The Big Mistake People Make Grilling Steak, According To Anthony Bourdain

Steak is one of the many meals that can be made even more masterfully at home than they are at a restaurant, especially if you are one of the increasing number of people who believe steakhouses are totally overrated. However, there are a handful of things you need to keep in mind when making a homemade steak. According to Anthony Bourdain, one of the biggest mistakes you can possibly make is cooking the meat on too high of heat.

The celebrity chef and author explained this stance in an interview with Guy Gourmet of Men's Health in 2014. During the discussion, Bourdain explained that, among other things, high heat is one of the surefire ways to ruin your steak. "What most people do wrong is they rush the flame. They grill too hot," Bourdain critiqued. The beloved celebrity chef known for hosting CNN's "Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown" throughout the 2010s later added, "I'm a bit of a control freak at the grill. I control the fire first of all. You want a nice medium flame."

While Anthony Bourdain's admitted quality of being a control freak does offer some reasoning as to why he liked keeping the heat low when grilling a steak, his advice translates well for people whose style of cooking is a bit more relaxed. Some chefs generally prefer to cook steaks on high to give them a better sear, but that can often lead the exterior of the steak to cook quicker than its interior — meaning your steak's middle could be completely unheated by the time you believe it's ready to go. This does, of course, depend on your cut of meat, as very thin steaks can usually be cooked on high without worrying about its center being undercooked.

However, in the celebrity chef's experience, a thicker steak necessitates medium cooking, with Bourdain's ideal cut and size being, as he put it, "a big, fat, 34-ounce [ribeye]." Beyond cooking on medium heat, resting the meat both before and after cooking helps it achieve the ideal temperature in the pan. Bourdain explained, "I let it sit out for about 45 minutes, then at the last minute I rub it with salt and pepper, brush the grill lightly with oil, throw it on, and I grill it almost to the point that it's done. Then I pull it off the fire, and let that heat carry over while it rests for about five to 10 minutes."