# Why do white people like to eat bloody meat? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [September 20, 2015, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-white-people-like-to-eat-bloody-meat/732021 "2015-09-20T23:08:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![Jake\_Jones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Jake\_Jones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jake_Jones)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-white-people-like-to-eat-bloody-meat/732021/121 "2015-09-23T05:41:47Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > This is interesting. I’d like to try this. do you flip the steak in the oven? Also, do you pre season it? I haven’t seen this reverse method before, but searing in cast iron and finishing in the oven [is common](http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pan-seared-rib-eye-recipe.html). [http://www.snarkandpepper.com/2012/10/how-to-cook-restaurant-quality-steak/](http://www.snarkandpepper.com/2012/10/how-to-cook-restaurant-quality-steak/) > **[Learn How to Cook the Perfect Steak in a Cast Iron Pan](https://www.thespruceeats.com/cook-the-perfect-restaurant-steak-336360)** > > Save some money and learn how to make restaurant-quality steak at home. You will need the right cut of meat, a cast iron skillet, and a grill. > **[How to Cook the Perfect Steak](https://www.allrecipes.com/article/how-to-cook-steak/)** > > Learn how to cook steak on the grill, in the oven, on the stove, or cooked sous vide. Our tips from restaurant chefs produce a deeply caramelized crust and a tender interior, every time. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-white-people-like-to-eat-bloody-meat/732021/122 "2015-09-23T12:25:50Z")
> [@Grrr](#): > > This is interesting. I’d like to try this. do you flip the steak in the oven? Also, do you pre season it? I just do it on the rack, so no need to flip. Yes, I generously salt the meat before starting it in the oven. Google up “reverse sear” and you’ll find it, but [here’s a post](http://www.forums.cuisineathome.com/ubbthreads/showthreaded.php?Number=64247) that explains it. The original method I remember reading in Cook’s Illustrated (which requires a subscription to view online), but I’m sure they’re not the first. The method works wonderfully for all sorts of meats and cuts, including roasts. For example, [here is Serious Eats](http://www.seriouseats.com/2014/12/the-food-lab-reverse-sear-beef-tenderloin-filet-mignon.html) on the perfect roast tenderloin using the reverse sear. I personally find the reverse sear better than the traditional sear-then-finish-in-oven method as it cooks the interior of the meat more evenly and you don’t have as much “banding” of doneness from the outside inward. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [September 23, 2015, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-white-people-like-to-eat-bloody-meat/732021/123 "2015-09-23T14:02:31Z")
> [@Jake\_Jones](#): > > I haven’t seen this reverse method before, but searing in cast iron and finishing in the oven [is common](http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/pan-seared-rib-eye-recipe.html). > > [http://www.snarkandpepper.com/2012/10/how-to-cook-restaurant-quality-steak/](http://www.snarkandpepper.com/2012/10/how-to-cook-restaurant-quality-steak/) > [How to Cook the Perfect Steak in a Cast Iron Pan](http://bbq.about.com/od/steaks/ss/aa071507a.htm) > [How to Cook Steak](http://dish.allrecipes.com/how-to-cook-steak/) Here’s the actual recipe I paraphrased upthread: > **[Low-Temp Oven Steak - Modernist Cuisine](https://modernistcuisine.com/recipes/low-temp-oven-steak/)** > > The reason we freeze the steaks in this recipe before cooking them is to make sure we don’t overcook them. It will work even if the steaks are frozen as solid as a brick, though it might take a little longer in the oven. That’s why this recipe works... ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-white-people-like-to-eat-bloody-meat/732021/124 "2015-09-24T02:26:15Z")
> [@Tammytulip](#): > > I have recently read some message boards hoping to find an honest answer to this question and I have noticed some very derogatory comments about why black people eat well done meat. As a black person, I know why black people eat their meat well done, but I cannot understand why someone would knowingly eat blood, juiciness or not. Not just white people. In northeastern Thailand, a lot of meat is eaten raw, with no cooking whatsoever. (That also contributes to the Northeast’s main health problem, liver fluke.) Chinese and Thais both eat congealed blood, often putting it in their noodle-broth dishes. I usually have to specifically ask for the blood to be left out if I’m ordering anything like that. I know the Cambodians have a lot of bloody fare too. ---
**Author:** ![gazpacho](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/6f9a4e/32.png) [@gazpacho](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gazpacho)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-white-people-like-to-eat-bloody-meat/732021/125 "2015-09-24T05:12:34Z")
> [@Inna\_Minnit](#): > > Which rural areas are these? I live in cattle country. Steak should be rare. I personally like medium rare, but most cattle ranchers I know just put it to the fire long enough to warm it up. Something like 3 minutes per side. In my personal experience South Dakota,and Nebraska. I usually get medium rare but visiting my grand parents in South Dakota I learned to ask for very rare steaks which came out what I would call medium in every restaurant in 100 miles of where they lived that I went to. This was about 20 years ago and things might have changed. I have noticed the fashion for steak has been getting rarer with passing time. ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [September 24, 2015, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-white-people-like-to-eat-bloody-meat/732021/126 "2015-09-24T06:27:35Z")
I’m the oldest of a large family (white), and I’m the only one who eats her beef (steak or roast) rare, so I believe that premise of yours isn’t valid. My son insists that his be well-done, as do all of my nephews and nieces. Years ago, I used to eat steak tartare (seasoned raw minced beef), but I don’t feel I trust our meat sources enough anymore, so I eat all ground beef well-done. ---
**Author:** ![ItsJustin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ce7236/32.png) [@ItsJustin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ItsJustin)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2016, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-white-people-like-to-eat-bloody-meat/732021/127 "2016-01-22T21:18:11Z")
In general in the black community it just comes down to what this site is fighting. Ignorance. Ignorance about steak versus other meats albeit ground up or whole. First its a common misconception that rare=raw. It doesn’t. Rare is at lowest is an internal temperature of 120 and mid rare being 130 to 135. THAT’S NOT RAW. I’ve heard people say black people said they do it so they wont get sick or don’t like red (blood). For beef if its ground up you want to cook it thru (unless you ground it yourself or have a trusted source). That’s because once its ground all of it is exposed verses a chunk of beef where just the outside is exposed. With a cut of steak you should NEVER cook it well done because you’re just missing the point of a nice steak. Just get a steak burger or something if you for some reason must have it well done. All it boils down to is steak ignorance being past down from person to person and confusing raw with rare. ---
**Author:** ![drewder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/57b2e6/32.png) [@drewder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drewder)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-white-people-like-to-eat-bloody-meat/732021/128 "2016-01-23T00:03:20Z")
> [@Athena](#): > > I know plenty of white people who prefer their meat well done. > > That said, I’m not one of them. > > When it comes right down to it, I’ve found just about any meat tastes better rare or raw. Steak tartar? Mild and delicious. Same for sushi - all the non-sushi eaters I know think that sushi is incredibly fishy. Not so; the ‘fishiness’ comes out as it cooks, raw fish is light, fresh & clean tasting. Pork is being served pink nowadays (though not truly rare) and I’ve heard that in Japan, chicken sushi is common. I’d love to try it, but not with American salmonella-laden chicken. > > So that’s why I eat my steak rare or medium-rare, depending on the cut. Can’t answer for all white folks, just me. Pork has finally been downgraded from 165 to 145. Seems that no one really gets sick from pork since they stopped feeding literal garbage to pigs. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-white-people-like-to-eat-bloody-meat/732021/129 "2016-01-23T00:26:49Z")
Nearly all fish I can enjoy raw, beef and lamb I like extra rare. All other mammals and birds I liked cooked well done. Elk is another one i like rare. ---
**Author:** ![Saintly\_Loser](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saintly_loser/32/4045_2.png) [@Saintly\_Loser](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Saintly_Loser)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-white-people-like-to-eat-bloody-meat/732021/130 "2016-01-23T01:54:44Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > I lived in Japan, had every kind of sushi. There are some kinds of bluefish sushi that taste genuinely strong and fishy, such as saba (a kind of mackerel). But what you say is genuinely true. > > Tori-sashi, or chicken sashimi (it’s not sushi unless it’s combined with vinegared sushi rice). I’ve indeed seen it on the menu at various places, but I would never eat it. I got a nasty case of campylobacter at a yakitori joint that seemed clean and was actually cooking the chicken… I’ve had it. Made me a bit nervous, but I didn’t suffer any ill effects. It wasn’t that great – I’ve never been tempted to seek it out again. Also horse sashimi. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-white-people-like-to-eat-bloody-meat/732021/131 "2016-01-23T02:19:53Z")
I’ve had steak well done and I’ve had it medium rare. Sometimes I’ll choose based on the wine selection available. I’m white, and I approve of this message… ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 3:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-white-people-like-to-eat-bloody-meat/732021/132 "2016-01-23T03:43:45Z")
> [@Saintly\_Loser](#): > > I’ve had it. Made me a bit nervous, but I didn’t suffer any ill effects. It wasn’t that great – I’ve never been tempted to seek it out again. > > Also horse sashimi. I had horse sashimi in Japan. I liked it. I wouldn’t go way out of my way for it, but I’d be happy to eat it again. I’ve never eaten raw chicken, but I frequently handle raw chicken flesh when cooking, and something about the consistency turns me off. I don’t like raw squid or shrimp, either. (Raw shrimp are delicious, but the texture is unpleasant to me) So I won’t be eating that on purpose. ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 3:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-white-people-like-to-eat-bloody-meat/732021/133 "2016-01-23T03:47:47Z")
> [@drewder](#): > > Pork has finally been downgraded from 165 to 145. Seems that no one really gets sick from pork since they stopped feeding literal garbage to pigs. > [@puzzlegal](#): > > …I used to be terrified of undercooked pork, but USDA regulations have pretty much eliminated trichinosis from commercial pork in the US. There are only about 10-20 cases a year in the US, and almost all of those are traced to wild game. So now I sometimes eat it when it still has a touch of pink, and it’s much tastier that way. > > [http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/trichinellosis/gen\_info/faqs.html](http://www.cdc.gov/parasites/trichinellosis/gen_info/faqs.html) > [http://www.porkcares.org/our-practices/food-safety/the-truth-about-trichinosis-in-pork](http://www.porkcares.org/our-practices/food-safety/the-truth-about-trichinosis-in-pork) yeah, specifically, hog feed needs to be cooked (or at least, meat-based hog feed does) or the pork can’t be legally sold in the US. Since hogs stopped eating undercooked meat, they stopped being infected with trichinosis. That allows people to eat undercooked meat. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![HMS\_Irruncible](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hms_irruncible/32/7394_2.png) [@HMS\_Irruncible](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HMS_Irruncible)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-white-people-like-to-eat-bloody-meat/732021/134 "2016-01-23T03:52:48Z")
To me, when a steak is well-done, it cooks away all the differences between a good chunk of meat and a bad one. That might be good in fajitas or a pot roast, but if I’ve shelled out for a ribeye, I want it black and blue (seared black on the outside, raw red on the inside). Then again I left my small town at a young age and got all urbane and shit. Not gonna touch the race thing. I’ll just observe that what a lot of people consider black foodways are generally the same as white southern foodways, contrary to what a lot of people would like to think. ---
**Author:** ![Pork\_Rind](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pork_rind/32/111_2.png) [@Pork\_Rind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pork_Rind)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-white-people-like-to-eat-bloody-meat/732021/135 "2016-01-23T04:49:44Z")
> [@Aeschines](#): > > I lived in Japan, had every kind of sushi. There are some kinds of bluefish sushi that taste genuinely strong and fishy, such as saba (a kind of mackerel). But what you say is genuinely true. Saba is always [cured with salt then washed with vinegar](http://www.sushiencyclopedia.com/sushi_menu/mackerel_sushi.html) though, so it’s not a good example. Mackerel spoils to fast to safely make sushi. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [January 23, 2016, 7:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-white-people-like-to-eat-bloody-meat/732021/136 "2016-01-23T07:08:22Z")
> [@cornflakes](#): > > It may be more of a socioeconomic or regional thing. I grew up in Rural Texas and then in the suburbs, mostly with families from small towns. It seemed that medium well done was the default and rare was associated with the upper class or with people from out of state. I was raised in a low-income household and I can count the number of times we ate steak at home from age 1-18 on 1 hand. So how would my mother (for example) ever learn how to properly prepare a good steak? I’m white, but I think it’s more likely a class thing than a race thing. It’s just that race and class are inextricably intertwined in the US. And another factor – whether or not food poisoning was likely, my mother was paranoid about food safety because doctor visits are hella expensive. So burgers were only ever well-done in our house (and every one cut in half to make sure the center was unpink). ---
**Author:** ![puzzlegal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/puzzlegal/32/3827_2.png) [@puzzlegal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/puzzlegal)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2016, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-white-people-like-to-eat-bloody-meat/732021/137 "2016-01-24T23:16:11Z")
> [@Pork\_Rind](#): > > Saba is always [cured with salt then washed with vinegar](http://www.sushiencyclopedia.com/sushi_menu/mackerel_sushi.html) though, so it’s not a good example. Mackerel spoils to fast to safely make sushi. I love saba, but even if it’s cured, it’s more likely to be too old than any other sushi I’ve had. I only eat it at places I trust. ---
**Author:** ![the\_diego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7bcc69/32.png) [@the\_diego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/the_diego)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-white-people-like-to-eat-bloody-meat/732021/138 "2016-01-25T01:43:45Z")
I’m Filipino (brown) and I like my meat… ---
**Author:** ![FluffyBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecb155/32.png) [@FluffyBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FluffyBob)\ **Post date:** [January 25, 2016, 4:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-white-people-like-to-eat-bloody-meat/732021/139 "2016-01-25T04:23:00Z")
I love Saba! Had no idea it was cured. I was in Kihei, Maui and they insisted I have the Spanish Mackerel Aji Sushi and it was sublime. According to the encyclopedia the Aji Sushi does not require curing. Anyhow, zombie or no, I like my steak rare. I think its dead easy to find a great steak and dead easy to cook it right, but I do live in ranch country. Wife likes hers well done, and she LOVES steak. We are both white. Was madly in love with a black woman many years ago but we were both vegetarian then, no idea how she likes her steak. Lots of people like theirs well done or medium, never saw it as, or was aware of it as a cultural thing. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-white-people-like-to-eat-bloody-meat/732021.md?page=6)