The Food Lab: Steak Lies | Serious Eats

[@GugaFoods]

This video was awesome. 100% agree on everything said, Now Let’s do it!

[@oaijugug]

Guga Foods ITS AMAAAAAAAAAAAZING

[@Endo-.]

Let's dew ehhh

[@tonynguyen282]

The Steak God himself! Love your videos, keep it up! I hope to get to your skill level one day

[@AbsoluteFidelity]

Lol! Guga in da house!

[@veddardstark655]

Just keep it really simple with just salt, pepper, and garlic powderrr.

[@heartlandlight6862]

I would have made many mythsteaks.

[@antonc81]

Heartland Light Mike Tyson? Is that you?

[@rexferal8608]

Go to your room.

[@Voltaire321]

I think the flipping thing comes from grilling and leaving neat sear marks vs a bunch of different layers of sear marks.

[@OptimusWombat]

Find a girlfriend who looks as you the way that Katie's looking at Kenji while he was gnawing on that steak bone.

[@VirmanaMarketing]

Came here for this comment... she looks in love with him

[@Bonesoda]

Well he wrote it apparently.

[@jeffreybarker5294]

I was just thinking that when I saw her looking at him while eating on that steak bone

[@quentintickler4615]

I will always laugh at people who say, "only flip your steak once." This video confirms it.

[@HendersonHinchfinch]

I’ve been a one flipper for 20 years and it works amazingly for me. It doesn’t really matter how you cook it as long as you get a good sear and cook it to the proper temperature

[@juicebox86]

Wow! Just read the description...Good for you guys. As a musician, I understand its a bitch when corporations get in the way of sharing creativity and knowledge. Looking forward to this entire series and hoping you will have enough viewership to continue the project for several seasons. Cheers!

[@duckyedits6753]

no idea why, but im getting so many 2010 vibes off of this

[@a.vasquez771]

its the stock bg music

[@pandaslayer]

Reverse searing on a charcoal grill is my all-time favorite method. Perfectly cooked, and that great charcoal flavor.

[@myESQchannell]

"I call it the "reverse sear"! Pretty sure that's what everybody calls it. Anyway great vid.

[@AllanYacaman]

I know WTH

[@dylanburnette9781]

Brandon Lewis He probably phrased it that way because his name comes up when people ask who “invented” reverse-searing. He’s kind of the pioneer of that method.

[@myESQchannell]

@@dylanburnette9781 You make a good point, but the "reverse sear" technique is integral to any Sous Vide meat dish (cook slowly to appropriate temp and then finish with a sear) and that has been around for decades.

[@baloneybob4046]

Brandon Lewis Sous vide was invented in the 70s, popularized professionally many years later and has only come into the public eye really in the last 10 years. Kenji has been at the forefront of the Sous vide at home movement and I think he did actually coin the term ‘reverse sear’ which is why he mentions that it is what he calls it

[@flakgun153]

That's because he's the one who gave it that name

[@thezian]

A goddamn sin we're only seeing these videos now. And wow, Kenji looks so young!

[@Billy123bobzzz]

Awesome! Well done! Kenji and Katie are the new dynamic duo! I really appreciate all this information because it helps me get better results at home!

[@jimmyrrpage]

At least a few comments here seem to be incapable of reading the info box... so... -------------------------------------------------------------------------- "A few years back, we raised some money and spent some time asking ourselves, "What would a Food Lab television show look like?" Like the column, the show would strive to communicate complex scientific concepts, and more importantly, show how understanding those concepts can improve your cooking. We pulled together a production team, and enlisted the help of former Serious Eats intern Katie Quinn to up the on-camera charisma factor, we wrote some scripts, and we shot and edited the episodes. Then...pretty much nobody saw them. This was our own fault-due to a partnership we made to get the series funded, we were unfortunately required to distribute them behind a paywall. That contract has since ended, and we're in the clear to do with them as we please. So here we are, releasing them to you one-by-one, for free." -------------------------------------------------------------------------- FTR, these videos were first released on Vimeo On Demand on July 21, 2015 (well... this video was released on September 28, 2015). I know because I purchased them so I could watch them: vimeo.com/ondemand/foodlab So if you have problems with the audio, or think this is a rehash of stuff Kenji's "already been over", well... yeah.

[@benjaminschneider]

Nathan Hevenstone Wow. That comment actually helps 👍

[@nikolai3620]

The sealing in the juices myth is so pervasive in the industry that even Gordon Ramsay parrots it.

[@Tranquil789]

I used to have problems cooking a steak, until I found out about sous vide

[@kaojaicam]

I love the foodlab articles, I'm so glad you guys get to release the videos freely now!!! Can't wait to see the rest

[@nguye578]

Huge fan of the reverse sear in a 225 degree oven on a rack. Not only do you get more protection from overcooking your steak due to the slow temp rise, but it also helps to dry out the surface for faster browning. If you have the time and patience, definitely better than sous vide.

[@kelvintam7301]

"Written by J Kenji Lopez-Alt" we know who wrote those puns

[@MichaelREFLECTS]

LOL. Who writes this crap? LOL oh wait ..me ;(

[@bwake]

It seemed to me that they rehearsed it, too.

[@patrickpizzapg3d416]

@@bwake no shit

[@wooof.]

I remember following Katie years ago! Glad I found her again she's awesome!

[@wooof.]

@Master M she was doing her own cooking/food thing on Facebook. She's an intern here in the video so she's just helping out

[@taylorprobets4661]

What about the one of "never putting pepper on until serving because it just burns during the sear"

[@andreriley739]

Awesome video. Among a sea of food vids, I'm sure I'm not alone in saying this science based approach is refreshing, relevant, and unique. Keep up the great work.

[@MaunoKoivistoOfficial]

Finally! Thank you so much for releasing these.

[@fenixchief7]

I dont like cooking steaks in an oven but I respect any man that eats right off the bone.

[@EchoSigma6]

Good tips especially with seasoning a day before and reverse searing after the meats are in the oven at 250 degrees. This is easier than sous vide where you have to bag, water bath, and then paper towel dry for the same reverse searing method.

[@AlexandreShimada]

HI! I really want to see the impact of resting the steak after it's done.

[@VulcanGray]

"That's about 2 degrees".... Is actually 6 degrees different

[@pianoforte611]

The temperature continued to go down after the camera cut away (he has a longer article about this). Bad editing, but also irrelevant to the central point - even a 20 degree starting temperature difference is irrelevant when you're putting it in a hot pan.

[@paulpeterson4216]

@@pianoforte611 I would say that's not true. Now I 20 minutes is too short a time, an hour is the normal recommendation I hear. Also, the surface temp matters as much as the internal temp, and the surface temp need matters to the crust. When going from 60 degrees to ~130 degrees 20 degrees definitely makes a large difference. All of that said, if you want your steak very crusty on the outside and much less cooked in the middle, as many do, then it makes sense not to just cook the steak cold, but even frozen. (frozen not necessarily good for pan cooking)

[@jeffwei]

@@paulpeterson4216 so I guess you didn't watch the video

[@jbeck9001]

Thought I was going crazy. Poor post production!

[@CK-gf9ge]

I like the video and agree with it overall but prepping a steak on a plate instead of a cooling rack. Science.

[@lifestudent55]

I used the reverse sear for the first time this week with a thick porterhouse. Oh my! The steak was big enough to make more than one meal for both my wife and me, and I'm sold on the reverse sear.

[@Alansmithee007]

Okay after the READ ME I get it. Such great info and so glad it's coming out. Would love to see more.

[@robdavis4805]

Such a great show. Easy to understand and the personality of each is wonderful. The two have great chemistry and the information is very valuable to any home chef.

[@whitneysanders6996]

Whenever i see kenji in a thumbnail i have to click immediately lol

[@ninjaslash52_98]

Wow when I was learning to cook steak at first it was “refrigerate so you get it medium rare with good sear” then it was “lit it get to room temperature so it’s even cook” now it’s “it doesn’t matter”

[@RichardNutman]

Depends on the thickness. A thick steak you can get a good sear fine without overcooking. Thin steaks, cook from cold so it doesn't overcook as much.

[@gregmay9097]

Kenji, great video, can you please do one about when to season your steak with pepper? Before grilling/frying or after.

[@Un1234l]

Kenji just making a video version of his stellar write-up years back. I dig it.

[@evandurkovic6662]

Reverse sear is definitely the way to go. Instead of an oven, I do it in my offset. The steak does need to be cold, so it can cook long enough to pick up enough smoke flavor before it comes up to temp.

[@mugensamurai]

This needs more views the production value on This surpasses almost all the other cooking videos on youtube.

[@Premyy.M]

How so? I would disagree, I feel it's overproduced

[@mugensamurai]

@@Premyy.M Haters gonna hate.

[@katydidiy]

I like to cook eye of round for thin (basically shaved) prep for beef sandwiches. Reverse sear eliminates that unappetizing grey edges. BTW I only like eye of round done this way. I often make this, along with really good rolls, for potluck. Always a winner, easy to make the night before if well wrapped.

[@valliarlette6596]

Thanks for these videos. Your website has been my go-to for information and well-tested recipes for years.

[@Knightshade08]

Thing is you have Michelin star chefs perpetuating these myths.

[@classyjohn1923]

its a logical fallacy called "appealing to authority". People blindly believe claims made by experts in a field withoit fact checking.

[@ml8018]

@@classyjohn1923 it's ethos

[@kiltedcripple]

These aren't exactly myths though. Take the steak flipping thing, neither approach is wrong, both result in very similar steaks. The grey band visual is far more striking to the eye than to the palate, and made even less relevant if you're butter basting or serving under au poivre. They are each valid techniques to make good food, the only myth is that is substantially better than the other. Fun fact, I tried the flip test, but with pork chops, and found the multi-flip chops took MUCH longer to cook than the one flippers. Could just be a difference in the meat density, but I'd hazard that he's actually wrong about the multi-flip steaks cooking faster. If you're distributing the heat more evenly by flipping, and thereby "cooking them more gently" it stands to reason that they take longer. Shit, sous vide cooks them very gently, and takes a solid 4 hours. Honest mistake is likely, especially after his "I call it reverse searing" gaff. To be real though, they lost me salting that heavily just before cooking. I set my steaks out in the fridge, as he described, but modestly salted, and when I cook, I have perfectly seasoned steaks with a nice dry exterior that requires half the salt. I also pepper only the cooked side when I flip, once, as pepper burns. If I want a super peppery steak, I make au poivre sauce afterwards.

[@thrillhouse_vanhouten]

Oof, Katie's shirt in the thumbnail looks like steak camouflage. I know it's not, it's just...kinda blends in, ya know?

[@a.alegria4533]

Same, i was like: why is that woman's head flying?

[@Snake-filledChimp]

Straight up truth-bombs - nice work, gang. This should be required viewing before anyone even thinks about cooking a steak. (And you even got the thumbs up from the steak master himself, Guga 👍😁)

[@LingLing1337]

Two thumbs down from dads who insist their well done grilled steak can't be beat

[@psych101436]

Great series. Glad to finally see them

[@AXLee27]

Thank youuuu!!!! I found this video incredibly helpful. Wish to keep seeing these types of videos

[@WillMon]

I bought the series and couldn’t figure out how to watch it again so Im glad I can watch it here now :)

[@FULLofJOHN]

This is so cheesy The info is great but the execution is a little flat I like the puns too

[@bangbang7903]

That's your opinion

[@colina1330]

Another big myth is that medium-rare is the only way to go. It really depends on the type of steak. A filet benefits more from a more rare cook, but a fattier steak like a ribeye is still juicy and delicious all the way up to medium.

[@l4d2_ellis20]

Even Kenji mentioned in an article that he prefers medium for fattier cuts of steak.

[@viethuongvothai686]

Colin Like you said, medium is ok, but well done IS NOT

[@Zypher77777]

Why don't you ever invite me over when you're making steaks, Kenji?

[@TG-nh9jx]

Loving this show!

[@jimmyrrpage]

I. Want. More. Of. These. Shit I paid for them the last time and I will HAPPILY pay for them again! This series was amazing and NEEDS TO COME BACK!

[@eugenesedita]

When I can afford a steak like that, I'll let you know.

[@dubprocesslbc]

Damn. Good. Video. I wish all the other channels on KZbin showing people how to "properly" cook steaks would watch this.

[@vilhelmhammershoi3871]

In average, after putting the steak at 250 in the oven... how long did it take and what thicknesses were they before they reached the 10 degrees before desired temp? can you do a test for one inch, one and a half and 2 inch as an average?

[@xmozzazx]

I see Guga, I therefore subscribe!I bet if I scroll down, there will be a ninja somewhere!

[@arunramachandran5012]

I have a few genuine questions: 1. Do steaks really need to be rested after they are cooked? I saw another channel (Guga) where he says they don't need to be rested, but perhaps I misheard or misinterpreted as well 2. Do you really need to get the pan "screaming hot"? Or will medium-high heat also give you an equally good sear? 3. How long before cooking do you need to salt the steak? In my experience, steaks visibly absorb salt and the salt actually disappears after some time, which indicates that the steak has fully absorbed the salt, giving the steak a more uniform saltiness. But how long does it take for the steak to fully absorb the salt?

[@ccbowers]

So for the resting of the steaks question- The video you were watching was probably used a sous vide method of cooking. Resting isnt necessary with sous vide cooking. Resting matters more with large cuts that have a high temperature gradient. (resting allows the temperature to even out and moisture to redistribute) A sous vide steak doesn't have either issue.

[@ccbowers]

When to salt is a big topic. You can get a good result from different approaches, depending on the type of meat and size. For a roast, salting ahead of time gets a better result, but for a grilled steak, salting just before grilling works very well. I don't like presalting steaks too far in advanced, because the texture changes--it can get too dense a chew for my taste (like a cured meat) .

[@TheArcSet]

One day I will sees a rib-eye in real life ;) . Thanks for the video, I used to binge you articles insatiably.

[@allorgansnobody]

No one here talking about Kenji playing with raw chicken and a banana.

[@AlergicToSnow]

I have a complaint about this video. It wasn’t available a very long time ago. I won’t tell you how many steaks I had to make to come to the same conclusions. Excellent video. Totally agree with the info. Great presentation.

[@willbraswell7425]

Great video! Her naughty smile when adding creamer to her coffee makes me think it was Baileys!!

[@twe8k]

If you could read you’d clearly see it says BAILEYS on the bottle. Dipshit.

[@internziko]

"I call this method the reverse sear" how can he claim he came up with that with a straight face? Lol

[@scootervalentine]

1:46 shoutouts to cooking with dog (youtube channel)

[@glsapp23]

Ah I knew I recognized the music!

[@AndrewEllisAndymanout]

Season at the bare minimum one hour before cooking. Bring grill to temp. 350 or higher with a cool side. Place steaks on cool side and close grill for four minutes. Flip steaks remaining on cool side and close grill for another four minutes. Sear steaks for a minute over direct flames flipping to create and even color and crust. Let rest for 15-25 minutes.

[@johanneskingma]

what about salting the steak before cooking? Doesn't the osmose extract the juices from the meat? Just asking.

[@ItsBinhRepaired]

That's what happens when people don't experiment for themselves and just believe everything they're told. You get people that believe charcoal and peanut butter makes crystals...lol

[@telmanbaghirov8222]

Exactly lol. Shows that most of you have never worked in a kitchen or cooked meat cause it makes a huge difference how well small a piece of meat rests based on whether it was out of the fridge or not 🤣

[@jacobkutz6466]

Did you think about testing when to salt steaks? Right before, hour before, 24 hour before. I have played with this and my family has a clear favorite. Give it a try.

[@victoriahollis3454]

What is your families favourite?

[@notahotshot]

@@victoriahollis3454, everybody seems to like the middle child best.

[@Pauliepsi]

Dropping real science, gj guys.

[@whadoyoumen]

Those puns tho.. it’s like they put a steak thru my heart...

[@chesterpuffington8368]

Or just sous vide it and make absolutely perfect steak every time.

[@hunterbunter6690]

Chester Puffington And unfortunately, fill it with synthetic, estrogenic plastic particles. Unless of course you buy a silicone sous-vide bag.

[@rolandmata6395]

@@hunterbunter6690 which is, what you're supposed to do soo.

[@chesterpuffington8368]

Hunter Bunter That’s a bit of a stretch there.

[@alexclark4792]

I'd rather have my absolutely perfect steak in minutes rather than hours. So i'll grill mine.

[@chesterpuffington8368]

Alex Clark if you have never done sous vide, you cant understand what perfection really is.

[@maon7565]

I like your show, nice to see someone prove what I've always suspected, yet didn't want to sacrifice $25 of meat to prove. Salt pepper garlic, tough of cheyenne, wicked hot grill , 2 min, flip, repeat, repeat, repeat, eat, yum.

[@robertmcelfresh1031]

I heard they made 2 sets of mashed potatoes. One of the pots had some beef bones in the water then they asked people to do an A/B taste comparison. Most people preferred the potatoes that had been made with the bones in the water, but they could not say why. So it is a subtile difference, but noticeable.

[@l4d2_ellis20]

I think that's a little different from cooking a steak with a bone in. If the bone is providing flavor it's just the same flavor as the meat itself. Bones in the water for potatoes or using it for stock is different as you're adding flavor from a different ingredient to vegetables.

[@adamleckius2253]

Love her energy!

[@MichaelREFLECTS]

Okay...i watched it. That was good..and she definitely had charisma...damnit....

[@gmnelli]

My favorite? Boneless ribeye. Smoked at 175-190 for 45 minutes then seared at 650 for 45 seconds or so per side.

[@uofawayne]

What a series of interesting tests you guys are conducting. These steaks must taste very different.

[@alcredeur]

You guys forgot to address the biggest myth of them all: that cooking a steak any more than medium is remotely ok. It’s just not ok, under any circumstance. Lol

[@AntwonDaBusiness]

Don’t season before drying overnight. Unless you want that strange cured beef texture because you’re insane.

[@homumu]

I once believed the statement “No difference between ROOM TEMP and FRIDGE STEAK” but after many tries I found out there is a difference. That didn’t mean Kenji’s work was wrong from the first start. In his past article, he used direct heat for sear and indirect heat for internal temp. If using indirect heat, internal temp doesn’t matter as it prevent carryover-cooking(Gray band). Actually the colder it is, the less gray band. ATM’s Dan Souza showed it by cooking frozen steak using pan-sear and oven-cooking. However if you pan-fry steak which uses only direct heat then cold steak exacerbates gray band. I cooked 2 steaks side by side under strict constraint and took pictures, and they are DIFFERENT. I don’t know how Kenji pan-fried steak on this video, but doubtful about its result. GENTLE HEAT is mandatory to prevent carryover cooking and it’s all about pan temp control. If you see the video u might notice at certain moment pan stops to smoke. What does it mean? Kenji lowered temperature of pan. I won’t bother with this because it’s all about experience and skill . Unfortunately common people don’t care details about the experiment using indirect heat, focusing only at the convenience of cooking cold steak from fridge right away, just pan-fry it expecting the result from FOOD LAB article. But it never happened.

[@bd80247]

No offense, but two steaks is not enough to come to a scientific conclusion like you are trying to give. You may be right, but two steaks is not enough.

[@bd80247]

And, if you actually read the Food Lab on Serious Eats the website, he goes a lot more into detail on it. So before judging, you should read that.

[@homumu]

@@bd80247 Sorry but i have read everything. Foodlab of 2015 and have covered every article from seriouseats cuz im big fan. What i want to say is, the reason that room temp and cold steak doesnt make any difference is due to indirect heat treatment. Have tried only 2, which is not a good sample to judge something but including me many chef found that difference and thats why Gordon Ramsey insisted "No COLD STEAK!" They arent stupid. Have you ever tried side by side test? I did and my close chef did. Basic principle of science is to doubt everything if any data doesnt match to prevaling conclusion. If its confined to pan frying it definitely makes difference. I can show picture too

[@bd80247]

@@homumuIt's all good. It's nice you did some experiments and found what works best for you. Total respect to you. I doubt even Kenji would have a problem with you doing what works best for you. :)

[@homumu]

@@bd80247 So what i wanted was Kenjis response to my doubt. Truly no problem with his result and experiment. But just everyone prefers to use only pan... so thats where the result is misused

[@Demasx]

Awesome to see these now@ A little funny so much production value but stock music, hehe.

[@MrJacobThrall]

I've long suspected that the 'bring up to room temp first' rule is nonsense. A corollary to that start-in-the-oven, 'reverse sear' thing: for those of us who eat our steaks extremely rare, seared means done. The oven is lit, sure, but that's only for warming the plate...

[@HKim0072]

Missed opportunity: Steak, Lies and videotape.

[@nhoyle8609]

Agree with most of this although would love to see you debate the room temperature one with Gordon Ramsey and every other pro chef out there!

[@happyfuntimepewpew]

can’t believe how much kenji has aged since this video. must’ve been filmed 20 years ago.

[@Hellraiserzzz]

What about salting? Salt just before cooking or salt much earlier?

[@hawaiidispenser]

I would watch this TV show!! My brain is full, but my stomach is hungry.

[@93redcamaroz28]

125 degrees? Those look way more done than that

[@aliyah9254]

this is the longest 12 minutes of my life

[@FrostPhoenix_]

Boy oh boy 🥵, this video is on 🔥 Also, awesome job Kenzi and Katie!

[@wseto09]

Mmm. Suggest watching these kind of videos with a full stomach or you plan on hoping to get ready to making something nice to eat and hopefully not over stuff yourself after watching these kind of videos. Making sure you don't short circuit you keyboard or mouse or if your watching on a laptop. Don't kill it with the mouth watering savor form these videos.

[@gman6862]

Kenji is the goat

[@adamlamb4056]

So I was thought how to cook steaks on a gas grill, and that you only flip once because you leave the lid shut. I would be curious if you are cooking on a grill, with the lid closed, if it is better to flip once or if it matters?

[@KimchiFarts]

What about seasoning your steak and letting it sit for 20-30 minutes before cooking it?

[@supertrocaman]

Damn I thought this was a video for steak fries oh well

[@rayfigueroa834]

Been doing Reverse searing for 23yrs now. I thought everyone knew about that

[@itraynell]

This was the dude who created term

[@Jeffersonyuvens]

Legit on a glance, at first i thought the girl's head were flying in the thumbnail

[@mcspad]

Bone marrow is what adds the flavour

[@deoxyplasmic]

This show and it's jokes were very well done.

[@twe8k]

The sarcasm is killing me

[@khairyfarhan]

The last one should have done in separate skillets. Having two steaks in one skillet spreads the heat between them, probably unevenly. So the results aren't as reliable.

[@SteelHex]

The reason to flip the steak only once is to have pretty grill lines, if you’re cooking on a slat grill. It’s purely aesthetics.

[@loubradizza2217]

Grill lines...another food myth. Where there are grill lines, the steak is nicely seared. But what about between the grill lines?

[@SteelHex]

There’s no myth that grill lines make a better tasting steak, but they do make it look more appetizing.

[@squatchy0000]

I thought the reason you only flipped it once was because it gives you more time to drink!

[@vinniecashew5551]

Flip every 20 seconds, awesome....check out Heston Blumenthal 🙌🏼

[@jeffeckberg4099]

Another steak myth: if you put a steak in front of me it will not disappear.

[@user-ie8oz2xk2d]

the eye contact in these videos...

[@drof2th]

When I cook steaks badly I call it a mis-steak!

[@jacob1931]

That’s ain’t it chief