Well, that was entirely predictable.
Well, then, it’s no mystery that some people think that well-done steaks are bad, then, is it? Let me assure you, if you take a good-quality piece of meat and cook it well-done (which, again, does not mean charcoalized), it’ll be tenderer than the same piece of meat rare.
EDIT: And I guarantee you that you haven’t seen that done in nice kitchens, either, since a nice kitchen is, by definition, one that knows enough and takes enough pride in its work to give the customer what they ordered, and do as good a job with that order as they can.
So was that.
I prefer medium, but I’ll eat anything from medium rare to medium well. However, a few times when I’ve ordered medium rare at a steakhouse, it comes out too close to rare for my taste, so that’s why I usually stick with medium.
When I was younger I only ate medium well or well done, when my father grilled steak on the BBQ. Not that he cooked to specific doneness for each person - just until the thickest steak was medium rare, and I’d pick the smallest/thinnest one so I know it was more cooked. I also liked taking the end slices off a pot roast or similar dish - I liked the crunchy bits (not burnt though).
Medium rare. My former favorite steak place (now out of business, unfortunately) would not serve a steak cooked more than medium. Said so right on the menu.
I had a friend who used to love his steak rare. Really rare. I used to joke with him that his idea of cooking a steak involved lighting a match, blowing it out, and waving the dead match once over each side.
No answer matches how I cook mine now. I suppose most people would call it rare but it isn’t really. I slow cook them in one of those 1300 watt turbo ovens just above the thaw/wash setting at 90-100C (200-220F) and pull them out with an internal temperature of 50-60C (120-145F). Takes about 30 - 40 minutes.
They come out uniformly pink the whole way through and kind of don’t look cooked at all but they feel perfect. They don’t need resting because the meat cells haven’t been stressed and they don’t after cook because the meat surface isn’t red hot. For fussy bastards I can sear them with a blowtorch but for myself I don’t bother. Most cuts of meat just melt in your mouth.
I use this method all the time now. Salmon steaks are unbelievable. You can cook them for 30 minutes and they are so much juicier than any other way you can cook them.
It is almost impossible to stuff up anything because of the low heat, a few minutes extra does no apparent harm. Since I started doing this last year I have convinced a few people to give it a go, hell you can score an oven for $50, and they all love it.
I have found that these terms mean different things in different restaurants. So instead of using one of them, I describe what I want. Give me a Filet that is just a little pink inside. I think of it is as medium-well.
Every word was true, though.
Bourdain was exaggerating a little bit, but I can tell you from first hand experience that the best cuts are used for the most rare, and the lesser quality cuts (and we’re not really taking about bad cuts, just the least good) are used for well done, not so much out of a sense of vindicativeness but because the qualities that make a good cut good are destroyed by cooking them well done anyway. The cut makes no difference for a well done (i.e. overcooked) temps, but does make a difference for the rare and medium rare temps.
I’m a vegetarian now, but – when I ate meat – I preferred steak rare (red; basically raw center). Never a huge fan of steak, though. I did love a nice rare (not raw) hamburger, but those have become dreadfully difficult to order …
Exactly this. Seriously Seared on the outside, pink/red and just barely warm on the inside.
After a full day of voting in this thread and its companion, it would seem that the consensus SDMB favorite is a medium-rare ribeye. I wholeheartedly agree (those were exactly how I voted myself).
I voted medium because so many restaurants screw up medium rare. Medium rare is supposed to be pink in the middle and no blood.
Every time I order medium rare these days it comes to the table with blood on the plate. Outback is real bad about undercooking. I finally started ordering it medium. Usually there’s some pink in the middle and that’s perfect.
A few questions for those of you who say you like your steak just barely not mooing (i.e. black and blue, blue rare, very rare). To me it seems like these are basically raw meat - even if seared on the outside, rare is still red (i.e. basically uncooked) for about 75% of the center of the steak, and is still a cool or barely warm temperature.
Do you also enjoy steak tartare? steak carpaccio? other raw meat dishes like sashimi?
I’m just wondering if my aversion to very rare steak might be related to my dislike of sashimi. Although my friends insist if I tried really good sashimi I would change my mind, I’ve tried a couple times and I didn’t like it. However, I also had a lot of food aversions and was a picky eater as a child (this has improved alot), and I wonder if this is just a hangup of mine.
I do, yes. I love raw meat.
Well, until a few years ago my family raised all its own beef and pork, and we cut and wrapped our own meat. So please take your broad bush elsewhere. I am totally comfortable with the concept of where food comes from, how you butcher it, and how you prepare it. And I like my meat cooked.
Oh yes. Steak Carpaccio, when the meat is sliced tissue paper thin and just melts in your mouth. . .
+1 
I’m stealing that description !
Quoth Diogenes:
You’ve obviously never had a steak cooked well-done by someone who knew how to do it right. I’ve had steaks that were cooked completely, which were juicy, bursting with flavor, and so tender they almost fell apart on the fork.
And once again, well-done does not mean “overcooked”. There is no word for ordering steak that means “overcooked”, since nobody actually likes it that way. Well-done means the whole thing is cooked completely.
Yes to all three.