The Ultimate Guide To Blue Steak

How do you like your steak? Cooked through, or still slightly pink in the middle? How about still mooing? If your preference leans toward the latter, you're gonna want to order blue steak next time you're in a restaurant. Blue steak is often seen as the connoisseur's choice when it comes to cooking styles and temperatures needed for steak doneness, and for the uninitiated, it can be pretty frightening. Getting its name from the bluish color that the meat has until it oxygenates due to air exposure, it's largely avoided by most people, who favor rare, medium-rare, or well-done orders instead.

We understand why, too. Blue steak is the most confronting of steak styles, with the almost fully red interior being pretty concerning for folks who are worried about foodborne bacteria. Others just don't trust that any steak which is that underdone would be tasty, paying particular attention to the internal cooking temperature. Look, we get it. However, we've made it our mission to make the case for blue steak, by taking you on a journey through its history, how it's actually made, why it's totally safe to eat if prepared correctly, and how you can enjoy this doneness style with other types of meat.

For folks who have never heard of blue steak before, let's make one thing clear: It's not steak that's made with some blue-tinged animal. Rather, the term "blue" refers to the doneness of the meat, which appears blueish or slightly purple when it's first sliced. Blue steak (also known as bleu or extra-rare steak) is the closest you can get to eating fully raw beef without ordering steak tartare. To make blue steak, chefs will generally sear the steak in an extremely hot pan until it's just cooked and brown on its outside, with an internal temperature of roughly 120 F. The inside therefore remains raw and slightly warm, which gives the steak a dramatic two-tone appearance.

Blue steak also has a dual flavor profile, with the char of the outside balancing with the beefiness of the interior. The contrast between hot and lukewarm may not be for everyone, but it definitely makes blue steak more of a culinary adventure than more thoroughly cooked meats. The steak's interior also has a softer texture than if it was cooked to medium-rare or well done. At temperatures any higher, the meat has moisture forced out of it as muscle fibers contract with the heat, firming it up. Blue steak is definitely not for the faint of heart, though, and if you're a newbie to steak but want to experiment with rawness, we'd recommend starting with medium-rare and working your way down.

Ordering blue steak can be seen as the height of sophistication (or pretty foolish, depending on your outlook), and so it's natural to assume that it's something that's been done by in-the-know aristocrats for hundreds of years. However, the truth is that serving blue steak, and rare steak in general, is fairly modern in the United States. Throughout history, meat was traditionally cooked well to make it edible. What "edible" meant differed from place to place, but in the US, that generally meant well-done and cooked through.

This remained until the mid-20th century, when tastes gently began to change. This was in part down to the meat thermometer becoming more popular, which allowed precision when cooking. That ability to check the interior temperature of your meat meant that people were more willing to serve it slightly rare. This was paired with more European food tastes being adopted in America, with meat cooked in France and other parts of Europe generally being not as well done. Gradually, this has all resulted in increasingly rare steaks, despite the lack of doneness being potentially riskier on a food safety level.

While there are some valid reasons not to order blue steak, with the fact that it may be slightly risky to do so being one of them, there's one reason to do so that trumps them all: The fact that blue steak lets you enjoy your meat at its best. Blue steak does away with most of the flavors, seasonings, and sauces that can adorn other steak styles, which are often there to provide flavor or moisture that's been lost during the cooking process. Instead, the sheer quality of the meat is on full display, with its rich flavor being able to shine through fully.

With all that being said, if you're making blue steak at home it's vital that you get the best-quality meat you can, so that you can fully bask in its flavor. You don't want to end up with a blue steak that doesn't taste good in the first place, as you'll have to add seasonings or store-bought steak sauces to help amp it up — which defeats the purpose of serving it blue. It's much the same principle as with sushi: If you get the best cut of meat, you don't need to add much else to it.

It's no surprise to anyone that blue steak is cooked quickly — but what might surprise you is just how fast things need to be. For a steak to be authentically blue, it needs to be seared for roughly a minute on each side, before being taken out of the pan and allowed to rest. This time may vary depending on the thickness of your steak, and if you have a particularly chunky piece of meat you may want to add 20 seconds or so onto that time. Generally, though, if you overdo it even by a little, you'll end up with a rare, or even medium-rare result.

There are a few further things to keep in mind when making blue steak to stop it from overcooking. The first is the resting process. Steak will continue to cook as it rests, making keeping strict timings crucial. Plus, if you rest it somewhere too warm, or insulate it, it will keep cooking through to its center. Additionally, you'll need to give your steak a quick sear just before serving it, to boost its exterior heat. However, don't keep it in the pan for too long here, as it'll just begin cooking again.

Every steak should be rested before you eat it, and blue steak is no different — and while the actual cooking time is speedy, the resting time can't be rushed. Blue steak should first be rested before cooking, and should sit out at room temperature for at least 15 minutes. Leaving it at room temperature allows it to warm slightly, which both softens the meat and allows the heat from the pan to permeate properly. If you skip this step, the interior of your blue steak will be freezing cold and tough, and you want it to be gently warm, soft, and buttery.

The resting process after you've cooked it is also vital, and you should aim for around 15 minutes here too. Resting blue steak allows it to be as juicy as it can be, and lets the juices inside the meat settle. When you cook any meat, moisture is forced from the inside to the surface, and resting it allows that juice to disperse back through the interior. With blue steak, that's especially vital, as that moistness is key to its flavor and texture. If you don't let it rest, you'll end up with dry, raw beef — not exactly an appetizing thought.

When people avoid blue steak, they usually do so for one of two reasons: That they can't handle the thought of eating raw meat, or that they're worried about getting food poisoning. Both of these are fair concerns, and the second one is definitely understandable. After all, foodborne bacteria like Salmonella and E. coli can often dwell on beef, and while cooking it thoroughly will kill any harmful microbes, leaving the inside raw increases the risk that they'll produce unpleasant, potentially dangerous symptoms.

However, if it's prepared properly, blue steak should theoretically be safe. Whole cuts of meat that haven't been needle-tenderized should only have bacteria on their exterior surface, with meat becoming contaminated when it's handled incorrectly. As such, if the surface is heated to an appropriate temperature, all bacteria should be killed and blue steak should be safe to eat. Having said this, it's hard to confirm exactly whether blue steak has been cooked to an appropriate temperature. It's also worth noting that the U. S. Department of Agriculture (or USDA) explicitly states that rare steak isn't safe to eat, and that meat should be cooked to a minimum internal temperature of 145 F, well above the temperature that blue steak is normally served at. As such, you should always remember that while blue steak can be safe, it may not always be.

If you're ordering blue steak in a reputable restaurant, it's likely that your chef has put a good amount of thought into what steak cut will produce the best result. If you're making it at home, though, you might not be sure where to start. Interestingly, blue steaks are quite unique in the steak world, as you'll want to find a cut of meat that's fairly lean. While steaks cooked to medium-rare or medium benefit from higher fat levels, which melt into the meat and produce moisture at higher heats, the lower temperature that blue steak is cooked to means that any fat won't properly soften and disperse. Therefore, keeping it lean is the way to go. 

Tenderloin is one of the best options for blue steak, as its low fat and muscle levels keep it soft and juicy. Relatively new flat iron steaks are also a good option: Coming from the chuck area of the cow, these cuts have a delightful tenderness to them that shines at lower temperatures. Sirloin tip cuts can be slightly tougher, but they're lean and flavorful. If you're in any doubt as to what to buy, ask your butcher what will work best for a blue steak.

Blue steak is generally cooked on the stove in a restaurant, but if you have a grill in your backyard you can make it a little differently. Black and blue steak, also known as Pittsburgh-style steak, is a blue steak with a particularly charred crust. Its name is a clue to its eventual appearance, and how much you should be cooking it on the outside, with the blackened exterior only possible by finishing it off on a searingly hot grill.

However, it's the step before which gives black and blue steak its unique flavor. Before your steak hits the grill, it's cooked over an open flame, allowing its exterior to rapidly cook while the inside remains red and moist. This distinctive cooking style was allegedly perfected by the steelworkers who populated Pittsburgh's mills, who would cook meat for their lunches on the screamingly hot metal surfaces in their steel plants. Naturally, you may have to travel to Pittsburgh to try this steak style at its best. If you're making it at home, though, it's crucial that you use a meat thermometer to check that your steak is cooked to the right temperature inside.

If you're ordering blue steak, it's more than likely that it'll be beef. However, you don't have to stick with that specific meat to enjoy things blue. Several other types of meat can be eaten rare, and when they're cooked to a certain exterior and interior temperature, they should technically be safe to eat. Lamb and mutton steaks, for example, can be served with a pink or red interior, with the rareness of the meat highlighting their rich, gamey flavor.

The logic behind this is that, like beef, lamb and mutton will generally only bear harmful bacteria on their surface (unless your cuts are ground or have been needle-tenderized, which can distribute bacteria throughout the meat). Before you start serving your lamb chops blue, though, you should bear in mind that just like with beef, the USDA advises that you should ensure that its internal temperature is a minimum of 145 degrees Fahrenheit before serving. If you're new to rare meat, we would always suggest leaving it to the professionals.