Having lost my patience at all the bs in conventional cooking wisdom, seeing people actually test them is so nice. I always want to know WHY should I do X and how much it actually makes a difference and then I can understand when to break that rule.

This just in; local man finds excuse to eat like 15 steaks. Kidding! This is AWESOME! I love this type of A/B testing, something I think we would really only get so accessibly on the internet. You're doing good work and I love this!!!

MORE VIDEOS CHRIS. MORE VIDEOS FASTER CHRIS. I BUY THERMOMETER CHRIS.

As someone who has cooked professionally for 20 years I'm going to dispel the idea that this is done in professional kitchens. I'm not saying it never is, but 95% of kitchens other than super high end, Michelin star/ James beard level slow dining restaurants have time to let their steaks sit out to come up to room temperature, it just isn't done. For health and safety reasons steaks are kept in refrigeration until an order comes in and immediately fired. The only extra time that may be taken apart from cooking is to let the steak rest at the end of the cooking process. We would love to have the time to temper steaks but in the commercial setting customers are generally far too impatient to get their food for us to have time to do so.

My takeaway from the video was to use a dish to hold the steak when it's resting so the juices don't bleed all over my cutting board and soak in. And I get to use the meat juice for a pan sauce afterwards.

Fantastic video. I asked myself those question many times. Unfortunately tempering meat for 15 minutes in a professional kitchen is very impractical (no customare nowdays want to wait 30 minutes for a steak). So there is a better trick that gives you perfectly cooked steaks and no tempering needed. Instead of flipping the steak only once during cooking, flip it every 30-60 seconds. It seems counter intuitive but it allows each side to cook more gently as it keep cooking and resting consecutively instead of being exposed to a high temperature constantly for few minutes . You'll still get a beautiful browing on your steak and it will have a very even cooking through it.

The graphics on these videos are always amazing!! So good to see the graph showing the visual gradient! Well done

This really helps settle a difference of opinion my husband and I had. We’ve been married 13 years, and he’s cooked approximately 5 times for me, (he’s NOT lazy, but requires forearm crutches to stand and walk) but recently purchased a NICE grill. He went all out and when he wanted to let the steak “rest” BEFORE cooking and I was unsure about it. Now he can temper his steaks for a short while in confidence. I’m sending him your video now so he can say “ha haaaaa I was RIGHT!” Which up to this point has been about the same number of times he’s cooked 😂😋

As a matter of habit I always just left mine in the refrigerator until I was ready to throw it right on the fire. Really this was a survival technique as I’m easily distracted and I’m usually drinking copious amounts of wine when I decide to put flame to meat. This way I know at least some portion of the burnt morsel will still be pink. Good job nice video!

I really appreciate the inclusion of Celsius alongside the Fahrenheit when discussing temperatures. Fantastic content as usual.

Always love the videos! Even paced instruction/education that doesn't bore or is distracting. Great Video Chris!

This content is great. I just found the channel and really happy to find a channel doing some quality experiments. I imagine it's a lot of work to prepare it. Please dont stop making videos :)

Hey Chris, I recently discovered your channel and I must say, I'm absolutely blown away by the quality of your videos. I ended up watching all of them at once! Your expertise in cooking a perfect steak and understanding the whole idea of temperature has taught me so much. I was surprised that you are the founder of Jouel, which happens to be one of my all-time favorite kitchen gadgets. I just wanted to express my gratitude for creating such exceptional content and kitchen tools that cater to home cooks and foodies like myself. Keep up the fantastic work!!!!

Thank you Chris! Your instructions have VASTLY improved my in house Steak cook for any steak. My Wife loves the 2 inch thick ribeye steaks with the reversed seared method. Three Cheers for you and your videos!

Just watched all your steak videos, I'm loving the "science" aspect and hope to see more of these styles of videos with different meats and food in general. 10/10

What a great explanatory video, thank you. As a classically trained cook I used this technique as a professional. I was ignorant until today that the term "tempering" is used. I was used to seeing it used in chocolate making - which of course makes total sense!

What a great video. Like your initial thoughts I always assumed that starting with a colder steak was the way to go. Truly spectacular info.

Chris, what can I say... simply phenomenal. I just devoured all your content. It's so good that makes me want to work in food science too... Any way.... I'm really impressed with what you do, and from very far (Chile) my deepest congrats and appretiation.

Tip for speeding up tempering: Sit the meat in a room-temperature skillet for 15-20 minutes. Remember the "Miracle Thaw"? It was basically a slab of aluminum, and that is basically the same as an aluminum skillet. The skillet is just good at absorbing heat from its surroundings (air, counter top, whatever) and also good at conducting it to the meat.

I feel like I pretty much always did this already, not on purpose but because I'm busy seasoning and cutting up vegetables and I leave the meat lying on the counter while I do that. But it's still good to know that this actually improves the cook of a steak and that I should be doing it on purpose!

This was super helpful and insightful. I’m going to try this today!

I absolutely love this type of videos. Instantly subscribed. I really like the explanations. And then you show it!

Informative video. I've always noticed it's easier to cook a steak evenly when it's closer to room temperature but hadn't really though about it this much. I usually just take it out of the fridge around 30 minutes before I cook it - any longer than that and I get too hungry thinking about eating it.

I'm one of those that I like to pull my meat out to get room temperature before I cook it only because that's what my grandmother taught me. She was the best cook to date so I listened even though when she was teaching me I didn't fully understand because I was still very young like 7 years old. It's good to see videos like that that show you why certain techniques are better.

Thanks Chris. Loving your thermometer and your KZfaq videos.

your videos made me see things i have never seen before, and i have seen over 2k hours of cooking content what a nicee work you have done dear

Dude your channel is absolutely amazing!! The information I'm learning from your vids is awesome and makes cooking so much more fun and enjoyable with great results. Amazing work!

I tempered a roast recently and it blew mind how well it turned out. I wish my mom knew about this when I young her roasts were well let’s just say they were rough

This is the second time youve brought up this aspect of thermodynamics and it continues to blow my mind

Was skeptical of tempering for years. Thanks for the video!

Excellent video. Thanks for taking the time to explain it all so clearly!

Tempering just seems like an extremely inefficient way to let a steak come to room temp. I'm wondering why you weren't using the constant flipping technique that you demonstrated to be superior in this video? Since using that technique I have had no issues with cooking steaks straight out of the fridge.

Another excellent vid, Chris! I've always wondered if I was doing the right thing by tempering (because I DO temper all the proteins I cook) and now you've reinforced why! As a side note, cooked a ribeye the other night using the rapid flip method.....HOOOWEEE! Stunningly spectacular results so THANKS AGAIN!!

Short video, very well explained (in a simple way so everyone can understand too), straight to the point and some actual examples for evidence. This was a great video, no long ass explanations no one cares about

I’ve been playing with variations on this method with pork chops. I found i really liked putting a pork chop into sous vide at 115f for about 10-15 minutes then turning the bath down to 100f then frying in a press-pan-with butter, salt and pepper, to 115f which Carries over to 140 or so…setting it to 100f and waiting 30 minutes also has been great. I’ve read all of mc and it has been very helpful for me for years, so it’s great to Glen more nuggets of knowledge from you, Chris. Thanks for everything!

Really interesting, well thought out and executed video. I can tell you that my girlfriend does this and we battle all the time over it. My thinking (like the rest of the planet) was keeping the center cold would allow for more of a buffer zone. I'm going to say this out loud, but don't let her hear it- I WAS WRONG.

I've worked 4 years for a major steakhouse casual fine dining franchise and we definitely don't "temper" the steaks.

Very useful information. I like the warm water technique a lot: cuts down on time and keeps the meat sealed.

phenomenal video! top channels on cooking by far

This channel is simply amazing, every video changes my entire perception

Banquet cook. We presear our meats and temper them for firing. Whatever the party size is, we cook to medium rare in Combi ovens. We normally pull our proteins out an hour prior so they come up to a reasonable temp. Tempering makes a huge difference in quality of finished product. You are spot on why tempering makes a difference.

I was always taught "temper for about 20 minutes for a more even cook", but this is the first time I've seen it not just explained, but demonstrated. I probably won't risk the full 4 hours, but after seeing the 15-minute temper I can see why I was taught 20 minutes. It's a reasonable compromise.

Been doing this for years with everything I grill outside but so good to see some proper measurements.

Love your channel ! Great information ! Would love some behind the scene info about how you do these unbelievable shots !

The term you are looking for is Delta T. That’s the difference temp of the steak and pan. Thanks for the video. Never gave it much thought. Will be tempering from now on.

Fascinating! I think I and others have dismissed tempering due to the large temperature gradient between the pan and the steak (only about a 10% change going from 40F - > 375F vs. 70F->375F). But from the perspective of internal temp to finish temp, it's much more dramatic. Thanks as always!

I've heard the arguments on both sides but nice to have a side by side. Great video...

What a fantastic, informative, no BS video

I’m genuinely curious to see what it would look like when you normalize the two results on cooking time to achieve the same internal temperature? What was the variable difference to reach True Core temp between the two steaks? And did that have a variable difference on the crust, in these visuals it did indeed look like the crust of the cold steak was more browned than that of the tempered. Furthermore, was steaming taken into account in this experiment, I imagine a vast amount more moisture would be held in the cold steak versus the tempered steak, would you not agree? And if so, as a cooking expert, you know that a considerable amount of steaming in a pan leads to the greying of meat, rather than allowing for Maillard browning, but doesn’t necessarily correlate with a more well-done toughness of meat but less visually presentable product.

Absolutely loved the graphics at 3:40 to show viewers what it looks like inside the steak due to Newton's Law of Cooling in regards to thermal conductivity. Well done.

Thanks for demonstrating and not just giving an opinion. I always reverse sear, so good to know I can go straight from the fridge.

I had heard of tempering meat before cooking but I didn't really know why this would help. Thanks for your clear and concise explanation.

I did my own experiment in a similar manner to prove 20 minutes isn’t long enough to be significantly different. A 1 1/2 inch sirloin starting 4.5C took 3 hours to reach a room temperature of 18C (England in winter folks!) For safety reasons I’d certainly recommend seasoning your meat with salt for the tempering period and also brushing with some cooking oil.

Lan Lam has an instructional video for a cold sear steak, which has worked reasonably well for me. It involves salting the day before, drying the steak, and then flipping every two minutes for the heat to come into the meat at a slower pace so as to avoid the uneven cooking and the grey band of overcooked stead. Any thoughts on this technique?

Came to this video at random but the harmony of his explanation made me feel quite relaxed.

a great explanation of actually why what I've been doing so by some long ago learned habit- season and before cooking have out at room temperature for about an hour but no more than two (for food safety). it's been great steaks for decades. thanks for completing my grilling science knowledge with this great vid! 👨‍🍳😋

One way to get a more evenly cooked steak is to flip it three times while you're cooking. When the meat cooks it tenses up where the heat is being applied to. Flipping it (and letting each side rest a little while not under active high heat) allows the center to become more defined.

One thing that's important to consider is that professional chefs use much thicker steaks normally. A lot of these tips from professionals on how to cook steak(temper, constant flipping) only work on steaks an inch thick or more. I've been able to cook a steak from the supermarket medium rare with a beautiful crust only by completely disregarding the advice from chefs and cooking it on the absolute highest heat I can straight from the fridge and only flipping it once, I don't even have time to baste. As soon as the crust is good enough it's done inside

That was not only interesting but very enlightening. Thankyou. I frequently wondered how tempering a steak affected the cooking. This video was concise and clear as a bell. Well done, mate. Hunh, that wasn't a pun.

Great video. Very scientific, quick, concise and informative. Just subscribed. And sent to my cooking buddies.

Your science-y approach is bang on. Like Kenji, Ethan C et al, your scientific method combined with food knowledge is a winner! Thanks man

Great experiment Chris! I recall Kenji with SeriousEats had done this experiment and reached the opposite conclusion. As such, I'm curious if there are other factors at play in your setup. For example, another commenter mentioning the salt. Also, the water trick is very good for bringing frozen meat or cold eggs up to temp as well!

I discovered this by accident, when i had a small fridge and had to leave some stuff out. I now have plenty of fridge space, but like to bring meat up to cool room temps before cooking. Nice to see a structured experiment and the science behind it. Also, i bought your thermometer.

This was an excellent video! Thank you

I like the idea of tempering in water but if you are going to do that you might as well just cook it in the water sous vide and then just sear it at the end for the best results.

That was definitely an eye opener and I was surprised that even a 15-20 min hangout on the counter would make that big a difference. I'm not sure I'd be wicked into leaving chicken out that long but most of the time I'm reverse searing chicken anyway so likely not a huge deal. Great test!

Last year I took a cooking MasterClass and the Chef kept repeating to temper meat, even chicken (though for a shorter period of time). I have been following this advice since. Thank you for confirming through your experiment.

I LOVE YOU PLEASE KEEP DOING VIDEOS LIKE THIS

I've never heard it called tempering. I've always heard it called "blooming". The best restaurants I've worked at always bloom for 2-4 hours (at 4 hours bacteria starts to build). And I was taught the reason for it is not even cooking, but to allow the fat to "bloom" and expand through the meat more. I love this channel. I've been a chef for 30 years and it's nice to learn the science behind all the things I've been doing my entire life.

Tempering in tepid water seems like a nice solution for the time and inefficiency it takes to warm them sitting on the counter (not to mention the food safety concerns). I'll have to try it out.

Very well tested and explained. Thanks, very useful.

You're the best! Thanks for the great cooking videos!

So leave your steak out for 4 hours.. you I don't know, just suis vide them? These type of things all feel like "Here are a bunch of tricks to try to get close to suis vide even doneness" Think I'd just fire up my Joule. ;-) I would think that, aside from the warm bath, a heat defuse/defrosting plate would be a better way to go than just leaving it on a standard plate or cutting block to temper.

Great video. Two things come to mind: Cooking causes phase changes and chemical reaction, and those require input of heat, not just changing the temperature. It's the difference between bringing water up to 210 and actually boiling it. That's one reason why tempering helps, you're getting rid of one phase change in some of the fat, and making the rest easier to accomplish. The other is that tempered meats are going to be more pliable and have more surface area in contact with the cooking surface. More even heat application. Think of how hard it would be to cook a tortilla chip vs. a soft tortilla. Tempering makes the meat flexible and puts more in contact with the pan. Also helps prevent bigger temperature gradients which will 'curl' the meat down towards the edges, where there's less to dissipate it. I'm sure we've all cooked a cold steak or burger that ends up with a ring of char along the edges and none in the middle.

great video and the method in comparing the cooking process was great. i kind of prescribe with my cooking is am i trying to win a michelin star or have dinner when i walk into the kitchen. 99% of the time i want a good meal. knowing the technical side of cooking and tempering it with practicality people seem to get lost. aesthetically there is a huge difference. but in a completely blind taste test. how many people actually could tell whether the steak was tempered or not. my guess is not very many. probably none. if it tastes good and you like eating it. it doesn't matter how you cook it. i will be binge watching your videos for the rest of the day. i like your presentational format.

Amazing content, as usual 👏🏻🥂

could you do a video on if butter basting a steak while cooking actually makes it taste more buttery? and perhaps explore different methods of applying the butter, like cooking the butter alone with herbs while the steak rests and pouring it on after. i would love to see an objective approach from you on the subject

Chris, I sometimes pre-sear meat cold out of the fridge before sous vide cooking it (if I'm cooking it in a sauce, or it is easy to over cook during searing like a pork chop), sometimes combined with a post-sear to refresh the crust. The rational being that the meat being colder will minimize the grey band that forms during the brief pre-searing step. Am I wrong? Should I be doing the pre-sear on tempered meat?

Hey Chris, love the detail you go into, as a former chemical engineer, it's one of those myth-dispelling thing that I really appreciate. I also, love a blue porterhouse steak! Given that we know there's 100's of ways to do it, and they all work, finding the "best" is a task. I've tried the cold sear method of late, and it seems to work pretty well, and the 30s flip, the 2 min flip, leaving it on for ~5 mins and flip etc. The cold sear seems to work pretty well, would be interested to see what you think of it, and how it would compare to 30s flip, reverse sear etc.

@ChrisYoungCooks I appreciate that you give temperature in F and C in this video. I noticed that you didn't do it it other videos.

If you get mad at the chef for not leaving out your steak before cooking it, would that be considered a temper tantrum?

5:30 regardless of the evenness of the cook, you can definitely see that the untempered steak had by far the best crust on it, with the 4-hour tempered steak having barely any crust at all.

First time watching. That was clinical precision. Beauty.

Thank you very much. Clear Concise and no fluff. Excellent.

Hi Chris! Great video! However, are you sure that your results aren't due to the excess water pulled from the cold steak since the salt was just applied and would draw out moisture? I'm not fully sure if this affects your experimental setup, but evaporation of water requires magnitudes more energy compared to heat conduction. To me it seems like the 4 hour steak would have more time to dry-out and this would affect the amount of energy that gets transfered into the meat, which in turn might explain the difference in results.

Hey Chris. If i stick in the thermometer half way how does it still find the correct core temp? I assume it looks for the lowest temperature across the sensor array. Is there a threshold to filter out possible ambient temps?

Great video/data!

Thank you, Chris. Great info.

The grey is caused by steam. So the more important thing to do is dry brine your steaks (assuming they are not already aged) for at least 40 minutes prior to cooking. Ensure the surfaces are dry before searing.

Hi Chris thanks for the experiment. Just to add little, but maybe 4 hours to temper is a bit long. The FDA recommends, "Never allow raw meat, poultry, seafood, eggs, or produce that requires refrigeration to sit at room temperature for more than two hours; the limit is one hour if the air temperature is above 90 °F. (If you're not sure whether certain produce requires refrigeration, ask your grocer.)"😊

Wow I never realized that - makes complete sense ! I'm doing this from now on !

I didn't have to go down a rabbit hole to learn something today. Thanks, I just subscribed.

Interesting, Guga just did a video a few weeks ago saying he doesn’t temper since it only raised the temp a couple degrees over 30 mins or so. Curious if you find that difference more noticeable. May have to experiment myself…good reason to have a few steak nights. Thanks for the video!

I'd be interested to see the same experiment with constant flipping

Good video, great advice and I'll use it. Thank you.

Wonderful video, thank you. I've been using the microwave to introduce some energy into the steak to bring up the internal temperature faster, using the "power level" feature that pulses the magnetron. I give it 8 minutes or so at 10% which works out to 48 seconds of heating spread out over the 8 minutes. Avoids hot spots and gently warms up the steak to room temperature.

I can't stop laughing out every time he mentions his thermometer, he never misses the chance to detail about it.

I never temper my steaks and my steaks have never looked that bad after resting. They look like the one you tempered. Something wasn’t done right.

This is great info with actual tests.

I've put a couple of steaks between two cast iron skillets to speed the tempering. Aluminum is a great heat sink too if it has a lot of surface area like a full or half sheet pan.