only flip a steak (or a burger, for that matter) once, right? I mean, how can you even ask that question? Well, I’ve always been of the mind that if an answer exists, and, clearly, there is an answer to this, the question is worth asking Fortunately, the question is one that’s fairly straightforward to test Those on the “one flip” side claim “more even cooking” and “better flavor development” as the selling points of the method Curiously, the few people on the “multiple flips” side claim the exact same benefits from multiple flips, adding “shortened cooking time” to the mix So, who’s right? I cooked a few different steaks to the same internal temperature of 130°F One was flipped just once, another was flipped every minute, a third every 30 seconds, and a fourth every 15 seconds Interestingly, the steak that was flipped every 30 seconds reached the desired temperature the fastest of all four, followed by the one flipped every 15 seconds, followed by the one flipped every minute, and finally by the one flipped just once The fastest-cooking steak took about minutes less than the slowest-cooking one Then I served them up to a few friends I had over for dinner, asking them to tell me which ones had the nicest crusts, which were the most evenly cooked, and which were the tastiest From the outside, they had trouble telling them apart—the amount of browning seemed pretty close to equal However, once we cut into them, the differences were more apparent: the steaks flipped only once had distinct bands of overcooked meat at the edges, while the ones flipped multiple times were more evenly cooked It wasn’t enough of a difference to make anyone say that one steak was particularly bad per se—they all got devoured—but it was enough to prove that those in the “only flip it once!” camp have no basis in reality to back up their claims Steak flipped just once (left) versus multiple times (right) More evenly cooked meat in a shorter period of time seems pretty win-win to me If cooking via the single-flip method, when you flip the steak over, the second side will be barely any warmer than it was when the steak first went into the skillet Your cooking is only halfway done If you add more flips, on the other hand, what you are essentially doing is approximating cooking both sides of the steak simultaneously Neat, right? Incidentally, the steak flipped every 15 seconds took longer than the steak flipped every 30 seconds because it spent too much time in the air above the pan rather than in direct contact with the pan itself Moral of the story: All you supple-wristed crazy flippers ... be barely any warmer than it was when the steak first went into the skillet Your cooking is only halfway done If you add more flips, on the other hand, what you are essentially doing is approximating cooking both sides of the. .. Incidentally, the steak flipped every 15 seconds took longer than the steak flipped every 30 seconds because it spent too much time in the air above the pan rather than in direct contact with the pan itself... Steak flipped just once (left) versus multiple times (right) More evenly cooked meat in a shorter period of time seems pretty win-win to me If cooking via the single-flip method, when you flip the steak over, the second side will