How can you tell if steak is done without a thermometer?

What does each doneness look like inside?

As a steak cooks, the center goes red, then pink, then little or no pink. At rare it is soft, slick and red. At medium-rare it is an opaque red that has started to firm. At medium it is pink throughout, and at medium-well and well done there is little or no pink, with firmer, drier meat. The doneness chart shows each stage with its temperature.

Is the finger test accurate?

No. Judging doneness by feel is unreliable. In a peer-reviewed study, home cooks using the finger test did better than chance, but their overall accuracy was low, and the authors recommend a more reliable test. Hands differ from person to person and cuts differ in firmness, so the same press can mean different things.

Can you cut into a steak to check it?

You can look, but the color inside a steak is not a reliable sign of doneness. Packaging, pH, fat content and other factors can make beef brown before it is done or stay pink after. A thermometer probe, by contrast, releases almost no extra juice.

Can you go by cooking time instead?

Only roughly. Cooking time grows much faster than thickness: a steak twice as thick takes about four times as long to heat through to the center. A time that works for one steak can miss badly on a thicker or thinner one. The cook planner gives times by thickness, but check the center before you pull it.

What is the most reliable way to check doneness?

An instant-read thermometer pushed in from the side to the center of the steak. See where to put a thermometer in a steak for placement, the right type and a quick accuracy check.