This isn't about recipes.
It's simply about how to cook your beef so it comes out tender and juicy. Every time.
There are just two ways to cook beef. Either you use a dry heat or you use a wet heat. Some cuts are best suited to only one of those methods – some to both.
Wet Heat means the meat's cooked in liquid, like a casserole or stew – or cooked in a wet or moist environment, like a braise. Wet heat is used mostly for tough cuts like Beef shin.
There are two other, important, things you need to know.
Firstly, every single cut of beef – no matter how tough or how tender – reacts to heat in the same way. They all cook to Rare, Medium or Well done at exactly the same temperature.
Not just that... they all become tough at the same temperature. They all dry out at the same temperature. And they all shrink at the same temperature.
The second thing you need to know is that any cut of beef can be cooked – to perfection – within a very narrow temperature range. For dry heat that's 45-74°C. And for wet heat it's 65-90°C.
It's that simple.
More importantly, every beef recipe you'll ever use can be made to work within those rules.
The trick is, to match your beef cut, not just with the method that suits it – wet or dry. But also to the temperature that works best for the cut.
Armed with that information you can cook beef perfectly. Every time.
We'll show you how to do that below.
Every cut of beef belongs to one of three categories
You need to know which category your beef cut belongs to – before you start to cook it.
Is it:
- Naturally tender – like Fillet steak
- Naturally tough – like Beef shin
- Neither tough nor tender – like Flank or Flat iron
The beef in each category needs to be cooked in a different way. And what defines each category is how much collagen a particular cut contains.
The more collagen a cut contains the tougher it will be
Different cuts of meat vary significantly in fat content and, importantly, collagen content.
Collagen is a long stiff protein that's found in all meat – and the more collagen a cut of beef contains the tougher it is to cut and chew.
Conversely, cuts like Fillet steak, have very little collagen, which is why they're tender. Because the less collagen a cut contains the more tender it'll be.
As a general rule, the further you radiate – outwards and downwards – from the Beef fillet the more collagen a cut contains. So the tougher it's likely to be. Although there are a few notable exceptions.
But, the good news is, collagen can also be used to “tenderise” these tougher cuts and add flavour.
Here's how...
First collagen turns your beef tough and dry
Between 52°C and 74°C collagen begins to contract in a series of sudden jumps which happen at specific temperatures. As it does so it squeezes water from the meat, shrinks it and makes it hard to chew.
Then collagen turns your beef tender and succulent
At 74°C in a wet or moist environment, collagen slowly begins to melt and turn into gelatine. The gelatine then acts as a lubricant and also moisturises the meat. Making it taste smooth and succulent.
Between 74-82°C all the collagen is melted and converted to gelatine. And the closer you get to 84°C the quicker this happens. Which also means there's no real need to braise or stew, even the toughest cut of meat, beyond 90°C.
And you definitely don't want to heat beef to 100°C (boiling point) because, at that temperature, the proteins toughen and dry the meat out even more.
The importance of time
When you cook beef, the slower it's cooked the better – unless it's being grilled or cooked on a pan, griddle or grill.
Meat roasted in a dry oven stays a lot more tender when you cook it low and slow.
And any cuts rich in collagen – that need a wet heat – must be cooked for a long time. That's because it takes time to fully melt down the collagen and "tenderise" the meat – which happens between 74-82°C.
How to cook naturally tender cuts of Beef
How to cook naturally tough cuts of Beef
How to cook Beef cuts that are neither tender nor tough
You need to sear your Beef – even if it's going in a stew
How to choose the right meat thermometer
Carryover cooking – what it is and how it works