Table of Contents
Summer is finally here, and if you stand in your backyard and listen carefully, you’ll hear the beautiful sounds of millions of grills firing up across the country.
With this guide to cooking steak, we’ll show you what happens when you cook your steak, what the different levels of doneness are (and what they mean for the tenderness and flavor of your steak), and how to make sure you’re cooking your steak with the guidance of steak house Dubai to the right level. perfect level of cooking.
What cooking does to your steak
Baked Steak gif There are two parts to grilling a beautiful ribeye or strip. The first is to make sure the steak reaches a constant internal temperature. It is this internal temperature that is used to determine the doneness of a steak.
When you cook meat, you do three things:
1: You break down their proteins: Muscle proteins, which are usually tight in the ball, begin to relax. This is the reason why rawer steaks are tougher than more cooked ones.
2: You evaporate water: About ¾ of the muscle fibers in a steak consist of water. When cooking a steak, that water evaporates. That’s why a well-done steak has less dough and less juiciness than a rare steak.
3: You’re melting fat: As you cook the steak, the little streaks and pockets of fat inside start to melt. When fat melts, it is absorbed into muscle. This will give your steak a better flavor (fat contains the chemicals that give meat its flavor) and a softer, more tender, buttery texture.
The second part of grilling is searing. Searing a steak involves exposing the surface to extremely high temperatures (500 degrees or higher) for short periods of time. This results in what is called the Maillard effect and gives your steak the crispy, brown, flavorful exterior that meat lovers appreciate.
Steak Cooking Levels
All large steaks should be seared (for flavor, and texture, and to kill surface bacteria). But it’s the internal temperature that determines the doneness of your steak. There are six main levels of doneness that you can cook a steak to.
NOTE: Steak should always be removed from the grill when it is 5° below your desired temperature. This is because the steak retains heat and continues to cook and reheat for a few more minutes after it is removed from the grill, raising its internal temperature.
This steak doneness chart will help you tell the difference between a rare steak and other steak doneness levels (all temperatures are in degrees Fahrenheit):
Blue Rare (115°): Also known as Very Rare, Blood Rare, Black & Blue, Pittsburgh Rare, or Bloody As Hell. Blue Rare steaks are seared on the outside only, which means the inside is left almost completely raw and uncooked. Blue Rare steaks are often still cold on the inside and can be reheated in a low-heat oven.
Rare (120°): Rare steaks have a warm but very red center. This means that the surface has the tasty taste and texture of the Maillard effect, but also that the fats in the steak haven’t had a chance to melt properly. This makes Rare a great choice for leaner steaks, like tenderloin, but should be avoided for well-marbled cuts like rib-eyes, strips, and sirloins.
Medium Rare (130°): The gold standard for steak doneness. Ask almost any chef or meat lover: Medium Rare means the tastiest, most tender meat you can grill. At this temperature, the fat in the steak has had a chance to melt, releasing butter and flavor, but not much moisture has yet evaporated, which means an extremely tender, juicy, plump steak. A medium rare steak is red in the center, with a pink ring between the center and the crust.
Medium (140°) – A medium steak no longer has a red center, instead the majority of the steak is pink. Medium steaks retain the buttery, savory flavor of medium steaks, but are slightly less juicy and tender due to loss of moisture.
Medium Well (150°): Medium Well steaks still retain a little bit of pinkness and tenderness, but have begun to lose enough moisture that they will be drier and less tender than most steak lovers would care for.
Well Done (160°): Most chefs and grillmasters would say this level of doneness is poorly named – “Over-Done” would be a better fit. By this point, enough moisture (and fat) has either evaporated
Determine the steak doneness Temperature
The best way to ensure that your steak has reached your desired temperature and doneness is to use a meat thermometer. Look for a quality food thermometer that provides accurate readings. Hold it firmly with your thumb and forefinger and slide it down the side of the steak toward the center for an accurate measurement of the steak’s temperature.
Some people will tell you not to do this because piercing a steak will cause the juices to escape. Sure, some will come out, but it won’t be enough to damage the steak. Also, for food safety, it’s more important to get an accurate reading from your instant-read thermometer than it is to retain the juices!
You can also use the finger test, although checking with your hand and finger isn’t necessarily the most accurate method, as it doesn’t check for degrees. Different cuts of meat and thicknesses of steak can cause huge variations in how a steak feels cooked, i.e. its firmness, so you may end up ruining your Wagyu or Kobe-style steak.
Read More: EASY HEALTHY TENDER BONELESS CHICKEN BREAST RECIPE
