Everybody gets the same grade of cut with me. I do not at all agree that a well done steak can be as tender as a lesser done cut (maybe if you assault it with papain or bromelein—or maybe if you use a cut not normally a steak cut), but I’m not cooking a different cut for someone based on their doneness preferences. I will cook the well done to just barely well done, though. (170F). If they need it more done, I’ll throw it back on.
ETA: actually, I will amend and say that lower marbled cuts of steak like select and worse (I can get “utility” grade here), do work better for me at higher levels of doneness. While they may not be as tender, they’re also not as gristly and chewy, so those I’ll cook up medium well or more and marinate the hell out of them with stuff that has meat tenderizing enzymes in it. But that’s not what I personally buy when I want steak. If I’m cooking steak, it’s always going to be choice or choice plus at a minimum.)
Cook it until the pink is gone. Let it rest and it’ll still be juicy. That’s how my older relatives cooked it. I like mine medium. I don’t want blood coming out, center pink.
A lot of home cooks destroy the steak. But its their food and I wouldn’t substitute a cheaper cut.
There’s a regional steakhouse chain in California called Tahoe Joe’s that does a “slow roasted” steak. If you order that you don’t get to choose the doneness; it’s going to be cooked all the way through. But because it’s cooked over low heat for a long time, not unlike traditional barbecue, and then seared, it remains tender.
ETA: Apparently I misremembered; their menu says you can get the slow roasted steak “medium and above”. It’s been a while since I’ve been there.
Everybody gets the same cut. But what I will do is buy everyone a different cut depending on the guests - my mother and my siblings wouldn’t know prime from choice whether it was well-done or rare , so if they are my guests I’ll just save my splurge for another time.
I would get the same cut but cook the thinner one for the well done person, only because it’d cook a bit quicker and possibly be ready at close to the same time as the others.
Years ago I went to dinner with a group that included one person I knew, my date. The guy that ordered his steak well done became irate and abusive toward the waitress because his portion sized steak was much smaller than the medium rare ones, of the same weight, that others had.
I wish I had had the picture in AlsoNamedBort’s post to help out the waitress in her attempts to placate the guy. Explaining that they would all be that small if they were cooked well done didn’t do the job.
I can’t handle a pot roast cooked medium. It’s too tough and the pink color is not appealing. I cook pot roast until it’s done and tender. That’s the magic behind that style of cooking. A cheap roast tenderizes wonderfully in the sealed pot.
We’ve found that if you cook a cut like London Broil or tri-tip at a very low heat for a relatively long time it comes out amazing. My wife figured this out from her experience in cooking cheap cuts of pork this way sealed in a salt rub. \
For the OP, I’d go with same cut but worst steak in the batch. I’m a medium rare person myself, but if for some reason I overcook a bit I can tell. I never screw up enough to get it to well done though.
I did this with my stepson, but not because of the doneness but because of the ketchup. He drowns everything in that shit - even a steak at Ruth Chris’ Steak House so I’ll be damned if I’m going to buy and expensive cut of meat and delicately season it for him since all he would taste anyways is ketchup with a tinge of meat flavoring.
I’m a rare-to-medium steak eater. I love my steak. And I’m sure your guest loves his/her steak too, well done.
What sort of friggin snobbishness would give you the notion to give a lesser cut of steak because you don’t approve of your guest’s choice of cooking time? Seriously, I’m just aghast, how dare you.
This is your guest. You should treat them as you would royalty. Do not presume to impose your wanky cooking preferences upon them.
I don’t think it is out of spite but more that they don’t give it the attention needed, to cook a juicy, tender well done steak takes much more care and attention than a rare steak does and without that attention it is very easy to go too far and end up with the aforementioned hockey puck
There is a lot to agree with in this post. Why should your guest’s preferences deserve anything less than what you can give them? You may not agree with what the guest wants, but if you can provide it in the way that the guest wants, you should. They are your guest, after all, and you are their host, obligated to provide for their needs within reason.
A well-done steak need not be a hockey puck. It can be quite flavourful if it’s done correctly. I’m always amused by the menus of “steakhouses” that say they “assume no responsibility for steaks cooked well-done.” That tells me that they really don’t know how to do a flavorful, well-done steak. You don’t see that warning at Ruth’s Chris or Hy’s, both places that know how to do “well-done” correctly.
Moving away from the guest option, my 83 year old mother likes her steak well done. When I buy steak, I get her a nice piece but a lesser piece.
She prefers Scotch Fillet, I’ll pick out a cheap thin one with little fat and get a better piece for me, usually double thickness but same size.
Cook them both for around the same time together, hers is well done mine is rare/medium rare. 90% of the time she’s complimentary on the cook, the other 10% I picked a steak that wasn’t great.
You can actually do a well done steak that is still moist rather than dry, I just prefer them on the raw side of medium and have zero interest is Sous Vide steaks. They need char on the outside and red on the inside.
Well, of course you don’t just sous-vide it and then plop a lump of damp gray meat onto your serving plate. It goes into a screaming hot cast-iron with lots of butter to finish it. Reverse-searing in this way is the ideal way to get the degree of doneness you want in the middle without overcooking or drying out the steak and allows you to make use of the drippings instead of their just melting off and sizzling away.
In my experience, the occasional pocket of gristle is subdued more effectively in better-done steaks compared to ones served rare.
My preference is for medium-well (Mrs. J. prefers well-done), and tender, tasty meat results from those choices if the cook knows what they’re doing. Recently we ate at a local place specializing in Cajun-style seafood and steaks. The menu contained a note saying they would not cook their steaks medium-well or well-done, as they couldn’t “guarantee” the results. That’s misplaced snobbery, pure and simple, with a side order of incompetence.
Everything that I would have said on the subject has already been said. My father insists on ordering his steaks well-done, and at 78 years old I’m not going to change his mind. He likes what he likes, and he’s my dad. I would feel the same about a friend. They’re my guest, and I’m going to do my best by them.
It doesn’t stop me, however, from mocking the guy who sat at the table next to us at a very nice local Italian place. He scanned the menu (which had a few different steak options), and then asked for, “the Wagyu filet mignon, butterflied, well-done.” Let’s leave aside the argument about whether the restaurant was likely serving actual Wagyu beef. This is one of those cases where I’d love to ask what the point of ordering the Wagyu steak is? If you’re going to butterfly it and have it well-done, go for the lower-cost meat.
I’m sure he was trying to impress his date that he could afford the most expensive dish on the menu. All the more reason my wife and I are going to continue to mock him.
The concept here, to make it rather generic, is that the host wishes to spend additional money above and beyond a perfectly acceptable baseline, in order to give their guests an enhanced experience. One guest will arguably be unable to experience this enhancement, it doesn’t matter why or whose “fault” it is.
Is it reasonable to avoid spending extra for an enhancement that will not be experienced? I think at best the idea is a minefield where you’re likely to hurt someone’s feelings.
OTOH, if you have a $500 bottle of single malt, you’re on safe ground to say “I’m not mixing this with Coke for you”.