Home > Food and Drink > Cooking > Cooking Techniques > Cooking Meat > Frying



Frying Meat

Frying is used to cook good quality, flattish cuts of meat, such as fillet, sirloin, cutlets and chops.

Use a frying pan with a good, thick base, and make sure that it is the right size for the amount of food you are cooking - too large and the cooking juices may evaporate, causing the meat to burn; too small and the meat will stew in its own juice.

Cooking Method

Preheat the pan with enough oil or butter (or a mixture of the two) to cover the base, and then add the meat. The meat should be cooked at a fairly high temperature, although care should be taken not to burn the fat.

Turn the meat once during cooking, being careful not to pierce it, as this will allow the juices to escape which will toughen the meat.

Once cooked, allow the meat to rest for a few minutes before serving so that the juices will be evenly distributed.

Try pressing your finger against your steak to check how well done it is.

  • Rare (bleu):
    Feels soft and wobbly.
  • Medium Rare (saignant):
    Has a little give to it.
  • Well Done (à point):
    Feels firm.
  • Over Done:
    Feels hard.

Cooking Times

The table below shows the cooking times for a variety of different cuts of meat.

Meat Cut Duration
Beef Steak Rare: 7 mins
Medium: 10 mins
Well done: 15 mins
Veal Chops 12-15 mins
Escalopes 4 mins
Lamb Chops 12-15 mins
Cutlets 7-10 mins
Kidneys 5-10 mins
Liver 4-6 mins
Pork Chops 15-20 mins
Sausages 10-15 mins
Bacon Chops 10-15 mins
Rashers 5-10 mins
Gammon Steaks 10-15 mins