Steaks Temps Are So Personal 

The amount of time a steak is cooked is a personal preference.  Shorter cooking times retain more juice, while longer times result in drier, sometimes tougher or firmer meat.  Longer times do reduce concerns regarding food borne diseases. (I should not have included that sentence because now I’ve got to say that foodborne illness from steaks are astoundingly rare. Pathogens exist on the outside of the steak and even the most modest cooking time kills those off quickly. The problem is when we grind up the steak and mix the outside with the inside, allowing the pathogens a moist place to breed and grow.)

 In “the business”, a vocabulary has been developed to allow effective communication between the cooks and the  customers about the customers’ desires.  These terms are from the least cooked to the most cooked:

 RAW – yep, literally raw.  Now don’t be surprised: think Steak Tartar, Carpaccio

 BLUE RARE or VERY RARE – 110F core temperature – cooked very quickly, outside is seared but the inside is usually cool or barely warmed.  Steak will be red on the inside and barely warmed.  Sometimes referred to as BLOODY RARE

 PITTSBURGH BLUE or BLACK AND BLUE – means a steak charred on the outside and Rare or Very Rare inside – black from the soot on the outside and blue from the Blue Rare inside  

 RARE – 120F core temperature – outside is grey-brown and the middle of the steak is red and slightly warm

 MEDIUM RARE – 145F core temperature – a fully red but warm center – most upscale steakhouses recommend cooking to this temperature

 MEDIUM – 150F core temperature – a hot, red center with pink surrounding the center

 MEDIUM PLUS – 155F core temperature – a hot, pink center  seldom used these days but still heard among the old timers.

 MEDIUM WELL or MEDIUM WELL DONE– 160F core temperature – purists insist there must be just a touch of pink is allowed but the extreme vast majority prefer no pink at all.

 WELL DONE – 170F core temperature – the meat is gray brown throughout and slightly charred.

 The ‘Pittsburgh’ term is used for the Blue or the Rare but almost never to other temperatures.  A CHICAGO style steak is cooked to the desired temperature then quickly charred  on the outside.  Customers order using the style and then naming the temperature desired.

          PITTSBURGH BLUE                        CHICAGO BLUE

          PITTSBURGH RARE                        CHICAGO RARE

                                                                          CHICAGO MEDIUM RARE

                                                                          CHICAGO MEDIUM

                                                                          CHICAGO MEDIUM PLUS

                                                                       CHICAGO MEDIUM WELL

                                                                          CHICAGO WELL DONE

 It’s no secret that cooks hate to overcook a steak.  The more cooking time the more likely a person is to say the meat is tough.  It’s a Catch-22 in which we want to please the customer but which means we must ‘ruin’ a piece of excellent beef to do it.

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