No, steak does not need to be cooked to 165°F (74°C). The recommended safe internal temperature for beef steak is 145°F (63°C) for medium-rare, 160°F (71°C) for medium, and 170°F (77°C) for well-done.
There is a reason that medium-rare is the most popular way to cook a steak. A medium-rare steak is juicy, tender, and packed with flavor. When you cut a medium-rare steak, you'll see that the meat is pinkish on the outside and a deeper red inside, but not so red that it looks like raw beef.
Rare (125°-130°F)
A steak cooked to “rare” is very different than a “raw”. The chef will season the steak and place it on the grill. The steak will become brown on the outside, but still remain very soft on the inside.
Use low heat for thick steaks
Thin slices of beef are easy to cook. If you are cooking a breakfast steak, high heat is the ticket. After all, if you do much more than give it a good sear, it's going to turn to leather.
If you want the most flavor and juice in your slab of meat, you should order you steak medium rare, not medium well or well-done. "Much of the flavor is in the fat," chef Wade Wiestling of Mastro's Steakhouse said to Business Insider. "If you cook it all out, you have a less tasty and dryer steak."
Most chefs regard beef cooked to medium-rare — with an internal temperature of 130 degrees off the grill and 135 degrees after resting — as the best way to bring out flavor and retain moisture in tender cuts such as rib-eye and top loin.
Steak doneness levels stem from personal preference, but we always suggest cooking steak to medium-rare. Medium-rare leaves a pink center in the steak cooked to about 135 degrees. Other levels of steak can sometimes cause steak to become chewy and not as flavorful.
It denatures in the range of 150-163°F (66-73°C). At this point the protein fibers become very firm, shorten in length, and the amount of liquid expelled increases dramatically. Your meat becomes tough and dry when cooked to these higher temperatures.
Medium meat is cooked to 145 degrees Fahrenheit. That means your steak or burger will be tender but well-cooked and provide just enough flavor. High-quality meat will be tasty at this temperature and tender enough to chew easily.
Steaks should always be cooked on high temperatures to sear the outside and trap the juices and flavor inside. Steaks should almost always be cooked on a grill or in a pan on high heat: all cooking guidelines below are for one-inch thick steaks. Rest your steak for five minutes under aluminum foil before eating.
Steak will be cooked to medium when it feels springy with blunt tongs. A meat thermometer will show the internal temperature of a medium steak as 140–150°F (60–65°C).
Use the following timing recommendations to learn how long to rest steak so that the flavorful juices have time to distribute through your meat: Rest meat for 5 minutes per inch of thickness. Rest meat for 10 minutes per pound. Rest meat for 1 minute for every 100 grams.
Cooking for an extended time allows the connective tissue and fat to break down, which not only softens the meat up but also preserves its moisture.
Preheat an outdoor grill to high heat (about 500 degrees). Sear steaks for 3 minutes per side. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue cooking with the lid closed until the steaks reach the desired level of doneness (130 degrees F for medium-rare).
It depends on quality a bit, as well as what cut you're eating. On the ends of ribeye and NY strip are lines of gristle, which tend to cause chewyness at any temperature. Ideally, you want center cuts which are best at medium rare.
Certified Angus Beef says that a steak is considered rare when it is cooked to 125 degrees Fahrenheit. This falls short of the USDA's recommendations by 20 degrees, so it's still not considered safe to consume.
When exposed to too much heat, the fat within the muscles gets rendered out completely, ridding the steak of the moisture that makes it tender. On the other hand, if that fat doesn't have enough time to break down, the resulting steak will be as tough as it would be if it were adequately cooked.
Eating rare steak is like giving your body a direct jolt of iron and phosphorus. Both of these nutrients are helpful for preventing fatigue. If you eat a rare steak in moderation, the iron in the meat increases the oxygen in your blood, and the phosphorus provides strength to your bones.
While 1 inch is a good starting point, the best steaks, especially when it comes to premium cuts like ribeyes and strips, are around 1.5 inches in thickness. With a 1.5-inch-thick steak, the steak's center is better insulated compared to thinner steaks, allowing you to be much more precise when it comes to doneness.
During cooking, aim to cook your steak medium-rare to medium – any more and you'll be left with a tough piece of meat. Turning it every minute or so will make sure you get a really even cook. After cooking, leave it to rest and rub with a little extra virgin olive oil or butter for an incredible, juicy steak.
Undercooked. If a steak hasn't been cooked long enough, it can become chewy or tough as there hasn't been enough time for the heat to fully penetrate and melt the fat and any connective tissue.
Medium rare steak is the golden standard. This is the most common steak doneness to order at a restaurant and cook at home. A medium rare steak has a warm, red center, making the meat have more of that tell-tale steak texture than blue steak and rare steak.
The answer: When it comes to nutrients – protein, iron, zinc, etc. – there's no difference between steak that is cooked medium rare or well done. The concern is that meat cooked until it's well done contains more potential carcinogens called heterocyclic amines (HCAs) than meat cooked for a shorter time.
Even the rarest and reddest of steaks is actually bloodless. Instead, what you're looking at is a combination of water, which makes up about 75 per cent of meat, and a protein found in muscle tissue called myoglobin.