To flip or not to flip...? (a steak)
Some chefs say the steak cooks more evenly by flipping it often. Others say this makes the juices run out. With so many different styles and recipes out there, one must wonder: who is right?
What are the reasons one would flip a steak regularly or only once? Does the type of meat have any influence on this?
Also, why would flipping the steaks frequently (supposedly) make them cook more evenly? If both sides are exposed to the same heat for the same amount of time, what is the difference?
Best Answer
There's a great deal of opinion on this subject, the majority of the testing I've seen favors the multiple flip method. My own tests agree, you get a better result from more flipping.
Type of meat has no influence on the method, although it impacts how long you cook it. For example a rump steak is a bit denser than a sirloin or ribeye so it takes longer to cook.
The reason that steaks cook unevenly when flipped once is that the top of the steak heats as you cook the bottom, when you flip it what was the top has a warmer starting point so that side ends up hotter at the end of cooking. You can get evenness from the one flip method by doing 2/3 of the cooking time on the first side and 1/3 on the other side (that's approximate from my own testing). The benefit of a single flip is it's less time spent on the steak, if you have a lot going on in the kitchen you have more time to spend on other tasks.
Other than that multiple flips are the way to go as you get even cooking, less curling (although you can reduce fat curling by cutting across the fat every inch, this gets a better result in general), and the steak tends to cook faster. Note this is for thicker steaks, for thin steaks you really just want to get a crust on as quickly as you can, so a single flip makes sense.
I've never noticed a difference in juiciness with either method, other aspects of technique are more important, for instance with a thick steak you want to cook it mostly on the cool side of the barbecue and then crisp it up on high heat as opposed to cooking it on high heat the whole time.
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Quick Answer about "To flip or not to flip...? (a steak)"
But the reality is that flipping a steak repeatedly during cooking—as often as every 30 seconds or so—will produce a crust that is just as good (provided you start with meat with a good, dry surface, as you always should), give you a more evenly cooked interior, and cook in about 30% less time to boot!Should steak be flipped?
If you're cooking steak on the grill, you most definitely should flip it about halfway through the cooking process. We typically recommend flipping your steak just once on the grill because it's not getting direct heat on one side like it would on a pan.Should you flip a steak on the grill?
Steaks should only be flipped once, and only moved once from a higher to a lower heat. And don't poke them with anything but your finger! Put the meat on a hot grill\u2014they should sizzle immediately\u2014and leave them there until they release on their own accord.Why should you only turn a steak once?
If you only flip once, one half of your steak will be sitting at a cooler temperature while the other half sizzles. Then once you flip, the top side will still be cooking for a few moments while the bottom half now gets the full heat of the pan.WHY flipping the steak often makes you a GENIUS? | How to cook the perfect steak
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Answer 2
If the steak is enclosed by a lid, such as in an outdoor grill, you flip once, because you lose 50 degrees every time you open the lid, which breaks the constant thermal transfer of heat to the center of the steak, so the inside will not be cooked properly.
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