Why so much hate towards people who want their meat well done?

[De Lupe]

Well, I was once in a restaurant and I wanted a tuna steak, but I like it cooked until almost all the color is cooked out.... I told the waitress this and she said the chef will only make it rare. I said I am paying and I want it cooked more. It came out rare. I walked out.

When people pay for a meal, like a steak, IMO, the chef should set aside his or her personal bias and just give the customer what they want. I sure as hell won't pay for food to come out any other way than the way I asked for it.

To an extent, I can agree. But, believe it or not, you walking out didn't do anything to hurt the kitchen. The kitchen doesn't care that you left. Kitchen people are in the kitchen for a reason; to stay away from the customers. Customers are picky, customers are bitchy, customers are annoying, customers don't know what they're talking about...in twelve years and four kitchens, one of the few consistent factors I have learned is that kitchens hate customers. You leave? No big deal. One dissatisfied customer for every hundred satisfied is 99% satisfaction, which is pretty damn good.

You really want to get even? Ask to talk to the chef. Because then they have to leave the kitchen in the middle of a rush so you can ask him/her personally to re-make your food. It slows the kitchen down, it interrupts the rhythm of the kitchen, and now the chef is pissy because a customer is bitching at them.

[Protean]

Probably because most people are dumb and can't get out of binary reasoning, so they can't manage to understand there is degree between "more cooked than rare" and "burnt".

You mean how you don't even acknowledge that nobody else here talks about well-done being "burnt meat" and everybody is talking about well-done as "chewy leathery meat"? Sounds like you're stuck in binary reasoning where either people are with you (right) or people disagree with you (clearly wrong)

My own experience is the exact opposite, as written above.

While your experiences are as valid as the next person, the conclusions you draw from them are obviously just plain wrong.

[Ripster42]

I don't see how the taste changes that much from say medium rare to well done. just involves more chewing.

If your cook is cooking it right it actually gets less chewy.

[Stelio Kontos]

The rare steak I tried last month was far chewier and unpleasant than any well-done steak I've had.

It was just a damp, chewy mess.

[Atrea]

If your cook is cooking it right it actually gets less chewy.

Uh, no.

One of the easiest ways to check a steak's doneness is by touch. (Temperature probing is discouraged, since piercing the meat releases juices.)
When a steak is well-done, it is firmer than say, medium-rare.

That firmness translates to chewiness.

Please don't argue with people who have most likely been doing this for a living longer than you've been old enough to order your own food.

- - - Updated - - -

The rare steak I tried last month was far chewier and unpleasant than any well-done steak I've had.

It was just a damp, chewy mess.

Maybe you just go to shitty restaurants.

I'll say this much; any time a person says they like steak well-done, I know that they have never been to a very good restaurant.

At high-end restaurants, it is virtually unheard-of to have someone order a steak well-done. It only happens on the rare occasion someone is bringing their old-fashioned mother, who is still of the mindset that if it isn't smoking and black, she'll die of trichinosis or something.

[Stelio Kontos]

Maybe you just go to shitty restaurants.

Or maybe someone just doesn't like their steak rare.

It's shocking, I know, but it just might be possible.

[Sky High]

If your cook is cooking it right it actually gets less chewy.

I don't see how unless it's BBQ cooked or out of a crockpot.

[Atrea]

Or maybe someone just doesn't like their steak rare.

It's shocking, I know, but it just might be possible.

I'm of the mindset that anybody would like a good steak, from a high-end restaurant, cooked to rare or medium-rare, given the opportunity to try it. Unfortunately, $90+ a plate (and that's on the lower side) dinners are not in most laypeople's budgets.

It's okay, I mean, I'm not trying to diss you by saying you can't afford high-end restaurants -- but understand that some of the higher-end stuff is beyond the palate of most diners.

[Xuvial]

The rare steak I tried last month was far chewier and unpleasant than any well-done steak I've had.

It was just a damp, chewy mess.

I can't stand rare either, it's just a chewy/bloody mess and tastes bad. Medium strikes a balance of everything.

But generally I prefer meat to be slow-cooked in a pot or BBQ. Grilling is overrated :P

Also keep in mind some chefs have a slightly different take on what those rare/medium/etc mean, so just make sure you're making your judgements at renowned (or at least somewhat respectable) eating places

[breadisfunny]

As a cook in a restaurant, nothing disappoints me more than having to take a perfect NY Strip steak and DESTROYING it by cooking it well. All of the flavor comes from the juices and well steaks have their juice cooked out of them. They become dry, crunchy, and tough to chew at well.

If you want beef jerky, go to a gas station and buy it there. Otherwise, cook your steaks to medium and stop.

i'll cook it however i want to.

[Stelio Kontos]

It's okay, I mean, I'm not trying to diss you by saying you can't afford high-end restaurants -- but understand that some of the higher-end stuff is beyond the palate of most diners.

I don't care about the price if it tastes good, whether it's $5 or $500. I just don't like the texture of rare steak, it's soggy and gummy. And that's from the dive bar down the street or from the expensive steakhouse downtown.

Are people really using No True Scotsman fallacies to argue about not liking other folks' opinions now?

[Ripster42]

I was exaggerating for effect, but TY for that input. I'll file it away in my suggestion box.

Learn how to cook well done steaks instead of being shitty to your customers. It's possible your kitchen isn't even set up to be able to correctly cook a well done steak, and it's for sure you don't cook them correctly if the steak doesn't get easier to chew well done vs rare. Most kitchens purposely don't because they don't want to fuck up the normal flow of their work worrying about it, as no matter how your kitchen is set up, you need two separate surfaces from the rest of your steaks (and if you fire grill your steaks, you still need a flat surface heated to a different temp than you'd use to cook anything else). If you're in one of the kitchens that isn't set up correctly, just tell your customers. Don't be pretentious because you can't be bothered to do your job right.

[Atrea]

Also keep in mind some chefs have a slightly different take on what those terms mean, so just make sure you're making your judgements at renowned (or at least somewhat respectable) eating places

They shouldn't. Each of those terms correspond to a different internal temperature, which is more or less internationally held as a standard.

If one restaurant's medium-rare is different from another restaurant's medium-rare, then that is a quality control problem, not representative of there being a wide variety of doneness at the same level.

Eat at better establishments. If the best you can afford is some roadside greasy spoon - then perhaps it would behoove you to save your money by eating at home, where you can ensure your own quality and consistency.

[Stelio Kontos]

I can't stand rare either, it's just a chewy/bloody mess and tastes bad.

For me, medium strikes the perfect balance of everything.

Also keep in mind some chefs have a slightly different take on what those terms mean, so just make sure you're making your judgements at renowned (or at least somewhat respectable) eating places

I can do medium if it's well-made. And to be fair, most of the "haute"-type places I've eaten in the US have been little better than slop compared to Europe. But I also haven't been to NYC or such. Just Seattle and San Diego for a spell. I'm sure there's a high-end restaurant deserving of the praise and price somewhere.

[Protean]

There was a guy in a restaurant I was in that started screaming and shouting over it when his date ordered a well done meat (I'm not sure which one), he then started walking around the restaurant and made a scene at every person that essentially didn't have raw, bleeding meat on their plate.

He was arrested on the premises and (apparently) later sued by several of the guests that he interrupted (I know because I got a letter in the mail to appear for a court case regarding the incident).

So, some people take it very seriously, getting very emotional about how cooked someone else's meat is.

I'm not going to believe a word of that story.

[Atrea]

I don't care about the price if it tastes good, whether it's $5 or $500. I just don't like the texture of rare steak, it's soggy and gummy. And that's from the dive bar down the street or from the expensive steakhouse downtown.

Are people really using No True Scotsman fallacies to argue about not liking other folks' opinions now?

If your opinion of a steak cooked on the rare side is that it's "soggy and gummy", then I can state with complete certainty that you've only ever eaten cheap cuts of steak from some dank community pub where the emphasis is alcohol sales, and not food quality - or cooked at home.

I'm saying that I'd hate it too if that's all I had ever experienced. But it's not.
It really is your loss at the end of the day, though.

[Stelio Kontos]

There was a guy in a restaurant I was in that started screaming and shouting over it when his date ordered a well done meat (I'm not sure which one), he then started walking around the restaurant and made a scene at every person that essentially didn't have raw, bleeding meat on their plate.

He was arrested on the premises and (apparently) later sued by several of the guests that he interrupted (I know because I got a letter in the mail to appear for a court case regarding the incident).

So, some people take it very seriously, getting very emotional about how cooked someone else's meat is.

Judging by the hysterics in this thread, I can sadly believe it.

[Kithelle]

I don't give anyone the stink eye when they want well done, but I just prefer mine rare...I grew up with that...my Mom always cooked her cow meats rare...and I like it that way...to me it's more tender and juicy and I enjoy that...but whatever floats your boat.

[Protean]

A lot of beta males like to derive their masculinity from eating meat as raw as possible.

Its kind of like when you were a kid and doing really stupid shit made you cool - here, doing really stupid shit makes you a man. You also have to constantly point out every time someone does something their own (or superior) way (gets an automatic car, gets a well done steak, etc) and play it off as if its..








The 'well done steak' is to beta males as is the 'damsel in distress' to the fedora equipped loser. They all come running out of the wood work to virtue signal "I am against this" "anyone that does this is insane" "Im manly because i hunted down this steak and managed to catch it in the freezer it was living, why would i then burn it?"

Oh and lets not forget the part where 'well done' means a different thing to practically every beta male in this thread. Some think anything over medium rare is well done, others think even medium rare is well done. Another funny aspect is the weenis measuring between the Medium Rare vs Rare crowd. Thats where the real beta males reside - they might even be Charlie Males, a step below Beta Males. These guys will say shit like

"If it isn't still bleeding, its ruined"

Never mind the fact the last time they were in the woods was probably as a kid camping with their grandparents - let alone hunting down an animal, skinning it, gutting it, cooking it and eating it.

And other balding beta males desperately try to assert their dominance over others online, where there's no risk of public humiliation or physicalities.

It's you, I'm talking about you.

[breadisfunny]

It proves that there's a bunch of people who are going to claim that their inferior sense of taste is superior or equal to people with a great palette.

It's funny how people who want their steaks welldone rarely (hehe) rarely stop to wonder if they're just plain wrong, while calling literally everybody who disagrees with them snobs.

it's funny how people who eat medium rare/rare seem to be intolerant of people eating well done or medium well. they act like someone went into their house and stabbed their child to death and try and tell others how to eat their food.