What is a Blue Steak?
What is a blue steak? A blue steak is also known as rare blue steak or blue rare steak, is the first stage on the steak doneness chart. A blue rare steak is extra rare and slightly shy of being served. It is called blue because it has a bluish or purple color, depending on the perception of its color. It changes red when exposed to air and loses its blue color because the myoglobin becomes oxygenated from the moment it is cut when you buy it from the butcher.
Why is it Called Blue Steak?
There are different theories about it that why it is called a blue steak. Some people say that it is because the meat gets dark purple color when you first cut it, then it quickly changes to red when exposed to oxygen. The purple color is the result of deoxygenated blood in the animal muscle.
Another theory says that there’s no blood in your steak — it’s just a liquid which is called myoglobin, and it gets leaked out of steak when you cut into it without allowing the steak to rest after cooking. This doesn’t hold water for me, even when we use the correct terminology.
Deoxymyoglobin is formed when myoglobin is depleted of oxygen. Yes, deoxymyoglobin is purple-red in color. It is not a common color, which you will find in any steak — it becomes red so quickly. Secondly, the purple-red color is not blue. Next!
How to cook a Blue Steak?
Eating a properly cooked blue steak is safe, but your rare blue steak is raw and not properly cooked, then it can be dangerous for your health. To make your blue rare steak safe to eat then, it should be cooked internally at 140 °F or 60 °C temperature. So in restaurants where it is cooked below that temperature, they must include in their menu or disclaimer that their, “Blue steak is cooked below the standard temperature, eating it can be dangerous for your health and cause food poisoning.
Safety tips for consuming Blue Steak Safety
A well-cooked blue steak or rare blue steak is safe to eat but is still supposed to follow food safety guidelines that you must follow while cooking your rare blue steak. It must be sterilized and cleaned before cooking to avoid food poisoning. Always make sure that the outside of your steak is sealed correctly. In this way, bacteria like E. coli will be eliminated from your food.
Eating an adequately cooked rare steak is safe. But if your rare steak is raw and not properly cooked, then it can cause your food poisoning. If you want to make your rare steak safe to eat, you should cook it at least 50 °C temperature minimum. So in restaurants where it is cooked below that temperature, they must include in their menu or disclaimer that their, “Blue steak is cooked below the standard temperature, eating it can be dangerous for your health and cause food poisoning. So consume it at your own risk.”
Is Blue Rare Steak safe?
Is blue rare steak safe? Because blue steaks or blue rare steaks are cooked in a short time. So that’s why many people that, “is blue rare steak safe”? Studies have shown that a bacteria named E.coli is found outside on the blue rare steak. So when you are cooking it, cook the outside of your blue steak properly to eliminate this bacteria.