I order my steak well done if there are comments it is from the courteous waiter advising me that they will butterfly it the meat when they cook it.
My wife’s a well-done-steak person. I’m pretty flexible; medium rare to medium is my ideal range. For her I think it’s a combination of the “blood” and fear of pathogens in meat. Same with eggs— anything other than hard-cooked and she won’t touch it.
It saddens me slightly only because at times she’s tried a bite of my medium steak, just a little pinkish, and agreed that it’s more tender and flavorful than what she’s eating. Still not enough to sway her own preference, though, so there you have it.
The best steak I ever had was an “American Wagyu”. There is a local ranch here in Idaho that has cross breed wagyu with angus cows. It was the most delicious meal I ever had. Each bite gave me chills and you better believe it wasn’t cooked well done. Nope nothing but rare for this boy.
Also I’ve Travelled through much of the US and it seems like there are often regional differences on the doneness of meat. Some places I order it rare and the waitress will look at you funny other places you order rare and the center of the meat will still be noticeably cold.
Wolfgang Puck offers a side by side by side plate at CUT that features cuts of Kobe, American wagyu and domestic rib eye. The domestic rib eye was by far the best tasting of the three. The Kobe came in a sorry third.
But yeah, rare all.
Neighbors of ours raised two pigs, utilizing scrap from their farm market. The pigs were pampered. They only had one bad day their entire lives, and that was a month or so ago. Just had some porkloin from them, cooked rare, and it was out of this world.
I had never before heard the term “butterfly” as applied to meat. So, I Googled it and …
for anyone else who may be curious what it means to “butterfly meat”, here is a link with some pictures:
My preference is medium, meaning that it is pink but has lost the uncooked texture that I dislike. There have been times when my husband left it on the grill too long and I’ve gotten well done filet mignon. I still like it that way, it’s still pretty tender and I love that filet has no icky gristly bits. I don’t understand comments along the lines that you might as well have just any cut of beef if you’re going to get a well done filet. As Smapti said above, that’s just simply not the case. I really don’t care if someone wants to order a well done steak and drink Sauvignon blanc with it (or any “weird” combo). I like people who have the confidence to order what they like and enjoy it.
I’m all across a nice medium rare beef steak, but when it comes to pork I simply can’t shake the ‘cultural memory’ of it needing to be cooked medium well. It’s funny on two fronts, in a lot of places pork is entirely safe to have rare these days, but in Australia, Trichinosis has never been detected at all. But my Grandmother and my Mum always cooked pork roasts medium well (or worse) and that’s the only way I cook any pork. Although I’m carefully not to overcook it to dryness.
It’s like coffee. Most people think that you just add more coffee if you like it stronger, and use less if you like it weaker. But experienced gourmets know that there is a specific ratio of coffee to water that develops the best flavor (and it’s pretty strong). You can then weaken it with hot water if you want. This gives you fully developed coffee flavors with the least amount of bitterness, while still being as weak as you like it, rather than some tasteless, slightly brown hot water.
Steak is the same way. Scientists and chefs know what causes the great taste and texture of steak and how to develop those flavors properly. Overcooking simply kills the flavor the same way too little coffee in the pot will give you a weak, watery beverage hardly worthy of the name.
Now, if you’re too squeamish or have some food prejudices (we all do) against rare meat, that’s cool. Just recognize that you’re not getting what scientists, chefs and critics agree is the best flavor out of that piece of meat. It’s like taking civet coffee and boiling it in a percolator until it’s a thick, bitter syrup. You may like it that way because that’s how Grandma made it. But it’s objectively worse than a properly made cup of coffee.
I’m not one to care what other people enjoy, but you have to expect a little ribbing, and maybe some occasional unsolicited, well-intended education on the matter.
This probably isn’t true (depending on the cooking method). A filet has very little fat and no connective tissue (i.e. collagen) which is why it is tender. However, cooking the filet well-done denatures the proteins in the muscle, which squeezes out the moisture in the meat and makes it dry and tough. The denaturing begins to take place around 140F which is why most experts recommend staying below that.
Most cheaper cuts of meat, however, have more fat and collagen. The collagen and fat start to melt at 160F (the temperature of well-done) which tenderizes and moistens the cut so it’s actually more tender than the well-done filet. Since the fats/collagen also add flavor, one will get a better steak from a cheaper cut than a filet when cooking to well-done.
And pork loin will dry out on you in a flash. We had pork loin twice last week: once oven-roasted with a mustard glaze, and once chicken-fried. Both were awesome.
There’s an interesting discussion that could be had here: namely, what are the traits of a filet mignon that make it tender, and do those traits remain at various levels of cooking?
The conversation about how terrible people are who eat steaks well done, or how terrible people are who mock people who eats steaks well done, is not an interesting discussion.
But if anyone can talk about the physics and chemistry of the meat, that’d be cool.
Here you go: Science of Slow Cooking
To which I would rebut that taste is an inherently subjective matter, and that no scientist, chef, or critic is better qualified than me to tell me what I like.
There’s a phrase in cooking, “Brown is flavor.” Except with beef, for no particular reason. Then suddenly, no one cares about the flavor, just the tenderness?
Well done meat has more flavor. My teeth can chew just fine. I’m not 100 years old and all my teeth fallen out. I don’t need meat to be tender.
That said, I do think that there are techniques which would make well-done meat stay tender, which aren’t known/employed. And the fact that the cooking profession turns its nose up at well-done meat means that our best cooking minds aren’t spending time perfecting a way to create flavorful and tender meat.
It’s also possible we may have different definitions. For me, rare is red, cool center, soft throughout. Medium rare is warm, red (not pink) center, still pretty soft throughout. Medium is cooked (pink) center, fairly firm. Medium well is just a tiny bit of pink in the middle, cooked throughout, and well is above this. If I order medium rare here, a lot of places will overshoot and hit that pink, firm consistency, which is not what I want when I order medium rare.
My parents are like that. They have said its because:
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Its too chewy if its pink
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Even a tiny amount of pink gives them diarrhea
I can vouch for #1 but I’m afraid to verify #2
Well, beef turns grayish brown when boiled, so that’s different from the maillard reactions and caramelization that people are probably talking about when they say, “brown is flavor.” In my experience rare beef has a particular flavor that’s different from the flavor either of beef sear or of beef that’s well done but not seared. I prefer the flavor of seared steak that’s medium rare.
Thanks, deeg, for the link! Really what I’m curious about is the scientific basis for the claim that a well-done filet mignon tastes the same as a well-done cheaper steak. What would account for this, and is there any sort of evidence to back up the claim?
The “brown” referred to is primarily on the surface of the meat (read up on the Malliard reaction). A correctly done medium rare steak has a nice char on the outside. Like, say, this or this.
I, however, disagree with those that say a well-done filet will taste the same as a well-done cheaper steak. From experience (my mother doesn’t eat anything less than well done steaks), this is not true. Filet, despite its leanness, still manages to remain much more tender than something like a porterhouse or ribeye cooked well.
Here’s an equally great idea, find a thread that doesn’t get your panties all up into your kidneys. Nobody is attacking anyone at dinner. It’s a commentary on culinary ignorance.
The op makes a legitimate point. Filet Mignon is an expensive cut of meat. All steaks lose their flavor and texture as they’re cooked. If you’re going to turn it into shoe leather than buy a lesser steak and send the cost savings to poor starving kids in (pick a location).
Overcooking such a steak makes about as much sense as gargling with Dom Pérignon.