How to cook a steak, and which method suits which cut

There's no single best way to cook a steak. There's a best way to cook that steak, and it's decided by two things: how thick it is, and how much fat it carries.

Thickness decides whether you have time to build a crust before the inside overcooks. Fat decides how much heat the outside can take before it flares or turns bitter. Everything else — the cut's name, the price, what the butcher called it — matters less than those two.

The three methods

Sous vide, then sear. The bath sets doneness exactly, and the pan only builds crust. Best for thick cuts, expensive cuts you don't want to risk, and cooking for a crowd, because everything finishes at once and holds.

Reverse sear. Low oven or the cool side of a grill until the inside is about 10 degrees short, then a hard sear. Same idea as sous vide, with less equipment and a little less precision.

Straight over high heat. A screaming cast iron pan or a hot grill, flipped often. For anything thin, and for cuts with a thick fat cap that needs fire.

By cut

Cut	Best method	Why
Ribeye, strip, filet, thick sirloin	Sous vide or reverse sear	Thick enough that a pan alone leaves a grey band
Ribeye cap (spinalis)	Sous vide, rolled and tied, then a brief sear	The best piece of beef there is; fatty enough to flare, so keep the sear short
Flat iron, Denver, teres major, chuck eye	Sous vide or reverse sear	Cheap, flavorful, tender enough to treat like steak
Hanger, bavette	Either; slice thin across the grain	Great flavor, loose grain that runs obviously
Picanha	Fire, fat cap down first	The cap needs high direct heat to render and crisp
Skirt, flank	Straight over the hottest heat you have	Thin and fibrous; a bath does nothing for them
Tri-tip	Smoke, reverse sear, or a bath	Behaves like a roast; split it where the grain changes
Chuck roast	Sous vide, 142°F for 18–24 hours	Not a steak, but nothing else makes it sliceable and medium-rare

Timing and temperature

In the bath. 1 to 2 hours for a 1 to 1½ inch steak, 2 to 3 for anything thicker, and don't go much past 4 or the texture softens. From frozen, add 15 to 20 minutes. The bath temperature is the doneness — pick it and forget it.

Reverse sear. Low oven or the cool side of the grill at about 250°F until the center is roughly 10°F short of your target, then sear. For a 1½ inch steak that's usually 30 to 45 minutes, but thickness and your oven decide it, not the clock.

Straight over high heat. A thin steak is 1 to 2 minutes a side, flipped often. A thick one seared from raw needs the pan hot and the steak moved to lower heat once it has color.

The sear, every time. 45 to 60 seconds a side on a pre-cooked interior. You're building color, not cooking.

Resting. 10 minutes out of the bag before the sear, and 5 to 10 after it.

Doneness. Rare 129–131, medium-rare 133–135, medium-plus 140–145 (where I cook). Carryover after a sear is small when the interior is already at temperature, but it isn't zero — pull a couple of degrees early on a thick steak.

Use an instant-read

Every number above is a temperature, not a time. Times change with thickness, starting temperature, your oven, your pan, the weather and how crowded the grill is. The temperature is the thing that's actually true.

Probe the thickest part, away from bone and fat, and check a second spot to be sure you weren't in a seam. A thermometer costs less than the steak.

The parts everyone gets wrong

Dry surface, always. Wet meat steams. Pat it dry, and if it came out of a bag, rest it on a rack for 10 minutes and pat it again.

The pan must be hotter than feels sensible. If it isn't shimmering, you're stewing the outside while the inside climbs.

Season the surface you're about to sear, right before you sear it. Salt sitting on a wet surface draws moisture out, and moisture is the enemy of crust.

Sear briefly. With a pre-cooked interior, 45 to 60 seconds a side is the whole job.

Rest after the sear too. Five to ten minutes. Carryover is small when the interior is already at temperature, but the juices still need to settle.

Slice across the grain. In hanger, bavette, skirt, flank and tri-tip this is the difference between tender and chewy. Look before you cut, because in tri-tip the grain changes direction partway through.

Doneness, honestly

I run 140 to 145°F for medium-plus, because that's how my table likes it. Medium-rare is 133 to 135, rare is 129 to 131. None of these is wrong; cook the steak the way the people eating it want to eat it.

What matters more than the number is hitting it on purpose. That's the whole argument for the bath and for the reverse sear: they turn doneness into a setting rather than a guess.

Finishing

A coin of compound butter on the steak as it rests, or a red wine pan sauce built in the pan you just used.

Neither costs you any time. The steak has to rest 5 to 10 minutes regardless, and that's exactly how long a pan sauce takes. Use the wait you already have.