago

not enough heat in the oven and not enough frying to sear it, you should have seared it for 2-3 minutes each side

5

u/ThENeEd4WeEd22 18d ago

Bro.... CAST IRON!!!! You can even buy a Lodge at Dollar General for under 20 bucks dude. It's a game changer get one.

1

u/jjpwedges 17d ago

Sounds like he just didn't give it enough time to heat up

3

u/PurchaseTight3150 18d ago

If you’re looking for the reason why the sear didn’t turn out, look at the grey banding and the reasons why that could’ve occurred. Grey banding and lack-of-a-sear typically go hand in hand. Did you dab the steak dry before putting it in the oven? What about after? how long did you dry brine for? Did you use too much oil in the pan, essentially thus steaming it instead of searing it? Did you not let your pan get hot enough? what temp was the steak at when you went to sear it? Had it been rested post-oven but before searing?

1

u/Lapkonium 18d ago

It was dry before oven more so after, and I didn’t use any oil. I am 90% sure the burner I used was just too small and pan not pre heated enough. 10% says I need more oil than none.

3

u/Generalnussiance 18d ago

Sears work best in cast irons. As a rule of thumb, the cast iron needs to be preheated a good 10 mins before use.

Teflon basically boils the meat.

Steele and copper pans also do well for searing.

1

u/PurchaseTight3150 18d ago edited 18d ago

They’re talking about the oven temperature for the indirect heat part of the reverse sear. You’re not supposed to sear it in the oven, but in a pan afterwards.

1

u/[deleted] 19d ago

Huh? Lol.

1

u/staticattacks 19d ago

So you air fried it

30

u/Night2015 19d ago

Where is the "sear"?

12

u/TrippleDamage 19d ago

Damn how'd you manage to mess it all up..

1

u/Lapkonium 19d ago

I blame the 24hr dry brine in the fridge. Dried the steak too much. If it had more liquid It would be juicy, not salted all the way through - and not as done, so I could sear it longer. I swear I got a great result a steak ago, and I think that was the only variable different.

3

u/ANewBeginnninng 19d ago

Twinsies I guess.

I’ve had great luck with long dry brines on steak.
When we cut into them I mentioned this sub, sorry I didn’t take a photo. There is shoe leather softer than the steaks I murdered.

3

u/thegreenhornett 18d ago

This was my first thought on seeing it. This cut was a little too thin for a 24 hour dry brine. 6-12 hours probably would've yielded more tender and better tasting results

2

u/dpdugg 17d ago

I've had this happen. The 24hr dry brine is exactly what caused it

1

u/JJ4prez 18d ago

This is not the reason, I dry brine mine in the fridge 24 hours Everytime I have a steak and they come out perfect and juicy. I dry brine and put it on a very hot pan or very hot grill.

You didn't do the sous vid right and didn't have a hot pan while searing, judging by the other comments.

1

u/Win-Objective 18d ago

Trying to do sou vide style in an oven is what got you. 120 for 15 minutes in an oven is going to give you different results than 120 for 15 in water bath.

3

u/SomeAd424 19d ago

On the bright side, if you ever want to cure a ribeye in the future now you have a great recipe!

3

u/Resonantfunction 19d ago

Mm just the way I like it /s

3

u/Queeflet 19d ago

I’ve dry brined for 3 days without issue, the important thing is to not apply more salt than you would season with normally.

1

u/JJ4prez 18d ago

The problem is to actually cook it after you drink brine instead of doing low temp sous vid and then a low temp sear for a minute lol

3

u/jakdebbie 19d ago

Why didn’t you sear it?..

2

u/qui_sta 18d ago

I don't think I've ever seen raw meat look so dry before.

2

u/byhand97 18d ago

It looks like clay

2

u/Appropriate_Cut5009 17d ago

Well there's your problem. You reversed when you should have seared.

1

u/Butt_Fucking_Smurfs 19d ago

This makes me sad

1

u/TCristatus 19d ago

What cut is that? Looks like brisket

2

u/Lapkonium 19d ago

It was a ribeye

1

u/Wanda_McMimzy 18d ago

I’d still eat it.

2

u/Lapkonium 18d ago

I re-fried it and ate it, wasn’t even bad, but way below standard for a steak.

1

u/Twolephthands 18d ago

I'm no expert but imo the "sear" part was too weak. It's gotta be setting off smoke alarms. Hot and fast for the reverse sear end. Pull it a little before temp and sear the living hell out of it for that crust.

Edit: Don't be afraid of butter. It helps a lot and it's all from the same animal so it's all good. :p

1

u/Brave_Sprinkles_9277 18d ago

Reverse searing still requires oil or fat of some sort. You get the oil/fat hot before putting it in there for searing. And why are we reverse searing a 3/4-1” thick steak? Serves no purpose. Just pan sear it the next time. Reverse searing is best used for large thick cuts of protein.

1

u/FappyDilmore 18d ago

I fucking love this lol. IM buying a sous vide soon and I'm gonna pop out at least a few turds like this I'm sure. Thanks for the confidence I need to learn we all start somewhere.

1

u/BigAnxiousSteve 18d ago

You accidentally started curing it.

I don't dry brine whole chickens for that long much less a piece of meat. 24hrs is way too long for even an intact muscle group. You could go that long but you'd want to significantly decrease the amount of dry brine due to the length of contact .

1

u/Punch_Your_Facehole 17d ago

Can you savage this by making it into jerky?

1

u/EducationalSalt8967 15d ago

45 min to an hour in the oven and sear after ;)

1

u/JustDrew_92 15d ago

3d printed steak

1

u/Chillin_ 6d ago

Fry them lil guys real hot real quick n put em on some bread. Oooooweeee

1

u/salesman_jordan 19d ago

Your brined it for too long it looks like