How to cook the perfect steak?

From frying, cooking it in the oven to marinating

Looking for a way to cook the perfect steak? Which can. But did you know that each type of steak has its own cooking method?

There are different types of steaks, each with their own characteristics and qualities. In this article you can read more about steaks and how to cook them.

Chapter 1

What is steak?

Steak is tender and lean muscle meat from beef or veal. It’s derived from the English beefsteak. It’s therefore also popularly referred to as beef or steak.

There are many types of steak, each of which has its own degree of tenderness, taste and quality. The quality of the steak is determined by various elements, such as the breed, lifestyle, diet, age and the part from which the steak is cut.

Beef steak is one of the most popular cuts of meat in the world. Due to this popularity, the name for steak has been distorted over the years. For example, you have the venison steak and the ostrich steak. Although steak is part of a beef or veal, it’s also used for other animals.

Beef forefoot, belly and hind foot
You often see a picture of a cow in which the different meat parts are shown. If you want to make a choice based on this image, keep the following in mind.

The front of the beef or calf is tougher than the back. Roughly speaking, there is a lot of stew meat in the forefoot. The front legs, shoulders and neck are constantly stressed during grazing.

This creates more connective tissue in the meat. The more connective tissue there is in the muscle, the tougher the meat. Yet there are still a number of tasty steaks in the front, such as the tenderloin and the flat iron steak.

The hind foot is the back part of the animal and it’s more than just the leg. There is a lot of tasty steak there. Irregular steaks often come out of the belly part because of the carving.

Chapter 2

How to cook steak?

Due to the variety in steak, each with its own characteristics and quality, it’s not really possible to explain with a step-by-step instruction how best to cook it.

In addition, steaks can be cooked in different ways, such as frying it in a pan, cooking it in the oven or grilling it on the barbecue. For each type of steak you will find a description on this site about how you can best cook the steak.

Before you start cooking your steak, it’s recommended to buy a meat thermometer. With a meat thermometer you prevent the cooking of a steak from failing.

Marinating or seasoning steak?
There are countless recipes where they marinate or season the steak. Often salt and pepper is enough. But above all, experiment. Try out different marinades and spice mixes.

Chapter 3

Core temperature & cuisson

Very Rare
The steak is blood red in the middle and barely warm. Much of it is still raw and it feels very soft.

Rare of saignant
The steak is red on the inside and warm to hot and it is soft to the touch.

Medium-rare
The meat is pinkish red inside and hot. When touched, the steak gives slightly.

Medium of à point
The meat is pink inside and quite hot. When touched, the steak gives slightly.

Medium-well done
The steak is largely grey-brown inside, with a hint of pink. It feels solid.

Well-done of bien cuit
The steak is completely cooked and evenly grey-brown. It almost feels hard.

The core temperature of the steak can be measured with a meat thermometer. By measuring the core temperature of the meat, the correct doneness of the steak can be determined.

RARE	MEDIUM-RARE	MEDIUM	MEDIUM WELL	WELL DONE
Bright red	Rosé	Light rosé – brownish	Grey	Grey-brown
45 – 50 ℃	51 – 57 ℃	59 – 63 ℃	65 – 67 ℃	>70 C

Chapter 4

Types of beef

Steaks come from beef and veal. A few popular ones are listed below.

Beef steak

• Ribeye – The ribeye is cut from the narrow part of the rib and is the juiciest steak there is.
• Porterhouse steak – This is actually two steaks in one: a firm, meaty sirloin and a tender, juicy piece of tenderloin. Both are attached to a T-shaped bone.
• T-bone steak – Same as a Porterhouse, but cut closer to the tail. This makes the striploin tenderer than that of a Porterhouse, but the tenderloin piece is smaller..
• Entrecôte – Is a sirloin steak without tenderloin and is lean and firm in texture.
• Fillet steak (Filet Mignon) – A nice, relatively small, thick steak. It’s round in shape and is cut from the tenderloin.
• Striploin – This steak is red and meaty and probably has the most flavor.
• Roast beef – Roast beef is a flat muscle of the lower abdomen of the beef.
• Bavette – A long, thin and stringy piece of meat from the lower abdomen of the beef.

Chapter 5

All recipes

Chapter 6

All recipes

Looking for more inspiration? Then see below more recipes with bavette. Or check our beef recipes for even more inspiration.