The amount of lime a steak is cooked is a personal preference; shorter steak cooking times retain more juice, whereas longer steak cooking times result in drier, tougher meat but reduce concerns about disease. A vocabulary has evolved to describe the degree to which a steak is cooked. The following terms are in order from least cooked to most cooked:

• Raw – Uncooked. Used in dishes like steak tartare, Carpaccio, Gored gored, tiger meat and Kitfo.
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• Blue Rare or Very Rare – (37.8°C/100°F core temp) Cooked very quickly; the outside is seared, but the inside is usually cool and barely cooked. The steak will be red on the inside and barely warmed. Sometimes asked for as ‘blood rare’. In the United States this is also sometimes referred to as ‘Black and Blue’ or ‘Pittsburgh Rare’.
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• Rare – (48.9°C/120°F core temp) The outside is gray-brown, and the middle of the steak is red and slightly warm.
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• Medium Rare – (52.2°C/126°F degrees core temp) The steak will have a fully red, warm center. Unless specified otherwise, upscale steakhouses will generally cook to at least this level.
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• Medium – (57.2°C/135°F degrees core temp) The middle of the steak is hot and red with pink surrounding the center. The outside is gray-brown.
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• Medium Well Done – (62.8°C/145°F degrees core temp) The meat is light pink surrounding the center.
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• Well Done – (73.9°C/165°F degrees core temp) The meat is gray-brown throughout and slightly charred.