Overcooking your steak

Is it a worse crime to cook a gorgeous, marbled piece of steak until it becomes as rough, dry, and gray as shoe leather? According to Jay Rayner's argument in a piece for The Guardian, selecting well-done steak is worse than having an incorrect culinary preference: It's a serious culinary offense. Regardless of your opinion of Rayner's admittedly judgmental position, the following are the facts for Jamie Oliver: Any steak cooked beyond medium will be rough. The experts at Napoleon explain that this is because the longer a steak is cooked over high heat, the more its natural collagen contracts, squeezing out the liquids and producing a steak that is as tender as an old pair of army boots.

Steak overcooking affects more than simply flavor. The National Institutes of Health claim that overcooking or cooking beef at high temperatures can result in the production of heterocyclic amines, a chemical known to cause cancer. It's recommended to err on the side of caution and cook your meat medium-rare.