How-To Guides

How to Cook Fillet Steak

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Two grass-fed fillet steaks searing in a cast iron pan, developing a rich, caramelised crust

What is Fillet Steak?

How to Cook Fillet Steak: A truly exquisite cut of beef, fillet steak comes from the lower middle part of the back and sits within the sirloin. As this muscle bears very little weight, it isn’t exercised, resulting in an exceptionally tender texture that sets it apart from other cuts.

Despite its melt-in-the-mouth quality, fillet steak is naturally lean and has a more subtle flavour than rump or sirloin. However, our fillet steaks, prepared from older, traditional cattle breeds, offer greater depth of flavour than most, thanks to slower growth, natural marbling and proper ageing.

The term “fillet” comes from the French word filet, meaning “thick slice.” True to its name, fillet steaks are typically cut thicker than other steaks, around 4cm or 1.5 inches, due to the smaller diameter of the tenderloin.

How Long to Cook a Fillet Steak

We think medium-rare is the perfect way to enjoy a fillet steak, allowing the tender texture and subtle flavour to shine. For a steak around 4cm thick, aim for a total cooking time of 6 to 8 minutes over a high heat, turning regularly for an even sear and caramelised crust.

Use a heavy-based pan or cast iron skillet to get the best results. Don’t be afraid to touch your steaks. Your fingers and eyes are your best tools for judging doneness (see Top Tips below). Once cooked, rest the fillet steak for 5 to 10 minutes to allow the juices to redistribute.

Whether pan-seared, grilled or cooked on the barbecue, a well-timed fillet steak delivers a soft, buttery texture and refined flavour throughout.

How to Cook Fillet Steak Medium-Rare

  1. Remove your fillet steaks from the refrigerator and take them out of their vacuum packaging. Pat dry with kitchen towel to remove any surface moisture and allow them to come up to room temperature. This helps them cook evenly.
  2. Heat a griddle or heavy-based frying pan until smoking hot. Just before cooking, rub olive oil over both sides of the steaks and season generously with salt and pepper.
  3. Place the steaks in the pan and sear on both sides for around 90 seconds. They should release naturally once a crust has formed. If they stick, give it a moment and try again. A rich, golden crust should have developed.
  4. Reduce the heat slightly and continue cooking for a total of 6 to 8 minutes, turning every 90 seconds to ensure even cooking.
  5. Once cooked, remove the steaks from the pan and let them rest in a warm place for at least 5 minutes. This allows the juices to redistribute and ensures a tender, evenly cooked fillet steak with a perfect medium-rare finish.

Top Tips for Cooking Fillet Steak

To gauge doneness while cooking, use the reliable finger test. For medium-rare, gently press the tip of your middle finger to the tip of your thumb. Then press the palm of your hand just below your thumb. That’s the feel you’re aiming for. It should resemble the texture of your cheek: tender and soft but still fleshy with a bit of bounce.

Other tips for perfect results:

  • Don’t overcrowd the pan. Cook steaks in batches if needed so the pan stays hot and allows proper searing.

  • Use tongs, not a fork. This helps avoid piercing the meat and losing juices.

  • Resting is crucial. A rested fillet steak is a juicy fillet steak. Let it sit for at least 5 minutes after cooking to allow the juices to redistribute.

  • Finish with butter. For added richness, baste with butter and aromatics like garlic and thyme during the final minute of cooking.

Master these techniques for a perfectly cooked fillet steak, time after time.

Order meat online

Jorge hails from the Black Mountains where he grew up surrounded by hardy, native livestock. His passion for cookery was sparked by his upbringing, but developed and intensified alongside his respect for British breeds, and zeal for nose-to-tail eating.

In 2009 trained chef Jorge launched Swaledale in Haworth, and took his native-breed led whole-carcass butchery philosophy to high profile restaurateurs. Jorge is a passionate procurer and hanger of meat, and is keen to showcase the sublime taste and texture that comes from ageing, higher fat content, and an older carcass. Jorge proudly invests in native-breeds, as maintaining their market demand is crucial to their very survival.

Jorge studied Creative Writing at Leeds University, and is a former Welsh athletics champion. He lives with his wife, ceramicist Amy Thomas, and their three children – Fynn, Bea, and Matilda – on a remote grouse moor in West Yorkshire.

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@swaledalebutchers
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We have all seen the videos. A chicken arrives. Five neat strokes of a knife. It falls apart as if by magic. That comes from thirty years at the block. Most of us do not have that. So here is a slightly more Radio 4 approach. A calm, sensible way to take a good chicken and break it down at home. Nothing flashy. Just understanding the joints, working with the bone, and giving each part the respect it deserves. When you do that, you open up a week (almost) of meals. Breasts cooked one way. Legs another. A carcass that becomes stock rather than waste. More on that to follow. The only things you truly need are a great chicken and a proper knife. Ours is a beautiful honsuki knife kindly supplied by @kitchenprovisions and it does the job expertly. Sharp. Balanced. Delightful. Watch along as @grylos talks it through.
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Mutton has earned itself an unfair reputation. For centuries it was simply the meat we ate. Lamb is, in many ways, the modern preference, made possible by refrigeration and global trade. Before that shift, it would have made little sense to slaughter an animal before it had lived fully and bred. Sheep were kept for wool and continuity, and when their working life was complete, they became mutton. It was part of a cycle. Practical and sustaining. What changed was not the meat, but our habits. Yet not all mutton is equal. Age alone does not create depth. Mutton reflects the life it has lived. When sheep are kept longer and allowed to graze widely on varied forage, moorland grasses and herbal leys, time and terrain build complexity into the muscle and fat. That is the mutton we favour and source. Darker, firmer and deeper in flavour, shaped by prolonged grazing on moorland such as this, just outside Skipton. There was once a rhythm between wool on our backs and mutton on our tables. Perhaps that rhythm still makes sense.
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@swaledalebutchers
@swaledalebutchers
•
Follow
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@swaledalebutchers
@swaledalebutchers
•
Follow
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@swaledalebutchers
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Follow
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Ask yourself this. When did you last have a really good pork chop? This is why we keep coming back to it. Native, rare breed pork. Dry aged on the bone. Proper depth of flavour. Nothing like the pale, wet stuff you see elsewhere. These are our Pork Chops with Rosemary and Anchovy Butter. Two thick, rindless chops. Two discs of handmade compound butter. Anchovy, rosemary, lemon zest, a little shallot. Old friends. It works.
@swaledalebutchers
@swaledalebutchers
•
Follow
Ask yourself this. When did you last have a really good pork chop? This is why we keep coming back to it. Native, rare breed pork. Dry aged on the bone. Proper depth of flavour. Nothing like the pale, wet stuff you see elsewhere. These are our Pork Chops with Rosemary and Anchovy Butter. Two thick, rindless chops. Two discs of handmade compound butter. Anchovy, rosemary, lemon zest, a little shallot. Old friends. It works.
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View on Instagram |
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@swaledalebutchers
@swaledalebutchers
•
Follow
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@swaledalebutchers
@swaledalebutchers
•
Follow
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Burns Night, 25 January. Two pastry wrapped tributes to Robert Burns. Made with chef Josh Whitehead of @finer_pleasures. A haggis sausage roll with coarse cut native breed pork. A hot water crust pie of mutton and lamb haggis, oats, onions and spice. Food for a cold night.
Burns Night, 25 January. Two pastry wrapped tributes to Robert Burns. Made with chef Josh Whitehead of @finer_pleasures. A haggis sausage roll with coarse cut native breed pork. A hot water crust pie of mutton and lamb haggis, oats, onions and spice. Food for a cold night.
Burns Night, 25 January. Two pastry wrapped tributes to Robert Burns. Made with chef Josh Whitehead of @finer_pleasures. A haggis sausage roll with coarse cut native breed pork. A hot water crust pie of mutton and lamb haggis, oats, onions and spice. Food for a cold night.
Burns Night, 25 January. Two pastry wrapped tributes to Robert Burns. Made with chef Josh Whitehead of @finer_pleasures. A haggis sausage roll with coarse cut native breed pork. A hot water crust pie of mutton and lamb haggis, oats, onions and spice. Food for a cold night.
Burns Night, 25 January. Two pastry wrapped tributes to Robert Burns. Made with chef Josh Whitehead of @finer_pleasures. A haggis sausage roll with coarse cut native breed pork. A hot water crust pie of mutton and lamb haggis, oats, onions and spice. Food for a cold night.
@swaledalebutchers
@swaledalebutchers
•
Follow
Burns Night, 25 January. Two pastry wrapped tributes to Robert Burns. Made with chef Josh Whitehead of @finer_pleasures. A haggis sausage roll with coarse cut native breed pork. A hot water crust pie of mutton and lamb haggis, oats, onions and spice. Food for a cold night.
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