# Sous vide - Searing for a dinner for 14?  Can't use my cast iron.



## jkgourmet (Mar 19, 2018)

I have one of those homes with a large kitchen island and an open concept great room. Everyone tends to gather at the island (which seats at least six people).

I'd very much like to do sous vide pork tenderloins for dinner for 14. Those come out so well in the sous vide! But searing in the cast iron will be impossible. It smokes too much. It isn't big enough - by the time I get the last one seared off, the first one will be cold.

We've experimented with searing these on the grates of a gas grill, but it browned, but did not get that lovely crust.

Ideas, please?


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## Bearcarver (Mar 19, 2018)

Have you thought about getting a "Searzall".
I think they're about $70 (plus the torch), but that could solve your problem of having to do more than a CI or Gas Grill can handle.

Bear


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## oddegan (Mar 19, 2018)

I've seared different things out of my sous vide in cast iron as well as my gas grill and the charcoal Weber. By far the best results have been on the Weber when I have it really hot. I can get close on the gasser if I run it wide open. You could try using a decent sized grill pan which you can pick up in the sporting goods department just about anywhere and heating it on the gas grill. Should give you the surface area you need and the cast iron results you are looking for.


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## kit s (Mar 19, 2018)

jkgourmet said:


> I have one of those homes with a large kitchen island and an open concept great room. Everyone tends to gather at the island (which seats at least six people).
> 
> I'd very much like to do sous vide pork tenderloins for dinner for 14. Those come out so well in the sous vide! But searing in the cast iron will be impossible. It smokes too much. It isn't big enough - by the time I get the last one seared off, the first one will be cold.
> 
> ...


Use two cast iron pans, but instead of putting them on the range throw them in a preheated 500 degree plus oven five min then flip and 5 min..done.
Adjust cooking time in sous vide so loins come out 155  that way they will be 165 or so when your done.
Kit


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## dls1 (Mar 19, 2018)

If it were me, and didn't want to use the gas grill, I'd just put the tenderloins under a pre-heated broiler for 2-3 minutes a side.


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## kit s (Mar 19, 2018)

I forgot to mention your pans should also be in the oven preheating, that way you get that shear effect.


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## biteme7951 (Mar 19, 2018)

SV at 140 (for medium), then on to a hot flat square grill pan on the gas grill.

Barry.


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## zwiller (Mar 19, 2018)

I am a big fan of of high temp cooking and love a good sear and also like the house not to smell for a week.  I do all sears outside.  While I have a sear burner on my grill, the absolutely best sear (talking real bistro quality) I get comes from using my homebrew propane burner (and a pan).  The burner can do big crab/corn/lobster boils, frying, other cool stuff too.  

Having issues posting the amazon link.  It's a Bayou Classic SQ14.  

Dead serious that I am talking ALMOST catching fire hot.  I keep an extinguisher handy (DAD is retired FD).


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## SonnyE (Mar 19, 2018)

We are searless here.
Our Sears done closed and sold out. By the time I heard, all they had left was the fixtures.
No sears left here.


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## xray (Mar 19, 2018)

I try to do all my searing outside due to the smoke and the house smelling for a few days.

I use cast iron pans on my gas grill.  If it were me, I would buy a cast iron griddle and place it on the grill. That way you would have more surface area to sear with the iron.


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## retfr8flyr (Mar 19, 2018)

^^This. Get a cast iron griddle and get it smoking hot on you gas grill and sear away. I do most of my searing with a cast iron skillet but I have a Camp Chef Flat To 600 griddle, that I can get very hot and it does a good job searing for large cooks.


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## johnmeyer (Mar 20, 2018)

Two ideas: induction cooktop and chimney starter.

I sear outside with a CI skillet on my portable induction cooker. I put the cooker on a cookie sheet on the cold Weber gas BBQ. The induction cooktop heats a CI skillet in less than a minute. It can smoke and spatter for all it's worth, and there is zero cleanup, except for wiping down the glass exterior of the induction cooktop. This takes less than 30 seconds.

You can get induction cooktops for about $70 (I originally had the Max Burton 6200 which is $65, shipped), although the one I have is about double that.

Max Burton 6400

If you have a side-burner on your grill, use that. 

One other idea: use a chimney starter. The Cook's Illustrated / America's Test Kitchen people showed this on one of their episodes. That episode is behind a paywall. Here is a link to another person doing the same thing:

Extreme Steak: The Afterburner Method


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## SonnyE (Mar 20, 2018)

johnmeyer said:


> Two ideas: induction cooktop and chimney starter.
> 
> I sear outside with a CI skillet on my portable induction cooker. I put the cooker on a cookie sheet on the cold Weber gas BBQ. The induction cooktop heats a CI skillet in less than a minute. It can smoke and spatter for all it's worth, and there is zero cleanup, except for wiping down the glass exterior of the induction cooktop. This takes less than 30 seconds.
> 
> ...



That Afterburner Method gives me plans for some very heavy duty grates I have from a rotted out (and long gone) Bar-B-Que. They're Stainless Steel and in pretty good shape.
Might work good for that.


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## wanna-be-smoker (Mar 21, 2018)

I use my Blackstone flat top griddle a lot. It's set up in the garage right now because it's winter lol 

Its not ideal but better than nothing. But if you have a electric griddle or could borrow one that might work. 

And you could do it out on the porch or something because of the smoke.


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## jkgourmet (Mar 21, 2018)

kit s said:


> Use two cast iron pans, but instead of putting them on the range throw them in a preheated 500 degree plus oven five min then flip and 5 min..done.
> Adjust cooking time in sous vide so loins come out 155  that way they will be 165 or so when your done.
> Kit



That sounds like a doable - and cheap - solution!


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## jkgourmet (Mar 21, 2018)

retfr8flyr said:


> ^^This. Get a cast iron griddle and get it smoking hot on you gas grill and sear away. I do most of my searing with a cast iron skillet but I have a Camp Chef Flat To 600 griddle, that I can get very hot and it does a good job searing for large cooks.



That's a pretty simple and cheap solution, too.  I'd need to buy another cast iron, but that's pretty cheap.


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## jkgourmet (Mar 21, 2018)

xray said:


> I try to do all my searing outside due to the smoke and the house smelling for a few days.
> 
> I use cast iron pans on my gas grill.  If it were me, I would buy a cast iron griddle and place it on the grill. That way you would have more surface area to sear with the iron.



Since you have a gas grill (as we do), can you give me an idea of how long it takes to heat up those cast iron pans?


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## jkgourmet (Mar 21, 2018)

zwiller said:


> I am a big fan of of high temp cooking and love a good sear and also like the house not to smell for a week.  I do all sears outside.  While I have a sear burner on my grill, the absolutely best sear (talking real bistro quality) I get comes from using my homebrew propane burner (and a pan).  The burner can do big crab/corn/lobster boils, frying, other cool stuff too.
> 
> Having issues posting the amazon link.  It's a Bayou Classic SQ14.
> 
> Dead serious that I am talking ALMOST catching fire hot.  I keep an extinguisher handy (DAD is retired FD).



DH is 75 years old.  I'm not letting him NEAR that sucker.  :)


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## jkgourmet (Mar 21, 2018)

oddegan said:


> I've seared different things out of my sous vide in cast iron as well as my gas grill and the charcoal Weber. By far the best results have been on the Weber when I have it really hot. *I can get close on the gasser if I run it wide open.* You could try using a decent sized grill pan which you can pick up in the sporting goods department just about anywhere and heating it on the gas grill. Should give you the surface area you need and the cast iron results you are looking for.



Can you explain this to me, please?


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## oddegan (Mar 21, 2018)

On the Weber I just get a big pile of lump charcoal just ripping and can quickly sear on that. My grill pan has 2 sides. one with ridges to "grill" and the other is flat like a griddle. Its dimensions approximately 18 X 14. It fits nicely on my gas grill. If I have a large number of items to sear all at the same time I'll put it on the grill griddle side up and turn the burners to high. It's about 500 degrees in les than 10 minutes and puts a nice sear on what ever I'm cooking. Does a very nice blackened walleye, pork tender loin or chicken breast and doesn't irritate SWMBO by smoking out the house. Sorry I did not articulate my original thought very well.


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## xray (Mar 21, 2018)

jkgourmet said:


> Since you have a gas grill (as we do), can you give me an idea of how long it takes to heat up those cast iron pans?



My cast iron pans take about 10 minutes to heat up with my 4 burners set on High. My gas grill’s bottom is rusted out, so that’s all I use it for is cooking on the cast iron outside.

Now I imagine a larger griddle may take a few extra minutes to heat up. But what’s 15-20 minutes when an oven, normal gas grill, chimney of charcoal takes the same amount of time? A griddle will give you that extra surface area as opposed to doing your tenderloins in batches in a pan. 

Also, most griddles are reversible. You could use the side with the raised ridges if you’re looking to obtain some nice grill marks.












You could see it gives you a good sear using the cast iron on a gas grill.


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## zwiller (Mar 21, 2018)

jkgourmet said:


> DH is 75 years old.  I'm not letting him NEAR that sucker.  :)


LOL.  It ain't for everybody...  CI on the grill could work but not gonna get as hot as the burner setup but might be doable.  Also, goes without saying to sear in batches and rest/keep warm prior to serving.  I use the oven set to 170F.


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## johnmeyer (Mar 21, 2018)

jkgourmet said:


> Since you have a gas grill (as we do), can you give me an idea of how long it takes to heat up those cast iron pans?


If you want to use the gas grill to heat your CI skillet, and you want to get the skillet *really *hot, then remove the grill's grates and set the skillet down on the "flavorizer bars," or whatever they're called on your grill. That will let you get the skillet as hot as you could possibly want.

I use a relatively inexpensive "point 'n shoot" IR thermometer to measure the temp of the CI skillet before I put the meat on, regardless of the method I use to heat it, although if you heat the skillet in the oven, which is the best possible method for getting both exact temp, and uniform heating, you don't need the thermometer to measure the surface temp (unless your oven is way off).


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## Braz (Mar 21, 2018)

jkgourmet said:


> DH is 75 years old.  I'm not letting him NEAR that sucker.  :)


HEY, I resemble that remark. 75 is not too old to play with fire. Except for that leaving the stove burners on thing every now and then.


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