When to use initial sear and when to use reverse sear?

The advantage of the initial sear combination is that you immediately kill all bacteria on the exterior of your meat. This is important for chicken and pork. It’s also the way to avoid the exterior becoming too dark and the interior being too raw. We typically choose initial sear for meat on the bone, so we can keep a close eye on the process with a probe thermometer with a wire. The entire process is orderly and predictable. The downside is that there is often more transition from crust to pink to red meat and that the crust is usually not as pretty as with a reverse sear.