# Why do some people like steaks cooked more on the rare side than the done side? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 20, 2007, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-like-steaks-cooked-more-on-the-rare-side-than-the-done-side/416216 "2007-08-20T04:05:57Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![Merkwurdigliebe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/74df32/32.png) [@Merkwurdigliebe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merkwurdigliebe)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-like-steaks-cooked-more-on-the-rare-side-than-the-done-side/416216/81 "2007-08-24T01:31:39Z")
My parents would cook steak for me as a kid and cut it up. I always called this “pink meat.” I had no idea that it wasn’t being cooked properly. I didn’t really care! I loved the stuff! So I guess I never had a chance to be grossed out by it mainly because I already like it before I made the connection about what was going on. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-like-steaks-cooked-more-on-the-rare-side-than-the-done-side/416216/82 "2007-08-24T05:46:17Z")
[QUOTE=Hunter Hawk] Well, bear in mind that lots of people think that beef fat in large quantities is kinda gross. But other animal fats such as pork and duck are a whole nother story–braised pork belly is hugely popular, and potatoes cooked in duck fat are a little slice of heaven. [/QUOTE] I think the drippings from a nice beef roast, in great quantities, fat included, make the best gravies and yorkshire Puddings. Pansauce for steak is replete without marrow, the choicest of food. What is a spotted dick without suet? ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-like-steaks-cooked-more-on-the-rare-side-than-the-done-side/416216/83 "2007-08-24T06:13:22Z")
I’m sorry, that should read “deplete”, not “replete”. A beef dinner is deplete without the most mildly gamey and agreeable fat. ---
**Author:** ![devilsknew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4da419/32.png) [@devilsknew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/devilsknew)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-like-steaks-cooked-more-on-the-rare-side-than-the-done-side/416216/84 "2007-08-24T06:30:55Z")
Sorry to the people. The sared cow is one tasty motherfucker. I’m sure I have a special ring in hell waiting for me. ---
**Author:** ![Pel2na](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Pel2na](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pel2na)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 6:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-like-steaks-cooked-more-on-the-rare-side-than-the-done-side/416216/85 "2007-08-24T06:40:10Z")
Here’s a tip that my brother, who spent a summer as an assistant chef in a steakhouse, passed on to me. As a previous poster noted, you don’t tell the doneness of a steak by the temperature, but by the firmness. To judge that, just tap the meat briefly with your finger. No, it won’t burn you. In between the root of the index finger and the root of the thumb on your other hand is a little patch of muscle. Tap that as well. When your hand is relaxed, that firmness (or lack thereof) is “rare”. If you make a loose fist, then the firmness of that muscle is “medium” if you clench your fist, you’ve got “well”. When I was a kid, we’d get taken out to the Country Club for a steak dinner on our birthdays. The steak always arrived with a little wooden sign stuck in it that said “med. rare” or whatever. Whatever happened to those little wooden stickers? I never see them any more. ---
**Author:** ![Queen\_Bruin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Queen\_Bruin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Queen_Bruin)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-like-steaks-cooked-more-on-the-rare-side-than-the-done-side/416216/86 "2007-08-24T06:47:52Z")
I learned a similar trick: the feel of a relaxed thumb mound is rare. Move your thumb to the first knuckle of your index and you have medium-rare. Second finger is medium, and so on. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2007, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-like-steaks-cooked-more-on-the-rare-side-than-the-done-side/416216/87 "2007-08-24T06:57:13Z")
[QUOTE=BarnOwl] How can this thread exist in GQ? [/QUOTE] Do you need a map? It’s not a poll, but a search for a reason. I think I found it. Did you bother to read the whole thread? ---
**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:** [August 25, 2007, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-like-steaks-cooked-more-on-the-rare-side-than-the-done-side/416216/88 "2007-08-25T01:11:03Z")
[QUOTE=Pel2na] Here’s a tip that my brother, who spent a summer as an assistant chef in a steakhouse, passed on to me. As a previous poster noted, you don’t tell the doneness of a steak by the temperature, but by the firmness. To judge that, just tap the meat briefly with your finger. No, it won’t burn you. In between the root of the index finger and the root of the thumb on your other hand is a little patch of muscle. Tap that as well. When your hand is relaxed, that firmness (or lack thereof) is “rare”. If you make a loose fist, then the firmness of that muscle is “medium” if you clench your fist, you’ve got “well”. [/QUOTE] That doesn’t work for everyone – like I said earlier pertaining to myself, I’m just not sensitive enough. Everything feels like everything else. On _my_ grill with the cuts of meat that _I_ buy, I’ve got the timing down. But take that familiarity away, then it’s just a guess. An educated guess, of course, but nowhere near precise as if I had a thermometer. Even the thermometer requires and educated guess, though – you don’t want to be poking a whole lot of holes in a beautiful piece of steak. ---
**Author:** ![dnooman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/839c29/32.png) [@dnooman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dnooman)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2007, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-like-steaks-cooked-more-on-the-rare-side-than-the-done-side/416216/89 "2007-08-25T05:19:40Z")
[QUOTE=dnooman] Do you need a map? It’s not a poll, but a search for a reason. I think I found it. Did you bother to read the whole thread? [/QUOTE] Sorry, that was not called for. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-some-people-like-steaks-cooked-more-on-the-rare-side-than-the-done-side/416216.md?page=4)