Searing steaks and pellet grills

[hartlee]

 I usually use a pellet smoker for my outdoor cooking, but I'd like to be able to prepare good, thick steaks too. As I have discovered, I can't easily get a good sear in a pellet grill. I'm wondering whether a ceramic (egg-type) grill with the lid open might enable me to sear the meat there first and then quickly shift it over to the pellet grill to finish. A related question: I have some shiny new "Grill Grates" for cooking steaks, but I don't know whether to use the Grill Grates on a ceramic/egg grill before I transfer the steaks over to the pellet grill.

    Why transfer the newly seared steaks to a pellet grill at all, you might wonder. Because I don't think I could get the temp inside the egg to decline to 350 F in a reasonable amount of time. Meanwhile, the hot seared steaks would become cool bricks, I'm guessing.

 

[jeepdiver]

If your looking for a new grill check out the cookshack fast eddy pg500 or pg1000. I can cold smoke or do a steak at 600+ on the same cooker

 

[seenred]

 
 I usually use a pellet smoker for my outdoor cooking, but I'd like to be able to prepare good, thick steaks too. As I have discovered, I can't easily get a good sear in a pellet grill. I'm wondering whether a ceramic (egg-type) grill with the lid open might enable me to sear the meat there first and then quickly shift it over to the pellet grill to finish. A related question: I have some shiny new "Grill Grates" for cooking steaks, but I don't know whether to use the Grill Grates on a ceramic/egg grill before I transfer the steaks over to the pellet grill.

    Why transfer the newly seared steaks to a pellet grill at all, you might wonder. Because I don't think I could get the temp inside the egg to decline to 350 F in a reasonable amount of time. Meanwhile, the hot seared steaks would become cool bricks, I'm guessing.

You don't say what brand of pellet smoker you have.  I have a Rec Tec that both slow smokes and sears very nicely.  I have a set of those 'Grill Grates' for searing steaks and burgers.  I can put the Grill Grates in the Rec Tec and set the temp @ 500*...it puts  a real pretty sear on a steak with that setup.

Red

 

[JckDanls 07]

You might wanna try the "Reverse Sear".. smoke em first and then sear them ... I took a second to use the handy dandy search bar at the top of the page to come up with some threads for ya....

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/newsearch?search=reverse+sear

 

[jeepdiver]

The revrrse sear is actually how I do steaks on pg500. I set the grill for 500 and put my wifes on the indirect side and mine in the warming drawer. Once the grill hits temp, 3-4 mins a side depending on thickness makes mine medium rare and hers medium. Nice slightly smoky taste with a great sear.

 

[hartlee]

   Thanks for the advice. I have a RecTec also, so I may be able to duplicate your success. Do you leave the steaks on the Grill Grates after a few minutes of searing on each side? Or do you move them off the Grill Grates onto the regular RecTec surface?

 

[hartlee]

You might wanna try the "Reverse Sear".. smoke em first and then sear them ... I took a second to use the handy dandy search bar at the top of the page to come up with some threads for ya....

http://www.smokingmeatforums.com/newsearch?search=reverse+sear

Thanks for the tip. I'll try it.

 

[hartlee]

   Thanks for the advice. I have a RecTec also, so I may be able to duplicate your success. Do you leave the steaks on the Grill Grates after a few minutes of searing on each side? Or do you move them off the Grill Grates onto the regular RecTec surface?

 

[phrett]

Most steak chefs will tell you that after the initial sear, at 5-600°, 90 secs or so per side, the meat should rest fopr 15-20 minutes before finishing the cook. On the BGE that's about the time it takes to get the temps down for the finish. Grill grates work great on a BGE, gasser and charcoal grill. I've also used them on my pellet grill with the drip pan removed to get a more direct heat under the meat. Experimenting is half the fun!

 

[hartlee]

   Thanks for the information. Maybe I'll try to go from start to finish on the kamado, using the Grill Grates for the searing. When you sear on the BGE, do you leave the lid open? Do you close the lid for the regular cook?

 

[seenred]

 
   Thanks for the advice. I have a RecTec also, so I may be able to duplicate your success. Do you leave the steaks on the Grill Grates after a few minutes of searing on each side? Or do you move them off the Grill Grates onto the regular RecTec surface?

What I usually do is leave the steaks on the Grill Grates, about 4-5 minutes per side @500*  makes a nice, med. rare steak with pretty sear marks on both sides.  There's also the reverse sear method mentioned above...where you'd smoke the steaks at low temps on the regular grates for an hour or two, then crank the temp up to high-heat sear on the Grill Grates for a couple minutes on each side.

There is a trick I've read other pellet pit owners use to increase the grate temp when grilling steaks:  remove the grease tray before putting the Grill Grates in place on the right side of the pit.  You'd need to cover the bottom of the pit and the heat diffuser with foil to prevent dripping grease from making a mess in your pit.

Red

 

[hartlee]

   Thanks for the advice. You're probably saving me considerable time and money.