How Do You Like Your Steak?

How "Done" Do You Like Your Steak?


Rare to medium rare. Or steak tartare.

Usually no sauce. But the horseradish sauce I had over a steak on vacation in upstate New York last month was quite nice.

Ordering a steak well done should be a misdemeanor or a venal sin or something.
 

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Rare <-> Medium Rare. If you go beyond that, its likely a sin.

Nonsense.

Well Done - I couldn't find a single celebrity chef who said this was their favorite way to eat a steak.

You wouldn't, because it is against the fashion, which says that liking steak rare is more "sophisticated". Admitting liking well-done meats would be a signal that you are boorish or uncultured, which few celebrities are going to do. Calling it a "sin" is a similar signal, marking it an offense against "good taste", as defined by... well, food snobs (sorry, Scribe).

The trend to rare meats is an entirely modern fashion - in the US, it started in the late 1950s, continuing on into the 80s and later. As you look at cookbooks, you see the supposedly acceptable temperature of meat drop over this period. It was made possible by increases in food safety controls, that led to people not getting sick from meats that hadn't been cooked enough to be assuredly safe.

We have fewer food inspectors here in the US now. If that persists, you may see that trend reverse...

I have only once had a rare steak that I really enjoyed, as I don't generally care for the texture when it is at a low temperature. I will generally be fine with medium rare or hotter - I usually have to order it one rank above what I want at the time, as few cooks in my experience actually honor the diner's preference for better done steak.
 


Nonsense.



You wouldn't, because it is against the fashion, which says that liking steak rare is more "sophisticated". Admitting liking well-done meats would be a signal that you are boorish or uncultured, which few celebrities are going to do. Calling it a "sin" is a similar signal, marking it an offense against "good taste", as defined by... well, food snobs (sorry, Scribe).

The trend to rare meats is an entirely modern fashion - in the US, it started in the late 1950s, continuing on into the 80s and later. As you look at cookbooks, you see the supposedly acceptable temperature of meat drop over this period. It was made possible by increases in food safety controls, that led to people not getting sick from meats that hadn't been cooked enough to be assuredly safe.

We have fewer food inspectors here in the US now. If that persists, you may see that trend reverse...

I have only once had a rare steak that I really enjoyed, as I don't generally care for the texture when it is at a low temperature. I will generally be fine with medium rare or hotter - I usually have to order it one rank above what I want at the time, as few cooks in my experience actually honor the diner's preference for better done steak.

Well dones not that bad. I can eat it. I sent mine back because I paid for it and asked for medium rare. I dont cook my own steak though.

Unless you're my first girlfriend. Who ate my first attempt at steak. What's beyond well done?
 
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