If You Like Your Steak Medium, This Is How Long You Should Cook It
Medium is the most popular state of doneness for steak in America. But how do you determine if a steak is medium and how long do you cook a medium steak? Whether you’re cooking your steak at a high temperature on your outside gas or charcoal grill, pan frying it on your stove or broiling it in the oven, the length of time it takes to get a steak to medium is determined by how much heat the cooking element generates and the thickness of the steak. Here are some basics when it comes to cooking steak.
The thicker the steak, the longer you need to cook it. Additionally, cooking time is shortened as temperatures rise. Thus, a gas grill or an oven broiler will usually cook steak more quickly than a stovetop frying pan or a charcoal grill.
You’ll get a one-inch thick steak to the medium state by cooking it an average of seven minutes on each side. But time is just one factor in successful steak cooking. Here are some other helpful hints.
Steak Cooking Hints:
- Remove the steaks from the refrigerator and prior to cooking let them reach room temperature. This takes 20 to 30 minutes.
- Preheat the grill, pan or broiler.
- Brush each side of the steak with oil. Do not use extra-virgin olive oil as it does not react well to high temperatures. Canola oil is best.
- The pan or grill should be hot enough so that when the steak hits it, you should hear a “sizzle.” If you hear a “thump,” you’ve started cooking too soon.
- Seasoning prior to grilling, pan frying or broiling will seal in flavor. A combination of herbs such as basil, oregano and parsley can be tasty. A dash of crushed red pepper in place of the oregano will really spice things up. Salt and pepper are basic seasonings that simply taste great. Use sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to heighten flavor.
- When turning the meat don’t pierce it with a fork, this will allow juices and flavor to escape. Instead, lift the steak with cooking tongs.
- When cooking the steak, first grill it for three minutes on one side and then, after lowering the temperature to medium, three to four on the other. After that, cook each side from three to four minutes. The steak should be medium rare.
- Test for doneness using a digital thermometer. The internal temperature of the steak should be between 140- 145 degrees. The center of the steak will be red and hot and the rest of the interior pink while the outside will look brown.
- Once the steak is done, take it off the burner or shut down the heat and let the steak sit in the cooling pan or grill for a few minutes. It will soak in its juices, cool down and become tender and moist throughout. After that, you can wrap the meat in aluminum foil, place it on a rack and put it in a warm oven for 10 minutes. This will allow the juices to circulate and help create a succulent, savory steak.
There you have it, some hints and basic information in answering the question—“How long do you cook a medium steak?” Follow these steps and you’ll find that you possess a tender and tasty steak that’s done to perfection — medium.