Also, a lot of restaurants (chain restaurants in particular, but others as well) don’t even have an oven.
We call them “hot carts” or “warmer carts”.
Our warmer carts are designed strictly for maintaining temperature - they won’t cook anything further than it’s already cooked when it goes in the box, and in any case we try to time things so the food spends as little time in the hot cart as possible - load it up, take it away, serve it (it won’t cook more, but the texture/moisture content can and will change if left in the warmer too long). Also, our serving staff is mostly idiots who seem to get confused even when we put signs on things (like when a particular meal has more than one entree option). I wouldn’t trust them to be able to keep track of what order a bunch of identical plates went into the warmer.
I don’t think any restaurant does, actually, but for some bizarre reason it’s commonly believed to be some ‘secret’ steak temperature restaurant staff knows that the layman doesn’t. I think people think it’s something like ‘blue’, which is a legitimate, but little known, steak temperature. I’ve learned from coworkers who try to argue with customers that there is no such thing as “medium rare plus” that people are downright stubborn that it does exist, and they “know” we have a button for it on our computers. It’s quite strange.
I was in the restaurant business for enough years and have been culinarily aware enough to see the rare trend in action. I hve no illusions nor believe that well done meat is the standard due to my poor deprived “cooked meat” environment. … I’ve served and eaten more rare steaks than you have thought of… and an equal number of medium and above steaks. I am saying that the “supposed culinary and aristocratic preference for fine rare meat” is not the American standard nor has ever been. Our tradition is BBQ… not grilling. And frankly your bullshit patronizing is just a tad overdone, Labiador Conceiver.
As far as I have seen and experienced, the “rare trend” has done nothing but eliminate choice. They are “true believers” that their choice is the only correct choice. Personally I am supportive of the full Rare to Well spectrum, what could be more American than giving people the choice of their ideally prepared meat?
I have to disagree. When someone is snotty enough to say that their steak preference is the only preference, and that someone who likes it cooked longer just “doesn’t like steak”, it makes sense for the opposition to respond in kind. The whole point is to show how elitist, snobby, and–dare I say–uppity this lack of tolerance comes across.
I love how we can’t say anything about not liking that people have multiple sexual partners. You (rightly) say that, if it’s between consenting adults, it isn’t any of your business. But, when it comes to something as inconsequential as steak, it’s perfectly find to thumb your nose at anyone who likes their food more done. Why doesn’t the “it’s not hurting you” thing apply here?
As for me, I have eaten medium, but very rarely is this a good tasting steak. It’s too juicy for me. And it has a bit of an irony taste–the same one you get if you don’t cook chicken or fish all the way through. And, dare I say it, a lighter version of the same taste I get when I get a bloody nose and some of it washes into my mouth. That’s why I say I don’t like my steak bloody. It’s a flippin’ metaphor. The bloody taste overwhelms any great and wonderful taste you guys seem to be able to detect. But, there’s nothing that tastes quite like a medium well or properly well-done steak (i.e. no actual burnt charring like on cajun style. That stuff is nasty.)
You better bet I take my steak seriously.
PS: I get my prime rib and filet minion cooked at least medium as well. If the backwater restaurants in my hometown that are cheaper than Outback or Applebees can pull it off, any place can. Unlike ordering something that they don’t have, almost all restaurants have what they need to pull it off. Not allowing the customer to take advantage of that is poor customer service, at best.
The thing that frustrates the hell out of Rare steak eaters and chefs is that well done cooking destroys and good steak and wastes money. The point of Prime meat and aged meat is that it is the most tender and has the most steaky flavor. Then by well-doning it you destroy the Tenderness and drive the steaky flavor out. Thats why every place that can get away with it serves the crappy cuts for those who order it well, they don’t know what makes good steak good and are missing the point. You are going to a nice restaurant and paying to have a 25 dollar steak put through a process to make it the same as a cheap 5 dollar steak. Just go to Country Buffet, pay the 6.95 and eat the crappy steak there because that is what you want.
This is the attitude that pisses off people that like their steak cooked. And cooks substituting crappy cuts (and I’m sure not putting any effort into doing well-done properly) are creating and sustaining the false equivilance between ‘crappy steak’ and ‘well-done’.
And quite frankly, if you can’t tell the difference between a good steak well-done and a crappy 5 dollar buffet steak you quite simply haven’t had a properly cooked well-done.
There ain’t nothing ‘wrong’ per se with many things at a table, a restaurant… whatever. No one is going to hell for having missed Miss Manners’ advanced course; no one will suffer at the hands of some dead chef ghost because they slopped A-1 all over a well-done steak and no one will be denied happiness in life for wanting a steak cooked nice and brown straight through.
We all get it.
Really. Yay! Having a well-done steak is not a crime, and it is not wrong.
But, like putting whitewall tires, cheap wheels and hubcaps on a new Porsche: A well-done steak is just WRONG.
Me too. At one time, I thought there were two choices for fried eggs: “sunny-side up” and “over easy”. I never knew there were “over medium” and “over hard”.
I sure like it when I go somewhere that gets “over medium” right. Still liquid, but thick, not runny. So tasty. As with steak though, I’d much rather have undercooked than overcooked.
I think in fancy restaurants, there really aren’t that many options anyway - except for the steaks, if they serve it at all - most everything is served “as it’s supposed to be”. If the restaurant is any good, you’ll get asked about options and you should be able to describe what you want if the terminology is unfamiliar. Unless you’ve got explicit “don’ts”, i.e. allergies or other specific things like that you should not have to specify anything unless you want to.
As msmith537 comments, at a “fancy” (I assume this just means good quality but slightly costlier) restaurant, staff should be happy to help you make your choices; especially wine The worst thing you should hear in that kind of restaurant regarding any request is “I don’t know about that, but I’ll ask the chef/manager/whoever and get back to you ASAP”; if you hear for example (true story, by the way) “I don’t know, I don’t drink white wine”, you are not in any kind of fancy restaurant.
Anyway, me, I like my steak rare. I usually won’t complain if ends up being rare-to-well-done, unless it’s at a place that’s “fancy” or specializes in steaks. I did have some extremely chewy/well-done lamb chops last week that I sent back - that’s just not right - but that was NOT a fancy restaurant.
There is no difference in flavor or texture between an overcooked good cut of steak and an overcooked cheap cut of steak. Everything that makes a good cut good is destroyed by overcooking.
There is also no such thing as “doing well done properly.” Overcooked is overcooked. As far as “effort” goes, well done is the easiest temp to cook to because you baisically can’t do it wrong. You cook it until it’s ruined – voila. It’s not an issue of effort, it’s an issue of not wanting to destroy a good cut of steak by overcooking it.
