Beefsteak - Degree of Cooking

Degree of Cooking

The amount of time a steak is cooked is based upon personal preference; shorter cooking times retain more juice, whereas longer steak cooking times result in drier, tougher meat but reduce concerns about disease. A vocabulary has evolved to describe the degree to which a steak is cooked. The following terms are in order from least cooked to most cooked:

• Raw (French: cru)— Uncooked. Used in dishes like steak tartare, carpaccio, gored gored, tiger meat and kitfo.
• Seared, Blue rare or very rare (French: bleu)— Cooked very quickly; the outside is seared, but the inside is usually cool and barely cooked. The steak will be red on the inside and barely warmed. Sometimes asked for as "blood rare" or "bloody as hell". In the United Kingdom sometimes asked for "still mooing", meaning so rare that the animal is alive. In the United States, this is also sometimes referred to as 'Black and Blue' or 'Pittsburgh Rare'. In Germany this is also known as "English Style or bloody". It is common for chefs to place the steak in an oven to warm the inside of the steak. This method generally means 'blue' steaks take longer to prepare than any other steak degree, as these require additional warming time prior to cooking.
• Rare (French: saignant)— (52 °C (126 °F) core temperature) The outside is grey-brown, and the middle of the steak is fully red and slightly warm.
• Medium rare (French: entre saignant et à point)— (55 °C (131 °F) core temperature) The steak will have a reddish-pink center. This is the standard degree of cooking at most steakhouses, unless specified otherwise.
• Medium (French: à point, anglais) — (63 °C (145 °F) core temperature) The middle of the steak is hot and fully pink surrounding the center. The outside is grey-brown.
• Medium well done (French: demi-anglais, entre à point et bien cuit)— (68 °C (154 °F) core temperature) The meat is lightly pink surrounding the center.
• Well done (French: bien cuit) — (73 °C (163 °F) and above core temperature) The meat is grey-brown in the center and slightly charred. In parts of England this is known as "German style".
• Overcook (French: trop cuit) — (much more than 90 °C (194 °F) core temperature) The meat is blackened throughout and slightly crispy.

A style exists in some parts of North America called "Chicago". A Chicago-style steak is cooked to the desired level and then quickly charred. The diner orders it by asking for the style followed by the doneness (e.g. "Chicago-style rare"). A steak ordered "Pittsburgh rare" is rare or very rare on the inside and charred on the outside. In Pittsburgh, this style is referred to as "black and blue" (black or "sooty" on the outside, and blue rare on the inside).