a juicy steak

In search of the perfect steak Have you ever wondered why you see so many variations in the way we grill a steak? People usually cook one side for several minutes, then flip it over and leave it to finish off. Some like to flip it often, slide it around, add butter, use the open flame, the grill plate, or a skillet pan. So, what really is the best scientific approach to a more evenly cooked steak.

We have food science writer, Harold McGee to thank for discovering the flipping effect when grilling a steak. Harold McGee’s original On Food and Cooking was acclaimed as a masterpiece on both sides of the Atlantic and won the 1986 Andre Simon Food Book of the Year. His research has since been verified by intensive testing from The Cooking Lab team at Modernist Cuisine, USA.

The aim is to cool the cooked surface and heat the core of a steak. When a steak is placed onto a hot grill and turned after 20 seconds, the just cooked surface, which is now facing up starts to cool down. However, the built-up heat that is created by contact to the hot grill, is working its way from just below the surface to the centre. Then its flipped and the heat is now being pushed from the other side, while the top surface cools.

The more you flip, the less time it spends against the grill and the faster the steak cooks. You end up with a steak that from edge to edge, its more evenly cooked. Think about how even the method of rotisserie is. Rotating or flipping steaks produces the same beautiful outside crust and an evenly cooked interior.

And finally, allow time for the residual heat to sink in and even out, by resting. Why do we rest meat after its cooked? We are constantly reminded to “rest” cooked meats once they come off the grill or out of the oven. It’s not performed to allow the meat juices that were pushed into the centre, to flow back to the surface of the food. This was a belief but was again proven by Harold McGee to be incorrect. Most of the water is actually trapped between the muscle fibres and will not move very far during cooking. Some of these juices will escape from the muscle fibres during the cooking process, which is the sizzle sound that you hear.

Cutting into a freshly grilled steak the moment it leaves the grill results in juice loss. Resting it on a rack for several minutes before cutting it results in less juices escaping out and will give you a slightly juicier steak. The reason is that while the steak rests, it also cools. As the warm internal liquid with the dissolved proteins cool, it slightly thickens and so when sliced, the lost juice flow is much slower.