How to Cook the Perfect Steak: When to Take It Off the Heat

Cooking a good steak is not about luck. It comes down to one thing most home cooks get wrong: knowing exactly when to take it off the heat. Pull it too early and it is raw in the middle. Leave it a moment too long and that beautiful cut is grey and overdone.

Here is the never fail guide we use, so you can cook your steak exactly how you like it, every single time.

The trick the restaurants know: carryover cooking

A steak keeps cooking after it leaves the pan. As it rests, the heat held in the outside of the meat travels inward and the temperature climbs another few degrees. That is called carryover cooking, and it is why you always take your steak off the heat a little before it reaches the temperature you actually want to eat.

So in the guide below there are two numbers that matter. The first is when to remove it from the heat. The second is where it lands on the plate after a short rest. Aim for the first, and the steak finishes itself.

When to take the steak off the heat

Chef’s tip: Insert the thermometer into the thickest part of the steak for the most accurate reading. The edges always run hotter than the centre.

Rest before you cut

Once your steak hits the right number, take it out and let it rest for at least five minutes before you cut into it. Resting lets the juices settle back through the meat instead of running out across the board the moment your knife goes in. Skip this step and all that flavour ends up on your plate rather than in the steak.

Now for the best part

You have cooked the steak perfectly. The last thing it needs is a sauce worth pouring.

This is where we come in. We have done all the hard work so you do not have to, a rich and creamy Diane sauce with buttery leek, a luxurious creamy green peppercorn sauce, or a dark and velvety red wine jus that turns a simple steak dinner into something you would happily order out for. Just heat and pour.

Cook the steak your way, and let us take care of the sauce.

Ready to put it all together? Follow our Whole Roasted Eye Fillet Steak Frites with Green Peppercorn Sauce recipe, a French bistro classic from the first sear to the final pour.