MasterChef's Marcus Wareing reveals you're probably cooking steak wrong - here's how to get it right

Marcus Wareing shares his top tips for cooking the perfect steak, and you won't believe how simple they are.

In his book ‘Marcus Everyday’,  Marcus Wareing explains you must always start with good quality meat, which is pretty obvious But, did you also know you should also allow the meat to come to room temperature before you start cooking?

Marcus recommends taking the steak out of the fridge at least two hours beforehand, so it has plenty of time to reach the correct temperature all of the way through.

According to Marcus, it's also essential not to season your steak in advance. As, doing this will draw the moisture out of the meat and not only cause it to spit in the pan but may also give it a bitter taste.

Instead Marcus recommends that you season the steak just before it enters the pan, following these easy steps:

  1. Warm a heavy-based pan to a high heat
  2. Season the meat on one side, and place this side down onto the hot pan
  3. Put the seasoned side down into the hot pan. At this point he does not recommend adding any oil or butter. However if you would like to add butter for flavour add this after the steak has cooked for a couple of minutes.
  4. Once the steak has been in the pan for two minutes season the meat and flip it over to cook for six to eight minutes on the other side depending on thickness.

Finally Marcus advises that you “Never eat a hot steak”, but instead allow the meat to rest for five to 10 minutes to ensure that the blood and juices don’t run out of the meat.

We have plenty more advice on how to cook the perfect steak. Once you've mastered this classic dish, move onto our other nifty food trick and hacks,. You'll soon be a whiz in every area of the kitchen.

Rose Fooks
Deputy Food Editor

Rose Fooks is Deputy Food Editor at Future Publishing, creating recipes, reviewing products and writing food features for a range of lifestyle and home titles including GoodTo and Woman&Home. Before joining the team, Rose obtained a Diplome de Patisserie and Culinary Management at London’s Le Cordon Bleu. Going on to work in professional kitchens at The Delaunay and Zedel.