Some people swear that they love their steaks red and rare with the cow still mooing. Others like their steaks cooked to a bitter crisp. While the degree of doneness is a personal preference (after all, America is the home of the free), science gives us some clues as to the best doneness for steaks.
Cooking a steak does three things:
- It begins to unwind muscle proteins, which are usually tightly balled. This is why a rare steak is chewier than a more done steak .
- It starts melting the fat and gelatinizing the collagen in the meat. This gives your steak a better taste and a smoother, more tender and buttery texture.
- It begins to evaporate water that makes up roughly ¾ of a steak’s muscle fibers. That is why a well done steak has less mass and less juiciness than a less done steak.
Rare [120°] – warm but very red center. The outside might be seared, but the fat inside the steak is still relatively solid and the muscle is chewy. Great choice for low-fat steaks like tenderloins. Bad choice for well-marbled steaks like rib-eyes, strips, and porterhouses.
Medium Rare [130°] red at the center, with a ring of pinkness between the center and the crust. The steak’s fat has had a chance to melt into butteriness and flavor, but not a lot of moisture has evaporated. This is the Gold Standard for a tender, juicy, and plump steak. Try it, you’ll like it.
Medium [140°] pink throughout most of the steak. Retain the buttery, flavorful taste, but have slightly less juiciness and tenderness due to moisture loss.
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 i.e. Over-Done [160°] moisture (and fat) have either evaporated or leaked from the steak making it dry and tuff. Can you say :”A1″ or “Heinz 57”.
Chicago Steak Company
