Why You Should Temper Steaks Before Cooking

In restaurant cooking folklore, tempering, or leaving a raw steak in a warm kitchen for several hours, is necessary for a more evenly-cooked, pink interior; a refrigerator-cold steak takes longer to cook through, by which time the outer regions will have turned overcooked and grey.

In this video, Chris Young conducts heat diffusion simulation and thermometer experiments. Throughout the steak, the rate at which heat spreads is proportional to the temperature gradient. Thus it is the rate of diffusion of heat through the exterior regions that limits the flow of heat into the interior, which explains why such cold materials take longer to reach the target temperature.

To make tempering practical at home, Young suggests a pot of tepid water and immersing the steak in it for a while.

For a prior, opposite conclusion, see J_Kenji_Lopez-Alt: https://www.reddit.com/r/askscience/comments/16bhv7/comment/...