It’s called the reverse sear because it flips tradition on its head. Historically, almost every cookbook and chef have taught that when you’re cooking a piece of meat, the first step should be searing. Most often, the explanation is that searing “locks in juices.” These days, we know that this statement is definitively false. Searing does not actually lock in juices at all; it merely adds flavor. Flipping the formula so that the searing comes at the end produces better results (View Highlight)
Water won’t really start evaporating until it has been heated to 212°F (100°C). The Maillard reaction doesn’t really take place in earnest until you hit temperatures of around 300°F (150°C) or higher, and that won’t happen until most of the steak’s surface moisture has evaporated. (View Highlight)
It takes approximately five times more energy to evaporate a gram of water than it does to raise the temperature of that same gram of water from freezing to boiling (View Highlight)
Moisture is the biggest enemy of a good sear, so any process that can reduce the amount of surface moisture on a steak is going to improve how well it browns and crisps—and, by extension, minimize the amount of time it spends in the pan, thus minimizing the amount of overcooked meat underneath (View Highlight)