How To Cook Steak Perfectly

Knowing how to cook steak doesn’t have to be hard, but there is a trick to it. For years, I had been cooking steak all wrong. No one ever taught me how to cook steak, so I always thought that the way to cook any piece of steak was to make sure it was brown all the way through. As a result, I thought that all steak was meant to be tough and chewy. Even when I tried to cook medium or medium-rare steaks, I always ended up overcooking them, to my disappointment.

I only realized the error of my ways when I attempted to cook filet mignon. That day, because I knew I was dealing with an expensive piece of meat, I wanted to make sure that it was medium-rare to maximize its tenderness. I followed a YouTube tutorial and followed it as closely as possible, and once the steak was done, I was left with steak that was at last not well-done.

That was the first medium-rare steak I had tried in my life and it was also the most flavorful and juicy piece. Before that moment, I had never known that steak could be so tender. Since that point, I abandoned well-done steaks and never looked back. Keep reading to learn how to cook steak perfectly.

How To Cook Steak: Season The Steak

Before you cook the steak, you will want to season it. To give the steak a nice sear, sprinkle salt over it before putting it into your best pan. However, to give the steak a more intense flavor, you might want to salt the steak the day before you cook it. When you do this, the salt will be able to penetrate the steak and provide it with a richer flavor.

When you salt the steak a day before, you will want to make sure that the steak sits out in the open in your refrigerator. That way, the salt will have the chance to better settle into the steak.

However, don’t add your favorite spices before searing the steak as the spices will burn. Instead, add the spices once the steak is already cooking in the pan. If you have a good cast iron pan, you shouldn’t even bother with olive oil since oil can prevent the steak from browning.

Lastly, you will want to make sure that the pan you use is as hot as possible when you cook the steak. The hotter the pan is, the better sear your steak will get. This is important for locking in the juices, especially if you’re cooking a medium-rare or rare steak.

The Doneness Factor

For the moment of truth, you will need to decide how much you want to cook your steak. You don’t need to do anything special when cooking well-done steaks. A well-done steak will be very firm and won’t spring back when you poke it. From my personal experience, I don’t recommend cooking any steak well-done unless you like dry and chewy steaks.

For a rare steak, you will want to make sure that the internal temperature is around 125°F. This will take around 6 minutes to cook. This kind of steak will “bleed” when you cut it and it will be very springy.

For a medium-rare steak (my favorite kind), the internal temperature should be 130°F. It will be mostly red in the middle and very tender but it shouldn’t bleed as much as a rare steak. It will take around 8 minutes to cook.

A medium steak will need to hit 140°F and it will take about 9 minutes to cook. There will be some pink in the middle and it shouldn’t bleed at all.

To help reach the perfect level of doneness, basting the stakes with butter will help. Then, you should be left with a delicious steak done just how you like it.