I’ve lived for protracted periods of time in Georgia, New Mexico, and New York.
The way I like my steak cooked is where the last tinge of pink has just disappeared in the center of the steak. In New York, to get it that way I have to order it “medium well” or even “well done”, and it’s useful to explain that I want the pink gone and I may even have to send it back for additional cooking even then.
In Georgia “medium” would obtain me what I wanted. New Mexico was somewhere in between. And I didn’t get snobby pushback from waiters.
Grew up in Western New York, now live in Maine. I’m not in the mood for steak very often, maybe twice a year. When I was younger I liked them well done, but now either medium-rare or Pittsburgh rare (a/k/a black-and-blue, i.e., burnt on the outside, practically raw in the middle).
Born: L.A.
Raised: San Diego and Mojave Desert (L.A. County)
Lived: L.A.
Currently: Northwest Washington (state)
I order my steaks ‘on the rare side of medium-rare’. I like them charred on the outside, just a bit of pink below that, and red-but-not-cold in the middle.
Texas, med-rare. (It should be noted, there is very little consensus on what constitutes medium rare)
I do use steak sauce but that’s only because I make my own made from aromatic vegetables braised in red wine.
If I’m at a steakhouse, I’ll probably just top it off with a dollop of whipped butter, or a Burgundy sauce if they have it.
Minnesota - medium rare to pink. Usually cooked correctly around here. Once at a Perkins (of all places!) I showed the manager a “medium rare” steak that was way overcooked; he said “that’s not right” and replaced it immediately, which surprised me for that place.
The toughest medium rare steak I’ve had was at the Big Texan steakhouse in Amarillo - the place that started the “eat this meal in an hour and get it free” trend. No pink, thin cut, stringy and chewy; I assumed it was how they did steak in west Texas.
That’s pretty much it. For me, the turning point between medium rare and medium is when the meat tightens up and firms up and gets that “cooked through” texture. It’s pink at this point, but has that firm, tightened texture. Medium rare still has that soft texture. It’s not the texture of raw meat–it’s something in between. Same with rare, except that rare is somewhat cooler in the center. (ETA: Or what Doug K.'s cite says. I hesitate to call it “official,” because levels of doneness and their target temps have changed a bit through times. I mean, look at the temperatures on this chart. No freaking way is 140F “rare” in my world. The picture roughly matches what I’d call rare or medium rare [though it is really hard to judge with most pictures on the net], but 140 is not going to give you a rare steak. We’re into medium territory at this temp.)
Now, depending on how the place cooks the steaks and their heat source, there usually is a band of “doneness” in the steaks. In a cross section, you will see a defined “well done band,” then a pink “medium band,” and then your rare/medium rare center. Ideally, you (or at least I do) want to minimize the non-medium rare band (which is why I like reverse searing, but this can better be accomplished with sous vide.)
Michigan, rare. If I’m in Ontario I have to order my steak, “rare, and I really, really mean rare and I promise not to send it back if it’s undercooked.” Otherwise I tend to get overcooked steaks in Ontario.
In places like Hermosillo or where I otherwise expect superior meat quality, then bleu.
As a midwesterner, though, I admit to growing up eating my steak well done (and wondering what the hell the big deal about steak was).
Grew up in Houston, among a family of people who used to tease my uncle for ordering rare steaks and saying he liked raw meat. They are well-done people. I now live in Dallas.
I didn’t know better for a long time, until I had a excellently prepared medium steak at dinner with a friend and their parents, and the angels sang. Now I typically get mine somewhere in the medium rare to medium ballpark depending on the cut (the leaner, the more rare). I tend to think that the leaner cuts like filet have to be more rare to remain tender, while the cuts like NY Strip can stand a bit more cooking.
