Experts have revealed the red liquid that comes from a rare steak, and it is not what you might think.

It has long been the thing that non-steak eaters or well-done incinerators point to as the reason for not enjoying a fillet or rump, but their rationale could indeed be misguided.

Because the "bloody" liquid you see pooling round a rare or medium rare steak is not blood, but a protein called myoglobin which when mixed with water gives a pink tinge.

Myoglobin is what separates white meat from red meat with the more myoglobin cells a meat contains determining how red the meat is.

The news could dissuade people from requesting their steak to be cooked well done the next time they order, with chefs and culinary experts unanimously preaching the benefits of cooking steak for less time.

Speaking to Business Insider, chef Wade Wiestling of Mastro’s Steakhouse explained that too much cooking will invariably leave you with a “less tasty and dryer steak.”

BLT Steak’s Chef Laurent Tourondel concurred, saying ordering rare steak is the best way to keep all the natural flavour we associate with prime cuts of meat.

Dario Cecchini, who famously appeared on Chef’s Table, also errs on the side of rare to medium rare for all the steak he cooks at his restaurant in Panzano In Chianti.

It is also believed that there are health benefits to enjoying steak that has not been overcooked.

Eating rare steak is believed to give your body a direct jolt of iron and phosphorus, which are helpful for preventing fatigue, whereas eating overdone steak has been linked to high blood pressure.

For anybody not convinced by the views of experts, very little blood is actually present in steak, with the vast majority being drained from the animal after slaughter.

Most mammals have a high amount of myoglobin and are called red meat. Animals with a low level of myoglobin are considered white meat, these are animals like poultry or seafood.