Here is a simple factual question: is there a law, Federal Health regulation, or published “accepted practice” that requires servers at American restaurants to tell you exactly how your steak is going to appear, based on the “doneness” that you specify?
It seems that all of a sudden this started around 1998-1999 or so, and up to that time I had been out for meals many a time in many a place, and never heard it before. Then suddenly, it seems everywhere I go I hear it, except occasionally (in out-of-the-way places).
Did this practice just suddenly come about? I know the people at the Outback are really anal about it (even though they keep missing the description in any event) - I will say “I want the Outback Special, cooked medium”, and they will always say “OK ma’am…now you do realize that will be warm, juicy, and pink in the middle?”
The potential for snappy comebacks with a sexual theme being too overwhelming, I merely nod.
Some people take their steak very seriously. Me for one.
“Medium” to me is just as described, still pink in the middle.
I prefer mine “medium rare”, which is still bloody in the middle.
“Well done” means cooked right through.
What the restaurants are probably reacting to are complaints from people who think “medium” means “well done”. The restaurant tells you in advance, so you don’t have to send it back.
What part of the US did you eat in? I’ve never noticed it in Philadelphia area restaurants. At least one restaurant, however (Steak and Ale House), has cross-section pictures of steaks cooked to each level of doneness in the menu.
Carry a Pantone swatchbook and indicate the exact shade of pink you want the middle to be. Actually, I advocate speaking softly and carrying a Pantone swatchbook in most situations.
I know that they may only be trying to be helpful, and I’m not complaining about that. What is eerie is that it all seemed to start at the same time, and the spiel is nearly identical w.r.t. the description of the meat.
I’ve noticed it, Una, but since it’s hardly a universal practice I suspect it’s likely, as suggested above, a response to customer grumblings as opposed to a regulatory compulsion.
Rare should at least have a seared outside on it, IIRC. I think there is also a steak called a “blue” steak, which is heavily seared on the outside, but cold and …ugh… raw in the middle.
Just to add a bit more, “Raw” means completely uncooked. “Blue” means seared on the hotplate on both sides, practically uncooked. “Rare” is just slightly cooked, not enough to heat the middle of the steak.
Wow, thanks. I never before heard of requesting a piece of meat that was cooked so little as to be cold or cool inside.
In my experience, even a “warm center” would get that way only because it has cooled off from the cooking, not because it never got heated to begin with. Yucch!
That must be it. I agree with Desmostylus. People have different views of what constitutes “rare” or “well done” or anything in between. Besides, it’s not just gourmets who order steak; it’s everyone. So someone out on the town for the first time in ages could saunter into a T.G.I. Friday’s and order a steak medium-rare, and then find out that their definition of such is completely different from the restaurant’s.
So I guess waitstaff now make a concerted effort in some places to make sure the patron knows what they’re asking for.
The problem is when you go to a restaurant and ask for “medium rare” and they give you medium or even worse, medium-well…this has happened to me many times, much to my annoyance, but never too cooked for me to bother sending it back. It’s understandable that some clients might not know the exact definition of the doneness they request, but when the chefs and line cooks can’t even get it right, then there’s a problem with the restaurant, IMHO.
[slightly-related hijack]
There is a Jack Aster’s restaurant nearby where they make some of the best steaks I’ve ever had. It is one of the few “family-class” restaurants i’ve been to that have gotten the doneness right every single time I have a steak. It’s even better than so-called steakhouses, like Kelsey’s and Outback.
One time I ordered a steak there, and requested “medium-rare”. The server got down on his knees (almost - he was leaning against the table) and thanked me profusely because that day alone he’d served nearly a dozen well-done steaks, and I was the first person to order anything less cooked than medium-well. He had a nice little rant about “If you want to eat a hockey puck, I’ll bring you a hockey puck, but if you want a steak, don’t char it into oblivion!!”
[/sightly-related hijack]
I seem to recall that many years ago there was a lot of ‘flap’ about what one was getting when a certain word was used to describe a cooked condition of steak.
This was in the OKLA, and TX area and there was a bit of money involved because a lot of people were sending back meat and demanding that they get a new cut. Once past bloody, you can’t bring them back, so to speak.
So, around here, they got to asking if you really meant what you were saying.
For me ‘rare’ is pink and a little blood leaking. I really prefer burnt and tell them so. But the point being that in order to not be throwing a lot of expensive food out and because the patrons and the cooks did not have a common definition of the words, the pictures and question began.
They have been doing it around here since the 70’s.
Also, I seem to notice that they under cook anyway, because additional cooking is much cheaper than starting over with a new cut of meat.
YMMV
I had such high hopes that this was going be more of the fine fiction that you had been kind and generous enough to grace us with in the past. But such was not to be.
Also, with health concerns about doneness (e.coli, salmonella, etc.), restaurants have disclaimers on menus stating that dishes that are undercooked run the risk of harboring disease. This might subtly nudge customers to order their meats at least medium.
I wait tables for a mid-sized Midwestern resturant chain. If there were a new law I would know about it. I would say that the posters here are right. They are telling you how your order will come to avoid having to cook you another steak.
You would be surprised how often people order something they don’t really want. Twice last week someone ordered their steak “Medium but no pink.” Those people clearly don’t understand what “medium” means. Others confirm their order: “Well done but not burnt.” Then there are the people I consider “The Strategizers”. If you don’t know how to cook a steak, and seeing as line cooks don’t generally make a lot of money they tend to be poorly trained and motivated, the tendency is to overcook them in order to make sure they are done. People that eat steak a lot know this and sometimes they use a strategy when ordering. They say “medium” figuring the dumbass cook will make it well done.
I don’t sell a lot of steaks so I don’t feel the need to confirm your order with you but I don’t mind if you want to confirm it with me. And I don’t care if you don’t know what “medium” means. It’s my job to know and I can handle it. From my perspective the Strategizers are the worst. I know who is going to cook your steak so if a strategy is needed I will take care of that for you. If you tell me “well done” then it is going to come well done and yes, I have had these people complain and send their steak back even though we cooked it the way they ordered it. “I want some pink in it.” Well then say that, dumbass! But it doesn’t happen often enough for me to start confirming everyone’s order. Where I work I am required to ask each table about a dozen questions anyways and it gets to be overkill. It’s the food that’s supposed to be grilled, not the customers.
The real difficulty is with French restaurants. The French have their steak MUCH bloodier than us Brits do, at least. So when I go to a French restaurant, I never know whether to order by their standards or my standards, because very often they will have already over-compensated for the non-French diner. (Like has often happened to me in Asian restaurants, where they warn me off certain dishes or water the chilli down, unaware I enjoy some fire and have a reasonable tolerance to chilli, unlike other total innocents abroad).
So a waitperson describing exactly what the restaurant understands from the term you give is just perfect, IMO.
I can corroborate istara’s statement about french restaurants; ‘medium’ over there is about equivalent to ‘rare’ over here.
Interstingly, ‘blue’ (or ‘bleu’) is, in my experience, not part of the raw>well done continuum, because it tends to be seared on a grill that is heated much hotter than would be used for a rare steak - the result is a highly-charred outside and a warm, rare middle.
Una. I think you are correct. I, too, remember something from the last 10 years or less which caused this to happen. I don’t think it was a law. But it is a nation-wide phenomenon. Not just customers grumbling.
You people are so emotional about how others eat their steak!!! A nice fatty steak is best when ground into hamburger, then grilled medium.
Anyway, give me a nice thick pork chop, Just past pink in the middle.
Peace,
mangeorge
