What is Blue Rare Steak? Is it Safe to Eat Blue Steak?

Yet again, here I sit writing about steak and making myself hungry with the thoughts of eating one. With that said, today we shall talk about blue steak and its health benefits.

Is it safe? Is it healthy? Or more importantly, Is it tasty?

Table of Contents

• What Is a Blue Steak?
• Is it Safe to Eat a Blue Steak?
• How to Cook a Blue Steak
  • How to Know When You Have Cooked the Perfect Blue Steak
• What Kind of Cut Should You Choose to Get the Best Blue Steak?
• Conclusion

What Is a Blue Steak?

Fear not as the word blue is simply just a title. By no means is the steak actually blue, although that would look really cool. No pun intended.

The word ‘Blue’ here is actually referring to the doneness of the steak, this is the extent to which it is cooked at.

There are many levels of doneness, the four most known ones being Well-done, medium, rare, and blue.

These titles are not set in stone. For instance, there is a very popular level called “medium-rare” which as the name implies, is in the middle of both medium and rare in terms of doneness.

From the most cooked to the least cooked, the most popular ways to order a steak are:

• Well-done
• Medium-well
• Medium
• Medium-rare
• Rare
• blue

A blue steak is the least cooked one out of the lot, the cooking time is very minimal compared to something like a well-done steak.

Despite their low cooking time, this does not mean that blue steaks are raw. They have all their edges seared and are warm, so it is completely different from eating a raw steak.

Is it Safe to Eat a Blue Steak?

There is a common misconception that blue steak is outrageously unhealthy thanks to it being ‘almost raw’. This, thankfully, is not true.

Blue steak is completely safe to eat under one condition; that all edges are seared and the outer layer remains intact.

The reasoning behind this is very simple. Bacteria is likely to cover the steak and is sometimes unavoidable when a piece of meat is raw. However, as long as the outer layer is intact and unbroken, the bacteria can only be on the outside.

As a result of this, when the steak is seared, all bacteria are killed making it healthy to eat a steak no matter how raw it is as long as the outer edges are all seared. So if you’re eating blue steak, it is completely safe and there is no need to worry.

How to Cook a Blue Steak

Unlike all the other steaks that have long cooking times, a blue steak is much, much simpler.

To perfect the art of cooking a blue steak all you need to do is ensure your pan is searing hot. If any piece of meat touches the pan, it is crucial that it makes a noise so you know it is hot enough.

Take your steak and sear each side and every edge until they are no longer red and now resemble a light brown color. After searing, cook the steak on each side for a further 40 seconds.

If you want to up your steak game, then consider rubbing the steak with olive oil, salt, and pepper before cooking. Also, make sure to throw some crushed-up garlic and a sprig of thyme in the pan while cooking and baste the steak. This can be done with a spoon, just tilt the pan until all the oil is in the spoon and pour it back over the steak.

How to Know When You Have Cooked the Perfect Blue Steak

To see how well a steak is cooked to match the specification of its doneness, there is a little test that you can do which requires nothing but your hands.

This method is known as the touch test and consists of using your nondominant hand in different positions to gauge how the meat should feel in relation to your hand.

You want your nondominant hand to be facing palm up and relaxed. If you touch your thumb to the tip of your ring finger, the flesh and muscle at the base of your thumb will be the same texture as a well-done steak.

Each finger closer to your thumb that you touch will change the texture of this and will go down a level of doneness.

To make sure your blue steak is perfect, it should feel exactly like the flesh at the bottom of your thumb when it isn’t touching any finger at all.

What Kind of Cut Should You Choose to Get the Best Blue Steak?

The sheer number of different steak cuts is staggeringly high, and they all come with their own perks, textures, and different taste profiles.

So if you are eating blue steak, which cut would be best?

Before answering this, one piece of information needs to be made abundantly clear. When you cook steak normally, all fat inside of it will be rendered and made into juice. However, as we are eating this steak blue, the fat will be basically raw on the inside and will be quite unpleasant to eat.

So with that in mind, we need a very meaty steak. No steaks with good marbling will be used so goodbye ribeye and wagyu.

Also, as the steak is raw on the inside you want it to have a good natural flavor.

With all of this information present, the conclusion is that a sirloin or flank would be the best cut to cook and eat blue. Both steaks have an amazing flavor and little marbling which means they will still be enjoyable no matter how you want them cooked.

Conclusion

If this article inspires you to go and buy a cut of steak and try it blue, then I will be pleased. But, if you are looking to gather more information on steaks in general, feel free to check out our article that talks about the differences between the doneness of steak, and our other article that compares ribeye to sirloin.