# How do you like your steak cooked? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 9, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047 "2011-03-09T14:47:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047/1 "2011-03-09T14:47:21Z")
I’m talking about a _steak_. Like one of [these](http://www.westpointsteakhouse.com/yahoo_site_admin/assets/images/image004.330215549_std.jpg) or one of [these](http://www.lt-smash.us/wp-content/uploads/2006/04/steak.jpg). How would you like that cooked? ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047/2 "2011-03-09T14:48:12Z")
Medium rare, please. ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047/3 "2011-03-09T14:50:30Z")
Just past “still twitching”. ---
**Author:** ![irishgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/8edcca/32.png) [@irishgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/irishgirl)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047/4 "2011-03-09T14:53:01Z")
About 60 seconds each side in a very hot pan please. I ticked “as close to raw as possible”. I ate steak medium rare (because I just couldn’t face medium) when I was pregnant, and really, really wasn’t keen. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047/5 "2011-03-09T14:56:44Z")
I put “as close to raw as possible” but it isn’t that, because that is raw. I like the outside seared with an intensely high heat, but pretty much nothing else (presuming it is a good steak). ---
**Author:** ![PapSett](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecc23a/32.png) [@PapSett](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PapSett)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047/6 "2011-03-09T15:02:41Z")
Yeah… I’m a heathen. I like it between medium & medium-well. I’ve never been able to enjoy the _feel_ of anything raw-er. It’s better than how my parents always insisted… cooked like shoe leather. ---
**Author:** ![MsWhatsit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/eb8c5e/32.png) [@MsWhatsit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsWhatsit)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047/7 "2011-03-09T15:04:13Z")
Medium-rare, although when I was pregnant I switched to preferring rare, but am now back to medium-rare again. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047/8 "2011-03-09T15:05:47Z")
Fire is what makes us different from the other animals, so leave mine on for a bit. Medium tending to medium-well is prefered. But it varies depending on the cut and cooking method. ---
**Author:** ![Skammer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skammer/32/143_2.png) [@Skammer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skammer)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047/9 "2011-03-09T15:07:48Z")
It depends on the cut and quality, but usually medium rare and sometimes rare. ---
**Author:** ![villa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc79bd/32.png) [@villa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/villa)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047/10 "2011-03-09T15:23:52Z")
Just a quick clarification - this is for beef. Buffalo I prefer medium rare. ---
**Author:** ![joyfool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/df788c/32.png) [@joyfool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joyfool)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047/11 "2011-03-09T15:50:25Z")
Another vote for medium rare. ---
**Author:** ![Anaamika](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Anaamika](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anaamika)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047/12 "2011-03-09T16:11:24Z")
Medium. And that’s really only in the last…five years or so. Before that I liked them well done. I can’t stand too much pink though, it makes me sick - too much cultural baggage, methinks. ---
**Author:** ![Tio\_Gringo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b5e925/32.png) [@Tio\_Gringo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tio_Gringo)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047/13 "2011-03-09T16:16:09Z")
On a grill, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![bouv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/bc8723/32.png) [@bouv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bouv)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047/14 "2011-03-09T16:18:47Z")
Medium-rare, though I have lately not minded closer to the rare side, though I don’t order it that way. It’s mostly the temperature…I don’t like a cool center with the warm exterior…if the whole steak is cold, that’s fine (like leftovers…re-heating steak is just too darn annoying…the microwave will probably make it over-done and dry, and I don’t want to wait twenty minutes for the 200 degree oven to do it, so cold it is!) ---
**Author:** ![Suburban\_Plankton](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/suburban_plankton/32/219_2.png) [@Suburban\_Plankton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Suburban_Plankton)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047/15 "2011-03-09T16:27:31Z")
No longer breathing, please. When we go to a steakhouse, \*\*Rhiannon8404 \*\*has been known to order her steak “as rare as the chef is allowed to make it”. Actually, I will order my steak anywhere from “not quite raw” to “medium rare”, depending on the quality of the establishment and the cut; at a lower-end restaurant I’m less likely to trust the chef to know how to properly prepare a very rare steak. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047/16 "2011-03-09T16:33:21Z")
Medium-well for me, since I like it tender. And cooking, contrary to widespread misconception, makes meat more tender, not less, unless you cook it so long it turns to jerky (which is far, far longer than “well done”). Or, in other words, Og like fire. Fire good. Grunt. ---
**Author:** ![Misnomer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/misnomer/32/14897_2.png) [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047/17 "2011-03-09T16:41:22Z")
Medium-well, please. For eating, meat is supposed to be brown. A touch of pink at the very center is acceptable, but mostly I want brown steak. That said, it’s difficult to find steakhouses (outside of Morton’s, etc.) that can make the inside brown without making the outside black, so sometimes I’ll accept medium. ---
**Author:** ![Jophiel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jophiel/32/66_2.png) [@Jophiel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jophiel)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047/18 "2011-03-09T18:10:58Z")
Pittsburgh rare. My wife does a better job of it than anyone else I know. God bless her. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047/19 "2011-03-09T18:15:07Z")
Medium rare please. I’ll have a glass of red wine too, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2011, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047/20 "2011-03-09T18:21:12Z")
As they say, wipe its butt, and knock off the horns. Also, just walk by the grill with it, it be fine. Hell, I think I could eat a steak at the grocery store in front of the meat counter. I have eaten cannibal sandwiches (raw chopped sirloin, fresh ground pepper, slivered fresh onion, on rye bread) and they are soooo yummy. You can die eating them, too. (just adds to the gestalt of the experience) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-do-you-like-your-steak-cooked/574047.md?page=2)