I Asked 4 Chefs the Best Way To Cook Steak—They All Said the Same Thing

Simply Recipes ^ | Dec 27, 2025 | Nathan Hutsenpiller

[where's_the_Outrage?]

Cooking a steak dinner at home is not for the faint of heart. It can be difficult—requiring a good sear and the insides cooked to the perfect doneness. A lot can go wrong, and it’s easy to feel discouraged after many failed attempts.

Over the years, I’ve learned a thing or two about steak: Pull the meat from the fridge ahead of time so that it comes to room temperature, create a dry brine with coarse salt, and allow the steak to rest after cooking to retain its juices. However, I still feel underprepared every time I make it.

So, I reached out to the steak experts to help bring my steaks to the next level. With countless opinions on the subject available online, it was quite refreshing to get this information directly from experts who cook steak for a living. And to my surprise, they all said the same thing.

The Steak Experts I Spoke To

Joe (AKA Joey Dry-aged) Fraschilla: Co-owner of Porterhouse Party

Matt Moore: Author of A Southern Gentleman's Kitchen

Jimmy Vasquez: Private chef and former sous chef at ZouZous

Nate Molina: Executive Chef of The Genesee Store

The Reverse Sear

According to each expert I spoke with, the reverse sear method guarantees a perfectly cooked steak every time.

For a reverse sear, you cook your steak in the oven at a low temperature before finishing it with a high-heat sear on the stovetop. This method allows you to control the meat's doneness and ensures a more even cook.

After seasoning the steak, Chef Nate recommends placing it on a cold sheet pan and popping it in a 175°F to 195°F oven. (Most home ovens go down to only 200°F—you can use this temperature.) Cook the steaks for 20 to 40 minutes, depending on the doneness you like. The best way to check is to take the internal temperature of the steaks using an instant-read thermometer: 125°F for rare to 130°F for medium-rare.

Just before the steaks come out of the oven, heat a cast-iron skillet on the stovetop with a little oil until smoking hot. Then, sear the steaks for 30 to 40 seconds per side.

According to Matt, if you cook steaks using the reverse sear, they “will not need to be rested, and they will be cooked edge-to-edge to the desired temperature."

Pull the Steaks Out of the Fridge Ahead of Time

Matt says that the worst thing a cook can do is fail to remove the steaks from the fridge before cooking. He says, “Remove any large steaks from the fridge at least 30 minutes and up to a few hours in advance.”

It removes the chill from the steaks. The goal is to get to an internal temperature of 68°F, but even just 30 minutes on the kitchen counter will make a difference.

Chef Jimmy agrees. “You always want to pull your meat from the refrigerator ahead of time ... the closer to room temperature, the more even the cook.”

Joe recommends rubbing the steak with a coarse salt. This will “pull the moisture” and make the meat “even more tender while it reaches room temperature.”

[Bob434]

Read my post above. 135 (i said 130, bu5 that is a bit low), then sear it which will bring it up to about 140, if ypu want it a bit more rare, set to 130 or even 125, then sear till it rezches the temp you want for rare. Medium is around 140-145, so aim for about 138 or so.

[MomwithHope]

I started making my own tallow about 2 years ago now. So easy and adds a lot even to a burger.

[Bob434]

You fan use clothespins 5o suspend the bags in the water too.

[Buttons12]

All I do (and all I want to do) is make a raw, red piece of meat look brown from 2ft away.
If I’m serving more than just me, I can always put the spice rack on the table. Besides, my people are wine snobs, not steak snobs. And they know I hate to cook!

[PGalt]

Sounds yummy. Thanks for when I can afford a steak. : )

[Bob434]

The trick is to buy one of those small camping fridges, they fit in Stoves better

[think4yrsf]

Same. Season generously, vacuum seal, sous vide for ~2.5 hrs at 128 degrees and sear in hot skillet.

Then there’s prime rib which I’m cooking today 250 degrees ~30 min per pound. Brush with olive oil, Worcestershire and bit of wine then herb coating of cracked pepper, salt, dried garlic and rosemary with melted onions for dipping, perfect

[sauropod]

Quite curious about this. I have a pit barrel smoker and want to adapt the advice for that.

[Bob434]

For those wanting to know how to souse vide, here is an article by the food scientist himself, alton brown. Also, you can buy a souse vide wand pretty cheaply on amazon, and use a small plastic tub with lid if you have one, or buy one, they are chesp too.

I bought an actual suose vide machine, paid way too much, 5hinking it would be better than the cheap stick kinds... nope, mistake. Buy the stick kinds that circulate the water. Save yourself a lot of money.

https://www.seriouseats.com/food-lab-complete-guide-to-sous-vide-steak

[Bob434]

We’ve been using duck fat for frying potatoes lately... wow, what a difference. We do use tallow to for burgers and auch, mixed with some bacon grease. We are probsbly a doctorxs worste nightmare, but we are zt least eat8ng well and eating how we like while we can. My rela5ives though all lived well into their 90’s healthily, eating very similarly.

[TheThirdRuffian]

I do something similar already using wood charcoal.

I smear the steak with duck fat (aka “schmaltz” as my Jewish CO called it) before seasoning, which gives a nice char and also traps in moisture.

I use a pellet smoker set low to bring the steak to temperature instead of an oven. Gives a nice flavor, even though we’re talking about 20 minutes of smoke. The fat really traps the flavor.

I then sear the steak in a griddle I put on a green egg grill.

Give

[Tunehead54]

Just in case I have 3 hours to cook my steak ...

In 30 minutes I’ve got
Golden wedge fries, perfect medium rare steak off the BBQ and a nice pre-washed salad with butter rings, tomato,
peperocini and capers & a few other goodies! _5

❤️😎

[FreedomPoster]

Prime rib is 4-5 hours at 132F sous vide, then onto a SS rack over a sheet pan into a 500F convection oven for about 8 minutes to brown the edges.

[mac_truck]

Using a temperature probe isn’t always necessary (imo), but reverse sear takes the guesswork out of cooking steak once you’ve figured out the right oven temperature and length of time to leave it in there.

[TheThirdRuffian]

The amount of fat used and the temp is way past smoke point.

[TheThirdRuffian]

Olive oil and butters have too low a smoke point.

Try duck fat (aka schmaltz).

[FreedomPoster]

An appropriately sized cooler can make a good sous vide vessel for use with the stick sous vide cookers. I’ve even used bubble wrap to insulate the top and reduce evaporation for long cooks.

[Uncle Miltie]

I pop them in my home fusion reactor for 2.7 microseconds.

[pgyanke]

Cooking a thick steak is for impressing people. Cut the steak in half and you can control your temperature much easier.

[Bob434]

One more tip. If ypu all haven’t tried Picahna steak yet, you are missing a real treat. A lot of top cap fat 5o soak into the meat while cooking, and a very flavorful tender steak to boot. We hzve to travel around 60 miles to get them, but its worth the trip once in awhile. The brazil,ians call it the king of steaks, and i think they are close to being right.