Foodie Fridays 3 - Cooking the Best Steak

We believe that on Keto the meat is often the hero part of any dish.

So how do you cook the perfect steak?

The 'light-bulb moment' came to us when we were on a cooking course a few years ago. "It's not about the time you cook steak for, it's all about the internal temperature". Once we had got our heads around this we never looked back.

The way to cook the steak the way you, and your family, like it is to get the middle of the steak to the right temperature. This is far more reliable than timing the cooking of the steak.

We eat fillet (for example) cooked medium-rare, so we aim for a 55°c. At this internal temperature the steak is medium rare every time.

So how to cook it...? We switch between two methods...

Sous Vide

Sometimes called a water-bath. You place the steaks into a bag, remove the air (that's what sous vide means) and seal and then cook in water the temperature that you want the final steak to be. So we cook for around 1 hr and 20 mins in water at 55°.

So when the steak comes out, every bit of it is at 55°c - so every bit is medium-rare. It doesn't look great though, so we then fry or place on a BBQ to char and brown the outside. It is worth resting the meat for a few minutes before serving.

You end up with a steak where the outer 1 or 2mm is well-done but all of the rest of the steak is medium-rare (see the photo above).

Fry or BBQ using a meat thermometer or probe.

Takes much less time that sous vide and is how we cook our steaks when we are in a hurry!

Hot pan (or BBQ), a little oil and salt on the steaks and cook on each side, Turing over every now and then. Keep checking the internal temperature in the middle of the steak and remove about 5° before your target temperature (so 50° for medium-rare) as the steak will continue to cook (and heat up) while resting.

This gives a lovely steak, however it is different from the sous vide method. When you slice the steak through the middle you will see that the middle of the steak will be medium-rare but then increasing in how well it is cooked until you get to the outside which will be well-done (whereas the sous-vide steak will be medium-rare all the way through, apart from the outside edge).

Both ways give brilliant results. It is so much easier cooking be temperature not time.

Meat thermometers (probes) can be easily bought (there's one on our recommendation page) and sous-vide water heaters can be had for around £60.

Whichever way you choose, enjoy the results!