If you’re a real carnivore, you probably love beef. There is nothing better than a thick steak of at least 3 cm thick. With a beautiful dark brown crust. Served with a large fork and sharp knife.

The moment you order such a beautiful piece of meat in a restaurant, you are asked how you want it grilled/baked. The Neanderthals around you try to convince you that you can only eat it raw.

In fact, they would prefer the cow to walk to the table alive, be slaughtered on the spot, and hang over the open fire for exactly 3.5 seconds while it is probably still howling. Because that’s how you’re supposed to eat steak. However?

Do not let them get to you. Firstly, you decide how and what you eat and secondly, the steaks that are suitable to eat raw are often not even the best steaks.

So how do you eat your steak?
What you want is a steak with optimal tenderness, flavor and juiciness. At least, that’s what we assume. And that is certainly not uncommon with most steaks. That depends on a number of factors.

The tenderness and taste is largely dependent on the type of steak, the breed of the cow and what she has eaten. And if we assume that your butcher knows what he is doing, then you are ultimately responsible for the juiciness of your steak.

Meat consists of about 70% water at room temperature. That water is expelled by heating. 10 to 15% disappears during cooking up to a core temperature of 55°C. At a core temperature of 60°C, the water will be expelled twice as fast and at a core temperature of around 65°C you have already lost 30% water. You experience a steak that only consists of 40% water as dry.

Fortunately, the juiciness of a steak doesn’t just come from water. The experience of juiciness in meat also comes from melting and soft fat. Beef fat is hard and not tasty at room temperature, but starts to melt somewhere between 25 and 45°C.