Most recipes brown first and cook through second. Reverse methods swap the order: cook gently first, then brown at the end. The gentle phase controls doneness; the hot phase is only for crust. Doing them in this order gives more even results and fewer burnt bits.
Reverse sear
Cook a thick cut in a low oven until it’s a few degrees below your target, then sear it hard in a very hot pan.
- Season the meat, ideally dry-brined on a rack in the fridge overnight so the surface is dry.
- Roast on a rack at 95–120°C (200–250°F) until the centre is 5–8°C below your target. For a 4–5 cm steak this takes 30–60 minutes; roasts take longer. Use a probe thermometer.
- Sear in a smoking-hot pan with a little oil, 45–60 seconds a side, plus the edges. Butter and aromatics can go in for the last 30 seconds.
- Serve right away. The low oven has already done the resting, so there’s little carry-over.
Why it works: the slow phase heats the meat evenly, so there’s almost no grey band under the crust. It also dries the surface, so the sear browns in under a minute instead of steaming first.
When to use it: thick cuts, 4 cm (1½ inch) and up: steaks, pork chops, tenderloin, roasts, bone-in chicken breasts. Thin steaks don’t benefit; they’re done before the slow phase does anything, so sear them straight.
Safety: the slow phase is a long, gentle hold, so it works well with the time-and-temperature approach in Food safety: time and temperature. Check the centre, not the surface, before the sear.
Water frying (reverse frying)
Start fatty meat in a little water instead of oil. The water keeps the pan at about 100°C (212°F) while the fat renders out. Once the water boils off, the meat fries in its own fat.
- Add the meat to a pan with enough water to just cover the bottom (or, for bacon, to just cover the strips).
- Bring to a simmer over medium-high heat and cook, stirring or turning, as the water evaporates. Ground meat should be broken up as it goes.
- When the water is gone and the fat starts to sizzle, lower the heat to medium and fry until browned.
- If anything sticks, add a splash of water or wine and scrape it up.
Why it works: the water caps the temperature, so the meat renders gently instead of seizing and scorching on the outside. It needs no added oil, and the meat ends up frying in fat it has already released. Bacon comes out flatter and more evenly crisp, and the rendered fat stays clean.
When to use it: fatty ground beef or pork, sausage meat, bacon, pork belly, and skin-on chicken thighs (skin side down). It’s handy in a travel kitchen with no oil (see Tips and tricks for cooking on the road).
When not to: lean meats like ground chicken or turkey, and lean beef, don’t have enough fat to fry in once the water is gone. Add a little oil, some sausage, or a spoonful of salad dressing.
Related methods
- Mushrooms and onions are basically water-fried too. Mushrooms release their water, simmer in it, and only brown once it’s gone; a splash of water at the start helps them cook evenly and soak up less oil. Onions soften in their own moisture first, and a splash of water when they start to catch lets them cook down and caramelize without scorching.
- Potstickers and gyoza use the same idea the other way round: fry the bottoms, add water and cover to steam them through, then let the water boil off so the bottoms crisp again.
- Braise, then brown works for ground beef in batch cooking: simmer it in a little liquid until tender, then let the liquid cook off and brown it.