Recipes, Tips & Techniques

Reverse Searing NY Strip Steaks From Creekstone Farms

In a post from earlier this year, I mentioned visiting Lakewood Meats in Lodi, CA where I purchased some quality Creekstone Farms steaks. In that post, I reverse seared ribeye steaks in a cast iron skillet and concluded by saying, “It’s easier getting steaks on and off a cast iron griddle vs. a cast iron skillet, so next time I’ll use my griddle instead.”

Creekstone Farms NY strip steaks grilling indirect before the reverse sear

Well, last weekend I found two Creekstone Farms NY strip steaks from Lakewood Meats at the back of the freezer and did the reverse sear on them, too, but this time finishing on the griddle.

This video summarizes the process:

Pat steaks dry with paper towels. Sprinkle kosher salt on both sides and refrigerate steaks on a cooling rack over a rimmed baking sheet pan for 2 hours. Right before grilling, remove from fridge, pat dry again with paper towels, and apply freshly ground black pepper to both sides.

Setup your Weber gas grill for indirect cooking—one area with the burners OFF and one area with the burners on HIGH. Let the grill preheat for 10 minutes.

Clean the grill surface with a grill brush. Turn the burners down to MEDIUM and place steaks over the OFF burners.

Cook the steaks until they reached 95°F internal temperature measured with a Thermapen instant-read thermometer, about 20 minutes in total, turning once or twice.

Once at 95°F, remove the steaks from the grill and turn all burners to HIGH. Place the griddle on the grill and get it ripping hot, probably 15 minutes.

Brush the griddle with oil and place the steaks on the griddle. If you have a grill press, place the steaks close together and put the press on top of the steaks. Sear for 1.5 minutes, then oil a new hot section of the griddle, flip the steaks onto that new area, replace the grill press and sear for another 1.5 minutes.

Creekstone Farms NY strip steaks after reverse searing

Move the steaks to a rimmed baking sheet pan, cover loosely with foil, and let rest just long enough to get the steaks into the house and onto your dinner plate.

Inside view of Creekstone Farms NY strip steak

These steaks finished at about 135°F; if you like yours done less than that, reduce the indirect internal temp to 90°F and sear for 1 minute. Using a thicker steak can also help you achieve lower internal finished temps, too.

The more steaks I grill, the more I find I get the best results from using the reverse sear method. I think you will, too!

Now get out there and reverse sear some steaks!