How to Cook Steak Properly

Cooking meat well is the thing every cook is judged on, and it comes down to a handful of decisions made before the steak ever hits the pan.

Here is how I do it.

1. Start with temperature, not the pan

Take the steak out of the refrigerator 30 to 45 minutes before cooking. A cold center means the outside overcooks while you wait for the middle to come up.

Salt it generously on both sides and leave it uncovered while it comes to temperature. Salt draws moisture to the surface, then it reabsorbs, seasoning the meat rather than sitting on it.

Dry the surface with paper towel right before cooking. Wet meat steams. Dry meat browns, and browning is flavor.

1. Use a pan that holds heat

Cast iron or heavy carbon steel. A thin nonstick pan drops in temperature the moment cold meat touches it, and you get grey meat instead of a crust.

Get the pan properly hot before the steak goes in — hot enough that a drop of water vanishes instantly.

1. Choose the right fat

Use a fat with a high smoke point: grapeseed, sunflower, peanut or clarified butter. Olive oil burns at searing temperature and turns bitter.

Butter does belong in the process, just not at the start. Add a knob of butter in the last minute, along with a crushed garlic clove and a sprig of thyme, and spoon the foaming butter over the steak as it finishes. This is basting, and it is what most restaurant steak tastes like.

1. Know the cut you bought

Thick cuts with fat running through them — ribeye, strip, sirloin — suit high-heat searing and forgive small errors.

Lean cuts like fillet have almost no internal fat, so they dry out fast and need to come off earlier.

Flank, skirt and bavette are coarse-grained cuts full of flavor, best cooked hot and fast and served no more than medium rare. They must be sliced against the grain, or they will be tough no matter how well you cooked them.

1. Cook by temperature, not by time

Time depends on thickness, the pan, the heat and the cut. An instant-read thermometer removes all the guesswork and costs very little.

Pull the steak off the heat about 5°F below your target — it keeps cooking as it rests.

Rare: 120°F
Medium rare: 130°F
Medium: 140°F
Medium well: 150°F
Well done: 160°F

For reference, a 1-inch steak on a properly hot pan takes roughly 3 to 4 minutes per side for medium rare. Treat that as a starting point, not a rule.

1. Rest it

Rest the steak for 5 to 10 minutes before cutting — roughly half its cooking time.

During cooking the muscle fibers contract and push moisture toward the center. Resting lets them relax and reabsorb it. Cut too early and the juice ends up on the board.

Rest it on a warm plate or a board, loosely covered. Do not wrap it tightly in foil — the trapped steam softens the crust you just worked for.

The last word

Your first attempt may not land where you wanted. Every cut behaves differently and thickness changes everything. But if you get the meat to room temperature, use a pan that holds heat, cook to an internal temperature rather than a clock, and rest it properly, you will be ahead of most home cooks.