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[okie smokie]

With reverse sear, you get wall to wall doneness (i.e. Medium/Rare) with a charred surface.  I don't do it because I don't like it that way.  I (we) like the medium rare in the middle with thicker doneness at the walls.  I think it is because of the firmer texture.  It still is juicy (esp with prime meat).  Perhaps a little harder to duplicate each time.  Will I be punished?

With reverse sear, you get wall to wall doneness (i.e. Medium/Rare) with a charred surface.  I don't do it because I don't like it that way.  I (we) like the medium rare in the middle with thicker doneness at the walls.  I think it is because of the firmer texture.  It still is juicy (esp with prime meat).  Perhaps a little harder to duplicate each time.  Will I be punished?

We like it a bit more like you as well.  When I reverse sear I always get thicker steaks 1-1.5", it helps by making for a wider margin of error in cook time in my experience.

I only smoke till approx 100*.  Pull, foil and crank up the 680 on full with grill grates and let it stabilize.
Then I am watching temp to hit our preferred internal while doing the searing.  Pulling at lower IT, means more time searing which will produce more of that firm/done edge that you like.  Might be worth a try.

Good idea, but I don't have the sear kit and the extra smoke flavor for steaks and chops are not our priority.  I get nice searing with my GrillGrates and the GS turned up to 500*  BWTHDIK?  Besides, grilling is about 15-20 minutes as opposed to around an hour if you reverse sear them.  I will reserve my smoking for low slow cooks.  Bony appetite! 

[pmillen]

My original post–

So I smoke a steak for a while until it's almost done.  Then I sear it to finish for a Maillard reaction brown or possibly char.  Did any of that smoke flavor survive the searing?

I made three separate tests; two rib-eye tests and one T-bone test.  Here are my results–

How Deep Does The Smoke Flavor Penetrate a Steak?
For each test I cut out a bite-sized piece of a smoked steak and discarded as little of the top and bottom surfaces as I could, probably 1/32 to 1/16 of an inch.  We then tasted the remaining meat for smoke flavor.  Marcia and I tested every test.  Four other family members participated once each.

The consensus was that the smoke flavor doesn't seem to penetrate a steak at all.  I thought that it might penetrate as deep as a typical smoke ring.  Nope.  It appears to sit on the surface.  On to the next test step.

Does the Smoke Flavor Survive Searing?
For this test I cut out a bite-sized piece of a smoked & seared steak and trimmed off about 3/16" of the two surfaces.  We tasted them, searching for smoke flavor.  We found Maillard reaction browning flavor and some char flavor.  It was difficult to differentiate between those and a smoke flavor.  We all took our best guesses but the votes were split evenly.

So, to answer my question, "Is it worth doin'?"  Free Mr Tony suggests on this thread's page one that, "You can almost get edge to edge doneness like sous vide..."  That hasn't been my experience.

     Either reverse seared or seared first, my steaks look like this, cooked more on top and bottom than in the middle.

     A steak seared after sous-vide cooking usually looks like this.  (Of course smoke flavors will be absent.)

My conclusion (YMMV), we all like what we like and we'll probably continue to cook our steaks in the same fashion.  For me, I'm going to sear first and then smoke.

[Ross77]

What was your reverse sear process and what kind of wood pellets did you use?  I use 100% hickory and always get a pronounced smoke flavor by smoking for around an hour first.

[pmillen]

What was your reverse sear process and what kind of wood pellets did you use?  I use 100% hickory and always get a pronounced smoke flavor by smoking for around an hour first.

I'd smoke a cold steak at 200°F with oak until the IT was 120°F.  Then I'd sear over direct flame twice and a frying pan once.

[Ross77]

I’d try hickory, mesquite or oak blended with one of those.  Oak by itself doesn’t have much flavor IMO.

[lamrith]

What was your reverse sear process and what kind of wood pellets did you use?  I use 100% hickory and always get a pronounced smoke flavor by smoking for around an hour first.

I'd smoke a cold steak at 200°F with oak until the IT was 120°F.  Then I'd sear over direct flame twice and a frying pan once.

That sounds like too much high temp searing, and a bit high temp for the sous Vide.
When I reverse sear I set my RecTec on Min temp (180* and I know it runs a hair cool, so probably 160-170* actual).  I take them only to internal 100*. 
Then I oull them off and foil and fire up the RT to max, that often takes a while and the steaks will peak and start to cool a little before it is up to full temp.
On the RT with grill grates to sear until desired IT (135ish for my family). I usually flip/turn every 1-2min to get criss-cross sear marks.

I just got in my Rectec bullseye, so I will start tinkering with that a bit and likely pull the steaks out of smoke a little earlier since they will not rest and start to cool, but go straight to searing.  Hopefully it is much hotter than the 680 so not need to sear as long either.

[Conumdrum]

I usually get good wall to wall red with reverse sear

That is gents and ladies, the prefect reverse sear.  Congrats!

[pmillen]

I'd smoke a cold steak at 200°F with oak until the IT was 120°F.  Then I'd sear over direct flame twice and a frying pan once.

That sounds like too much high temp searing,

Yeah, the way I wrote it, lamrith, it's waaaay too much searing.  What I meant to convey is that in two tests I seared in the pit's direct zone and in the third test I used a hot frying pan.

[lamrith]

I'd smoke a cold steak at 200°F with oak until the IT was 120°F.  Then I'd sear over direct flame twice and a frying pan once.

That sounds like too much high temp searing,

Yeah, the way I wrote it, lamrith, it's waaaay too much searing.  What I meant to convey is that in two tests I seared in the pit's direct zone and in the third test I used a hot frying pan.

I had a feeling that is what you meant, but never know so I had to ask!

[Ross77]

Let us know how you like that Bullseye. I’m considering getting one for high heat grilling.

[Mudflap]

Thin steaks I would say no but Tri tip yes.

Mudflap

[Goosehunter51]

I do not reverse sear, I do not like the end result in taste.  Slow cook to medium rare and eat baby.

[stljrs]

Reverse sear is the way to go.  With thick steaks like we get from Costco we can go 2 hours at 175 and get to around 115 then transfer to a smokin hot gas grill for a quick sear.  Heck we reverse sear hamburgers, but usually only for an hour.  Every person I've ever made a steak for using Costco meat and a reverse sear has devoured their steak and proclaimed it the best they've ever had.  Every person I've ever made a hamburger for has said it's the best they've ever had.  No exaggerations.  They've never tasted anything like it.  And it's wonderful to get rare or medium rare steaks with no gray on the edges.  You can't beat an hour or two in the smoke.  They come out juicy and flavorful and I don't find anything off putting about the texture.  I'm sure the seasonings help but the smoke is the star.  Just my 

And if you love steak with reverse sear, get the rack of lamb at Costco and cut it into two bone pieces and give it the reverse sear treatment.  Out of this world.

[pmillen]

I do not reverse sear, I do not like the end result in taste.  Slow cook to medium rare and eat baby.

A rancher who allows us to hunt on his land cooked steaks for us on his Traeger as you describe.  They were outstanding and when I found out it was also a smoker I wanted a pellet pit.  That started me down the path.