The Perfect Steak: A Rare Guide

Meat Your Best Match

Buying from a supermarket may be your first mis-steak. “It’s vital you go to a good butcher, local farm shop or website,” insists award-winning chef Anton Piotrowski. This guarantees properly hung meat. “The longer beef is aged, the easier it is to digest the protein,” says butcher Paul Williams. You also dodge chemical-laced plastic packaging, which has been shown to affect your hormones. Here are your prime cuts . . .

Fillet

Image by Johanna Parkin

Like a past-his-best striker, fillet muscle doesn’t do much but is great at delivering the occasional treat. “All it does is open the cow’s ribs,” says Lee Harrison, director of specialist meat company Athleat. “This means the fibres are loose and meat more tender.” It’s also high in linoleic acid, which reduces belly fat, according to the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition.
BEST FOR Indulging while losing weight

Rump

Image by Johanna Parkin

This steak is the hardest-working cut from our top trio of flesh – and cows work hard to move that tonne of delicious muscle, resulting in a slab that’s perfect for your own muscles. “The rump is lean, but it’s also full of vitamins and enzymes, as it has received the most bloodflow,” says Harrison. You bet your ass it tastes good.

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Rib Eye

Image by Johanna Parkin

Most of this cut’s fat – what foodies call “marbling” – is oleic acid, a fat in olive oil, which the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition found lowers levels of LDL (bad) cholesterol. Try to buy on the bone. “The marrow adds nutrients to the meat that enhance your testosterone,” says nutritionist Alex Ferentinos.

BEST FOR Bulking, bro. Juicy meat, giant gains

Tour De Sauce

Try these marinades

Dijon Detox
• Ginger, small piece, grated
• Soy sauce, 6 tbsp
• Mirin & sake, 3 tbsp each
• Mustard, 1 tsp
• Caster sugar, 1 tsp

Anti-inflammatory ginger kickstarts – and cleanses – your liver. Make a batch of this on Friday night.

Cancer Cutter
• Orange, ½, thinly sliced
• Onion, quartered
• Garlic, 2 cloves, crushed
• Pilsner, 225ml

Drowning steak in beer lowers carcinogens by 90 per cent, reports the University of Porto. Let it marinate for at least four hours before cooking.

Statin Sauce
• Chilli flakes, 50g
• Ginger, 50g, minced
• Pineapple juice, 50ml
• Teriyaki sauce, 250ml

Chilli’s capsaicinoids lower your cholesterol and blood pressure. Go heavy on spice if today’s your cheat day.

Skillet Skills

Frying from the fridge is not so hot: your steak will be cold inside, cremated outside. Let it come to room temperature.

Grease up
Heat a heavy iron pan, but hold the oil; it’s the steak that needs greasing. Use rapeseed oil – it has a higher smoking point and can endure being fried without its antioxidants breaking down. “It also imparts a delicate, less charred flavour than olive oil,” says Piotrowski.

Turn it
Flip the turn-once purists the bird. “Turn with some tongs every 15-20 seconds until the meat begins to caramelise on the outside,” says Piotrowski. The result: an even-cooked rare or medium-rare steak that steers well clear of the well-done danger zone.

Probe it
For real precision, use a thermometer. For rare, aim for 52°C in the middle, 63°C for medium and for ruined (sorry, well-done) 77°C. Fibres break down in the rare-to-medium range, so digestion will be easier.

Chill out
You’re hungry, but don’t dig in yet. Once cooked, let the resting begin. “If you cut it too quickly after cooking you’ll lose up to 25 per cent of the protein juices,” says Penn State University food scientist Steve Bookbinder. Just. Wait.

Get cutting
When the goodness from the bone is absorbed, it’s time for surgery. Hold the steak in place with a fork and run a boning knife between meat and bone, gently dragging the meat away. Serve with smug satisfaction and a meaty glass of Argentinian red.