How to use the online timer
Six minutes in total, split across both sides, is a working starting point for a steak around two to three centimetres thick in a very hot, dry pan, aimed at medium-rare. Thickness drives this far more than weight does: a thin frying steak wants half that, while a thick sirloin or rib-eye needs longer and often benefits from finishing in the oven so the middle catches up without the outside burning.
Take the steak out of the fridge half an hour before it meets the pan and dry the surface thoroughly with kitchen paper, because a wet steak steams rather than browns. What the clock cannot tell you is doneness, since that depends on the pan, the hob and the cut. A meat thermometer settles it: roughly 52°C for rare, 57°C for medium-rare and 63°C for medium, taken out a few degrees short of the target.
The rest is the step most often skipped and the one most worth keeping. Five minutes on a warm plate, loosely covered, lets the temperature even out and the juices settle back into the meat rather than running across the board at the first cut. Slice across the grain, and pour whatever has collected on the plate back over the top.
Common questions
How do I know when a steak is done without a thermometer?
Pressing the centre and comparing the give with the flesh at the base of your thumb is the traditional method and works reasonably well with practice. A thermometer is more reliable: around 52°C rare, 57°C medium-rare, 63°C medium.
Does the steak really need to rest?
Yes. Five minutes on a warm plate lets the temperature even out and the juices settle back into the meat rather than running onto the board at the first cut.
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