Rare please. Though I’d like to try a black-and-blue someday.
Really, really depends.
Otherwise you end up with things like folks ordering a chicken fried steak, rare, no gravy.
Argh argh argh.
Yes, yes, and yes. I also prefer burgers (medium-)rare. Both of my parents are in the well-done category (actually Mom leans more toward medium-well). That’s how she cooked steak. Her idea of “rare” is “just a bit of pink”. As a result I grew up thinking steak was one of the nastiest things ever. I could not understand why it was supposed to be so special or how it could be considered a treat. We’d have steak at least once or twice a month and it was her default special occasion meal. I’d eat at most half of mine and give the rest to the dog. And to make things worse sometimes she’d only get two steaks, serve one to me and one to dad while making a burger for herself. Then she’d get mad when most of mine ended up being inhaled by the dog. She literly did not understand that I hated steak. Our dogs just loved steak night.
Then one day in high school I was at my older brother’s for a 4th of July party. He grilled steaks and insisted I try some. It was fucking delicious, juicy and red. He even marinated (something Mom insists makes no difference) them. So I started ordering in restuarants. Which could be a major if I was with my parents. Until I was in my early 20s Mom would insist on explaining to the waitress “what I really meant” when I ordered rare (ie just a bit of pink). Half time I’d get what I ordered, she’d say it was undercooked and try to flag down a waitress to send it back. The other times I’d get a medium steak, take one bite, refust to eat it, and make the waitress bring out another steak that wasn’t overcooked. Naturely when I did Mom said I was making a scene. Boy did we get some confused and downright nasty looks from waiters. Usually though I’d just not order steak if I was with her.
Medium-rare. Nice and hot, but red, juicy and tender. Not too raw, but not too cooked – the best of both worlds.
(My dad makes the best steaks ever.)
I really don’t know how to react to this. Chicken-fried-steak? Unless you live really, really well, it’s a piece of round (or worse) that has been run through the tenderizer*. No way that should be served rare.
And no gravy? Pistols at dawn.
*aka “Thagomizer”.
I actually challenge grillers to make me a medium steak. So far, the results, in the middle, range from either end of the rare and well spectrum. A bell is only as good as its radicals. Either the mid rare or the mid well.
I like rare and well.
No it won’t. Chemistry is what it is, and a protein cooked to a certain point will tighten up and squeeze and become harder than it was before. Do you know a way to make hard boiled eggs that are softer than raw eggs? That’s a technique a chef would sell his soul to the devil for.
It definitely wasn’t Sizzler as I used to breakfast there, also had one breakfast at a similar just down and on the same side the road.
It might have been an Angus, it wasn’t cafateria style and was waited on at table, but yes it wasn’t very plush.
For some cuisines you need to go to an upmarket resteraunt but a steak doesn’t require a knowledge of rocket science to cook excellently.
On this side of the pond it is a general belief that Americans (and possibly Argentinians ) are the masters of steakcraft.
I have over the years been a frequent visitor to the U.S. both for work and pleasure but bizarrley this is the only steak that I have eaten over there.
(That I can remember that is, could well have had some when drunk).
Its like a frequent visitor to the U.K. only ever having had fish and chips once.
True, however it’s also true that you get what you pay for, and prime steak is a premium item. Go to a good restaurant. Pay a lot for a steak. The difference will be obvious.
No, but it does require a good cut of steak, which would be too expensive for the down market crowd. I’m sure restaurants get a better deal, and the better steakhouses do it themselves, but a dry-aged prime ribeye, for example, will generally run $20-$25/lb at a good butcher (although I have spent as much as $40/lb for them to cook myself.)
Steak is one thing I always go upmarket for.
I used to work at an Outback. The cooks are under instruction to slightly undercook everything, since it’s cheaper to cook up a steak than cook a new one. The “blood” (this has been covered already), if it’s on the plate, is more indicative of insufficient resting time than anything else.
Between medium and medium well. I like the pink a bit, and a little juice, but not enough that it runs out on the plate. I love the caramelization* of well done, but they often step beyond that to burnt or dry. The myoglobin can add some moisture, and even a little taste, as long as it doesn’t override the caramelization.
Also, I agree with those above who mentioned preferring the cooked texture. Even plain medium often is too red in the middle, with said middle having an oddly gooey texture I associate with uncooked food. It’s the same reason I don’t like sashimi, although it’s not nearly as bad as that.
Finally, I’ll point out that I didn’t vote the cut option, but obviously stuff like skirt steak and generic hamburger needs to be cooked until brown. I’m referring to the cuts people usually call steak.
*I’m not sure if that’s the right word. I mean the brown part that isn’t burnt or charred. The pink part is technically cooked, but not browned. You’ve got to get it firm. The red part is what I consider uncooked, and charred stuff is overcooked.
Medium rare all the way.
I love steak tartare too, but it seems a bit difficult to get. I’ve had it in Paris, Prague and Brussels (and been turned down, flat, in another place in Paris, because they thought I didn’t know it what steak tartare was), but not in the UK.
I think it’s close enough for government work. It’s a browning from the Maillard Reaction, which is described as a “nonenzymatic browning”. Carmelization is also a nonenzymatic browning process (apparently).
One of the best steaks I’ve ever had was cooked in a cafe used by workers in a wholesale fruit and vegetable market in the center of London.
It certainly wasn’t expensive, not only by London prices but by out of london prices..
(The OLD Covent garden market)
I don’t think I’ve eaten a steak in a decade, so if I decided I wanted one now, I’d probably go with medium.
I definitely wouldn’t want it charred, but I could never stomach it the way parents cooked it, which was basically waving it in the general direction of a flame. Seriously, I don’t know why they ever pretended they were “cooking” steak. More like “warming up” steak.
I meant to add that in smoking circles, it’s called “bark”. But then we’re talking about an even thicker layer of the crispy bits.
Dunno. Usually when I find skirt skeat/flank steak/any way these cuts are called, I prefer them like I like my chuck roast. “Charred” on the outside and barely warm on the inside, cut thin, on a bias.
The Steingarten tip was about getting a medium rare slightly cool on the center, IIRC. He’s a blowhard in his writings 
but he seemed to make a good point on paper. I’ll stick with rare for a restaurant steak as well, just because I don’t trust even a skilled line cook to skirt the line correctly.
I believe there is a difference between the perceived juiciness of a steak and the factical juiciness of a steak which is prone to be watery and mushy. I haven’t done the research, but I’m convinced there’s something there.
BTW I cook “generic” hamburger bloody rare all the time – it’s all mushy meat anyway, even hand-ground, so I’d rather have more myoglobin dripping into the bun and condiments.
Cave, I don’t eat very much meat, but when I do, that’s how I do it.
I order
“extra well done, dead, burnt, no hair”
Every time.
If I even see red or pink Steak at the table my appetite is GONE!, I just do not understand folks that can stand undercooked meat.
Unclviny
Because it’s not undercooked.