Cooking the perfect steak for meaty foodies is an achievement - but if you haven’t mastered the skill yet and don’t know where you're going wrong, don't worry - we've got you. There are easy mistakes made when cooking steak that can rectified without much effort and with a little practice. One particular mistake will see all the delicious flavour in your steak slip away, it could truly be the difference between a good steak and an unforgettable one.
One of the most frequently overlooked steps when cooking steak is allowing it to rest. Yes, it might seem simple, but slicing into that beautiful cut of meat straight out of the pan or off the grill is a surefire way to ruin its flavour. Here's why.
Steak lovers know that the perfect piece of meat is juicy, tender, and packed full of flavour. However what they or you might now know is the real secret to that mouth-watering, restaurant-quality steak isn't just in how you cook it – it’s in how you let it rest afterwards. When you cook a steak, the heat causes the juices inside to rush toward the centre of the meat.
If you cut into it immediately after cooking, those precious juices will spill out onto your cutting board, leaving you with a dry, flavourless steak. By allowing it to rest for five to 10 minutes (depending on the thickness), the juices have time to redistribute throughout the meat, locking in flavour and ensuring every bite is as juicy as possible. The reason many people skip the resting stage is because they are worried the steak will cool down too much.
But in reality, your steak will continue to cook slightly even once you’ve taken it off the heat, a process known as carryover cooking. This means that while it rests, not only are the juices redistributing, but the temperature is still rising, so your steak remains warm and perfect to serve. The best thing to do when cooking a steak is to be patient because they will give you the best results from the meat.
Rushing things can ruin the texture of the meat making it dry, flavourless or rubbery if overcooked. A key to knowing how well done your steak is to use a meat thermometer and then to understand that there are different temperatures for the “doneness” of the meat. If you like your steak rare then the temperature should be between 49-52°C however, a well-done steak will be 71°C and above.
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