It’s the stuff that dreams are made of: a juicy, tasty, perfectly-cooked steak. Some people seem like they were born grill masters, turning out masterpiece hunks of meat every single time. For others, grilling a steak almost always ends in a charred exterior and a bloody red interior.
Once you know the steps to cooking a mouth-watering steak, you’ll wow your family and friends every time you fire up the grill (or grab a grill pan). It’s really not hard. Here are the secrets to steak success.
Don’t Cook Steak While It’s Cold
The first secret every steak expert knows is that you should never take a cold steak out of the fridge and toss it directly onto a hot grill or grill pan. To ensure it cooks evenly, pat it dry with paper towels and let it sit our for approximately 30 minutes to let it come to room temperature first.
Get the Cooking Surface Really Hot
As your steak comes to room temperature, this is a good time to prep your cooking surface. It doesn’t matter whether you use a grill or a grill pan; oil it (canola oil works great) and turn the heat to high to get the metal extremely hot. This will give you a nice, caramelized sear on the outside of your meat.
Touch to Test Temperature
There’s no good way to judge the doneness of steak by looking at it. Instead, you’ll need to touch it. For a quick guide on how much it’s cooked on the inside, you can memorize how different doneness levels feel by touching your face. Relax your face and put your finger on your cheek. Feel how squishy it is? That’s what a rare steak feels like.
Put your finger on your chin and feel how it’s soft, but offers a bit of resistance. A medium-rare steak will feel like this. For a medium steak, cook it until it feels like the firmness of the end of your nose. For a well-done steak (a tragedy, in our opinion, but to each his own!), cook it until it’s as firm as your forehead.
That’s it! No matter how you season it or what you serve with it, this quick and easy steak guide will have your audience applauding whenever you arrive on the scene with raw steaks and tongs in hand. Now get to cooking!
