I didn’t answer the poll because I like mine Pittsburgh-style, AKA black-and-blue. Basically, blue rare on the inside, charred on the outside. Very few places pull it off.
Really? It doesn’t seem that difficult to do - char it on the grill then not put it in the oven or salamander to finish.
My steak technique is borrowed from Alton Brown - heat a well-seasoned cast iron pan in the oven, oil the outside of the room temperature steak, put the cast iron pan on a burner at a high flame, sear the outside of the steak in the pan for 30 seconds a side, put pan in oven for one and a half minutes per side for a one inch thick steak.
I get a nice crust, and a perfectly medium rare interior. I’m on Atkins and have been eating quite a bit of steak.
You’re welcome. 
Having previously given a serious answer, I now feel free to give a silly one: “Preferably served on a plate with a knife and fork on the side.” :smack:
Whether I go Rare or Medium Rare depends on what type of steak cut is being prepared - but NEVER more than medium rare
Insanely well-done. I cannot tolerate a bit of blood on my plate.
Fight ignorance for me.
You guys grill meat over charcoal like we do in the USA? Is there the associated “Males don’t like to cook unless it is physically dangerous” concept?
I thought you boiled everything.
…and in those Yankee “Hotdogs should be eaten with mustard only” discussions you are where?
Good thing there’s no blood in steak, then.
I answered Medium Rare, but actually I like it on the rare side of medium rare.
Medium.
I prefer mine rare to very rare. My favorite cut is a thick ribeye.
I find that restaurants rarely get it right, so just I prefer to just broil or grill steaks at home. I get beautiful cuts from the butcher about a mile from my house.
I like my dogs with mustard, chili, and cole slaw.
Then I’ll forgive you the catsup on steak.
I picked medium rare, because that’s what I order in restaurants, but it’s probably more rare if I cook it myself.
I don’t like it cold, because I think the point is warming it enough for maximum tenderness, so at home I make sure it’s not fridge-temp when I cook it so I don’t have to cook the outside overly to get it warmed all the way through.
I’m sure at a good steakhouse, it wouldn’t be an issue, but for some reason I tend to forget about steakhouses when I’m considering nice restaurants. (It probably doesn’t help that I can cook steak exactly the way I want it at home, while making homemade sushi exactly the way I like will take me half the day.)
I’d never heard the term “black-and-blue” (well, not in reference to a steak, anyway) or “Pittsburgh” until I saw it on the menu at Weber Grill. Not my cup of tea, but I’m now guessing it must be at least somewhat popular, since several folks here have mentioned it.
If my choice was there I’d vote “Well Done”
I think that the “why bother?” option includes well-done.
I answered “medium rare” assuming that we’re talking about prime cut dry-aged ribeye or filet mignon. I go with medium for the lower quality cuts and burgers.
Likewise. Order “medium rare”, it’s maybe coming rare (ideal) or medium (passable). “Rare” might get raw. “Medium” might get medium well. And so I reluctantly play it safe.
I want mine taken up when the last faint pale pink coloration in the middle has just disappeared into light brown. I like the outside flame-seared, but I don’t want the outer 25% on either side to be dried out into shoe leather by putting the steak too near too hot a flame for too long. The steak needs to be brought up to cooking temperature on a lower heat, held there long enough for the insides of it to actually be cooking, and only then taken to a higher flame.
Lots of folks don’t know how to cook a steak any way other than barely. They are contemptuous of steaks cooked more than medium rare (and the people who eat them that way) so they don’t bother learning how or getting good at it. In restaurants they don’t like to put the time and energy into it. It becomes a self-perpetuating cycle of badly done medium-well or well-done steaks, people eat them and decide “a more rare steak is much better”, learn to harbor contempt for anyone who’d overook a steak on purpose, etc.
But what you described is pretty much the same way to cook a steak to any level of doneness except maybe black-and-blue. I do it your way: Bring up to temp first, then sear to finish. The classic way is the reverse: sear to start, then finish cooking cool. When I grill, it’s a two-stage fire, coals all raked to one side. I start on the cool side, whether I’m cooking medium-rare or well, and finish on the hot side (as blazingly hot as I can get it).
So even if you’re cooking to lower levels of doneness, one should be following your method or its reverse.