# Why do black people like steaks well-done? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 25, 2010, 2:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958 "2010-09-25T02:15:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958/81 "2010-09-25T18:03:46Z")
> [@Koxinga](#): > > On the regional / cultural side of the argument, what relevance might there be in Louisiana “blackened” catfish and similar cuisine? Irrelevant? Irrelevant. Blackening is a modern technique developed by Paul Prudhomme. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958/82 "2010-09-25T18:11:50Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > (Assuming for the sake of argument the validity of the OP’s observation): Old cultural ties to a southern-cuisine tendency to cook the hell out of everything? This is what I would guess. Most of southern cuisine is, as I’m wont to refer to it, cooked-to-death (think: southern style green beans, greens of nearly any stripe, and, well, the entire concept of barbecue). Now, if we could only figure why they insist on walking into movies late and talking back to the screen, I could live a fuller life. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958/83 "2010-09-25T18:17:30Z")
> [@Kinthalis](#): > > I think it’s a money thing. > > I’m going to go ahead and say that it’s poor people. Poor people eat their steaks over cooked to hell. > > Don’t flame me! This would jibe with the the southern culture theory as well. My mom’s side of the family trace their roots back to the hills and “hollers” of Kentucky, and they are some of the pickiest, most persnickety eaters I’ve ever seen, and that includes eating their steaks no rarer than medium well. Shit, some of them won’t eat a steak unless it’s cooked _extra_ well, for fuck’s sake. ---
**Author:** ![NOLA\_Cajun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ea666f/32.png) [@NOLA\_Cajun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NOLA_Cajun)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958/84 "2010-09-25T18:18:41Z")
As someone that worked as a cook in the Gulf Of Mexico for many years… All of you that eat your steaks well done are evil sick bastards. Btw- Steak day was Wedneday and Saturday. Every week. Ribeyes only. I would have to say most black folk did want well done… but no more then the white folk. What was most disgusting was the cooks that marinated the steaks…but i digress My steaks…a lil salt, black pepper, and garlic…and juicy medium rare… are perfect…By the way I cut my steaks 2 inches thick. And if you can’t handle a real steak I’ll cook you a chicken breast. ---
**Author:** ![MTCicero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a4c791/32.png) [@MTCicero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MTCicero)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958/85 "2010-09-25T18:18:50Z")
> [@ataraxy22](#): > > I’m a white person and I like my steak well done. Why do you even bother ordering a steak? No, really: Why? ---
**Author:** ![Broomstick](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/broomstick/32/246_2.png) [@Broomstick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Broomstick)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 6:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958/86 "2010-09-25T18:27:42Z")
> [@MTCicero](#): > > This is what I would guess. Most of southern cuisine is, as I’m wont to refer to it, cooked-to-death (think: southern style green beans, greens of nearly any stripe, and, well, the entire concept of barbecue). Then again, the pokeweed\* my mother-in-law used to eat in copious quantities _really does_ need to be cooked two hours, with two water changes - raw pokeweed is toxic. So are some other wild foods. They used to eat acorns in bad years, which is another food that needs hours of cooking to render it edible. Again, this was tied to being poor and using wild foods to supplement the diet, and I could see it carrying over into cooking EVERYTHING to death. - By the way, despite 2+ hours of cooking, mom-in-law’s poke sallet is well worth eating. It has to do with the final 1/ 2 hour of cooking, which involves some bacon and basic spices. ---
**Author:** ![alice\_in\_wonderland](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alice_in_wonderland/32/176_2.png) [@alice\_in\_wonderland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alice_in_wonderland)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958/87 "2010-09-25T18:30:47Z")
If I mention that every Japanese person I’ve ever met, or served prefers their steak rare or blue rare does that mean I’m racist against the Japanese? No, I didn’t think so. Good then. I have no answer to the OP, but I would assume that it’s a cultural preference. I wonder how black people in the UK prefer their steak? ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958/88 "2010-09-25T19:17:24Z")
> [@WarmNPrickly](#): > > People that like their steak medium well, seem to not really have a passion for steak and would just as happily order chicken. > [@MT Cicero](#): > > Why do you even bother ordering a steak (if you have it well done)? > [@jsgoddess](#): > > …once you get in your head what meat should look at taste like, something else seems gross, tastes funny, looks weird, etc. Meat is a very… evocative food for many people. It has to be right or else it’s gross. 😃 And that’s why this this thread was started, like previous threads by Dopers who are just _appalled_ that anyone could like their meat cooked more thoroughly than rare or medium rare, the way true gourmets like themselves and Jesus Christ would have wanted. The OP may have been genuinely curious about what element in black culture supposedly leads to a liking for well-done steak, but given his expressed preferences, it comes off as “Let’s ridicule this ethnic group because they don’t know how to eat properly”. I just don’t feel the need to sermonize about how others should enjoy their food. It’s probably an ethnic defect. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958/89 "2010-09-25T19:34:22Z")
I’m not remotely sermonizing about how you like your steak. If you want it cooked well done, and that is the way you genuinely like it, then enjoy. It is my experience though, that the people who like there steak well done, don’t really have a lot of passion about steak. I sincerely wonder if these people would like their steak better,if they cooked it a lot less. There may be genuine steak afficianodos out there that like their steak well done. I have never met one. You may be one, but I can’t tell that over the Internet. ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958/90 "2010-09-25T19:40:07Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > And that’s why this this thread was started, like previous threads by Dopers who are just _appalled_ that anyone could like their meat cooked more thoroughly than rare or medium rare, the way true gourmets like themselves and Jesus Christ would have wanted. The OP may have been genuinely curious about what element in black culture supposedly leads to a liking for well-done steak, but given his expressed preferences, it comes off as “Let’s ridicule this ethnic group because they don’t know how to eat properly”. > > I just don’t feel the need to sermonize about how others should enjoy their food. It’s probably an ethnic defect. ☹ Wow, you’re really reading _a lot_ into what I’ve said. My preference has nothing to do with it - I only even mentioned it after another poster came along and made a generalization about white people (which I happen to be one). I recognize that it’s just a preference. What tastes good to me does not necessarily taste good to someone else. I was curious about cultural reasons surrounding it and nothing more. Frankly, that’s a pretty insulting comment. ---
**Author:** ![Tethered\_Kite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/a5b964/32.png) [@Tethered\_Kite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tethered_Kite)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958/91 "2010-09-25T19:40:36Z")
> [@Hunter\_Hawk](#): > > > [@Koxinga](#): > > > > On the regional / cultural side of the argument, what relevance might there be in Louisiana “blackened” catfish and similar cuisine? Irrelevant? > > Irrelevant. Blackening is a modern technique developed by Paul Prudhomme. The chefs among us may correct me if I’m wrong. But I think the _blackened_ part isn’t about a degree of doneness and more from the kinds of seasonings used which give the meat a dark appearance. ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958/92 "2010-09-25T19:45:54Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > (Assuming for the sake of argument the validity of the OP’s observation): Old cultural ties to a southern-cuisine tendency to cook the hell out of everything? That explains the horridly overcooked -everything- my (white) grandma cooks. ---
**Author:** ![Balthisar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/balthisar/32/2825_2.png) [@Balthisar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balthisar)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958/93 "2010-09-25T20:04:11Z")
> [@MTCicero](#): > > This is what I would guess. Most of southern cuisine is, as I’m wont to refer to it, cooked-to-death (think: southern style green beans, greens of nearly any stripe, and, well, the entire concept of barbecue). Yeah, I get the impression, too. There’s no such thing as any type of good, southern produce. I will defend the concept of barbecue, though. There’s a huge difference between, say, a center cut T-bone and a brisket. Long and slow is the only way to make brisket edible. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958/94 "2010-09-25T20:11:07Z")
> [@ivn1188](#): > > Here’s what happens when you are a nitpicky smartass: > [@LouisB](#): > > You are a very unpleasant person. **[Moderator Warning]** **ivn1188** and **LouisB** , insults are not permitted in GQ. This is an official warning. Do not do this again. To the other participants: tone it down. I’ll be reading through the thread to see if additional actions are warranted. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![rhubarbarin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/eb9ed0/32.png) [@rhubarbarin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rhubarbarin)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958/95 "2010-09-25T20:20:50Z")
As a server, I’ve noticed this too. So has my boss, who does most of the cooking at my current serving job and thinks it’s a sin to cook a steak past an evenly-pink ‘medium’. He is black. According to both him and my (lily-white) Texan grandparents, it’s just a Southern thing. Southern cooks do _everything_ ‘well-done’. My dad grew up detesting beef for this reason. Even here in Philadelphia many if not a majority of black people have Southern roots and cook a lot of ‘soul food’. So I’ve always thought this was the main reason I can’t ever remember waiting on a black customer who ordered their beef less than medium-well. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958/96 "2010-09-25T20:35:19Z")
It’s pretty clear that the southern/cultural thing is the clincher. Maybe with a little bit of the “poorer cuts of beef” thrown in for good measure. My (white) family is all over the map-- I like it medium rare, but others in my family want it well done. As an aside…, does this carry over to eggs (fried, that is)? I love eggs, but if they’re cooked all the way thru, I’ll toss them out. My cousin, OTOH, won’t eat any eggs that aren’t the consistency of shoe leather. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958/97 "2010-09-25T20:37:11Z")
**[Moderator Notes]** This thread has gone pretty far off track.\* While I am tempted to close it, I am leaving it open for the time being. Some posters have in fact posted factual information relevant to the OP. However: Let’s dial _way_ back on the snark. There are a number of other posts here that would have received moderator notes if I had seen them sooner. I am not going to issue individual ones now, but just give a general instruction to be more civil in your responses to other posters. Further allegations or implications that the OP, or the remarks of other posters, are “racist” are off limits. If you want to discuss whether the question in the OP is racist, open a new thread in GD. If you feel another poster is making racist remarks, report the post. Also, informing us of how you, personally, like your meat cooked, and especially any moral judgments about how others like their meat cooked, is not appropriate to GQ. If you want to discuss your preferences in meat preparation, open another thread in Cafe Society. Failure to comply with these instructions may result in an official warning. Colibri General Questions Moderator \*Not surprising for a thread that combines the subjects of the perceived cultural preferences of a racial group, and whether or not steak should be cooked well done. ---
**Author:** ![Tully\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7ab992/32.png) [@Tully\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tully_Mars)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958/98 "2010-09-25T20:58:01Z")
> [@John\_Mace](#): > > It’s pretty clear that the southern/cultural thing is the clincher. Maybe with a little bit of the “poorer cuts of beef” thrown in for good measure. In many rural areas in Appalachia, the Deep South, and East Texas, electricity and refridgeration have only been common for about three-four generations. So I would think that there are still a few folks that learned their cooking and eating habits from grandparents who practiced cooking the hell out of meats that had been hanging in the smokehouse for weeks. Barbecue sauces and other spicy sauces served to disquise the taste of meat that was a little ‘off’ but was not quite bad enough to feed to the dogs. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958/99 "2010-09-25T21:17:00Z")
> [@ivn1188](#): > > > [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > > > (Assuming for the sake of argument the validity of the OP’s observation): Old cultural ties to a southern-cuisine tendency to cook the hell out of everything? > > My guess as well. Lots of soul food/southern food/etc, and a lot of Caribbean food was cooked with open flame, and getting a nice char is an important part of the flavor profile on many of the dishes. I do love me some Caribbean food, but overcooking it is a feature I’ve never seen. Getting a nice char on the outside isn’t the same as cooking the crap out of the inside. Good jerk chicken is a careful balance. ---
**Author:** ![RickJay](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/bb73d2/32.png) [@RickJay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RickJay)\ **Post date:** [September 25, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958/100 "2010-09-25T21:29:33Z")
> [@MTCicero](#): > > > [@ataraxy22](#): > > > > I’m a white person and I like my steak well done. > > Why do you even bother ordering a steak? > > No, really: Why? A good cut of meat is tasty in any done-ness. I prefer medium to medium rare but a well done steak is still delicious if it’s a good cut. A bad cut of meat is just meh, no matter how it’s cooked. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-black-people-like-steaks-well-done/554958.md?page=6)