Rare meat

[Doppleganger]

Is really gross. Why do people eat food that's half-cooked? Forget parasites and bacteria, humans have evolved to enjoy medium-well done food, ever since God cooked the first meal by striking a woolly mammoth with a lightning bolt.

If it bleeds, it needs to stay in the kitchen.

[Rangeet]

Because our current definition of "medium" is "absolutely no carbon left in the meat. Ever."

[Lady Kuno]

Medium rare for life.

[Ethereal]

I prefer Medium Well? Cooked an adequate amount, but still some pink on the inside.
I haven't tried rare meat, but one time my mom tried to make filet mignon and didn't let the steaks rest. The gushing blood was what I imagine rare steaks to be. Not appetizing.

[pengyzu]

I like all my food well-done. Though I haven't tried Medium Rare that much...

[Talon87]

Asshole or awesome, Gordon Ramsay weighs in. And if the macro isn't enough, here's the interview.

As a kid, I used to 90% order my steaks medium-well and 10% order them well done. Starting some time around college, I began ordering them 50% medium and 50% medium-well. I've heard it said that the older you get, the rarer you go because you start losing your sense of taste and the richest taste is when the steak is rarest. I'm not sure how true this is or whether old people order rare steaks for other reasons (less tough to chew with dentures? less concern over pathogens because they figure "fuck it, I'm already old, may as well live on the wild side and enjoy a tasty cut of meat"? people from before the 1960s have always eaten their steaks rarer than people after the 1960s?), but whatever the case, I'm obviously not that old so I don't think loss of taste has anything to do with it.

Ultimately, I feel like steak boils down to a "where do you want to be happier: at the restaurant or on the toilet?" dilemma. Well-done steak, you're not going to get diarrhea. Rare steak, you probably are unless you're like this one colleague's parents who eat raw meat (including raw ground beef) because that is their custom and so their guts are obviously long since accustomed to eating bacteria-filled meat. But sometimes you just feel like a good steak, and the rarer you go, the tastier it'll probably be. I've never dared medium-rare or rare but I don't doubt that some day I will.

[Doppleganger]

http://youtube.com/watch?v=KTPkmH4hWCs#t=1m3s

Originally Posted by Rangeetsuper

Because our current definition of "medium" is "absolutely no carbon left in the meat. Ever."

Your definition of "medium" is actually that of "well done".

Originally Posted by Talon87

As a kid, I used to 90% order my steaks medium-well and 10% order them well done. Starting some time around college, I began ordering them 50% medium and 50% medium-well. I've heard it said that the older you get, the rarer you go because you start losing your sense of taste and the richest taste is when the steak is rarest. I'm not sure how true this is or whether old people order rare steaks for other reasons (less tough to chew with dentures? less concern over pathogens because they figure "fuck it, I'm already old, may as well live on the wild side and enjoy a tasty cut of meat"? people from before the 1960s have always eaten their steaks rarer than people after the 1960s?), but whatever the case, I'm obviously not that old so I don't think loss of taste has anything to do with it.

The supposed "taste" of a rare steak is artificial, because the amount and distribution of fat is central a steak's taste. There is some truth to the idea that cooking a steak to death irons out the flavour - one is effectively running off all the fat, too. And if the steak is lean to begin with, as are all the ones I have, cooking it well done is over-kill on a steak that already isn't going to have a ton of flavour.

But the idea that blood adds weight or character to a steak is ridiculous. Yeah, my steaks are bathed in a red liquid too...A1 Steak Sauce!

[Talon87]

I'm pretty sure Chef Ramsay would kindly (or not so kindly) ask you to GTFO of his restaurant if you asked the maître d' for a bottle of steak sauce.

Also, not going to argue the point with you since gustation is one of those phenomena which is perhaps unique to each and every individual and us with no way of really knowing. However, I will say that I personally find a well-done steak to have less flavor than a medium steak of the near-exact same cut (e.g. both are sirloins from the same exact cow) prepared in exactly the same manner. And I can personally attest to this, for myself, at the family dinner table where different people may have their steak prepared over the grill by my father in different manners and me sampling a bite of each's. Then again, for the fan of well-done steak, I think part of the appeal is the taste in eating charred meat.

What I would encourage you to do if you want to test this out for yourself is to go to a steakhouse where you can order the cut at the butchery (rather than ordering from the dinner table a generic cut that fits the description listed in the menu); order several cuts from the exact same animal of the exact same kind (four would be an ideal number if a mite expensive for a taste test); have the cuts prepared *identically* but for their grilling time (so for example if you get only two cuts then make one well and the other medium; if you get three cuts, then try medium, well, and one of the five remaining options; and so on); and then, when the steaks are served, take a bite of each, with a large drink of water in between each bite, with no steak sauce or any other additions. Do this and see what you think of the taste of each piece. If, for yourself, you like the taste of the well-done steak best, then good for you. But I suspect you may be surprised just how bland the well-done steak is compared with its next of kin and that you be mistaking "meat of any flavor and quality + mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm steak sauce " for true steak.

EDIT: One such steakhouse that allows you to do what I just mentioned would be the Texas Roadhouse steakhouse chain. I'm not sure if Logan's offers a similar option but I wouldn't be surprised as the two steakhouses are carbon copies of one another. Outback Roadhouse almost certainly does not offer such an option so don't waste your time trying it there. See if there's a Texas Roadhouse near you, peek inside, and see if you can spot the butchery right near the very front, where the waiting girls congregate behind their podium.

[DaveTheFishGuy]

Cut the horns off and wipe its arse.

[Doppleganger]

Originally Posted by Talon87

I'm pretty sure Chef Ramsay would kindly (or not so kindly) ask you to GTFO of his restaurant if you asked the maître d' for a bottle of steak sauce.

Yeah, I definitely shoot myself in the foot when claiming to have gourmet tongue when I use steak sauce, but in self defense I only use it for steaks that don't have good flavour, and I love the taste of vinegar. I do like the taste of well-done meat...I've always tried very hard to cut or run off fat both before cooking and after it's been prepared. I grew up eating a mysterious "black" steak that was often looked/tasted burnt, recently revealed to me to be eye of round marinated in soy sauce. My tolerance for well-done is matched only by my intolerance of anything less.

Originally Posted by Talon87

What I would encourage you to do if you want to test this out for yourself is to go to a steakhouse where you can order the cut at the butchery (rather than ordering from the dinner table a generic cut that fits the description listed in the menu); order several cuts from the exact same animal of the exact same kind (four would be an ideal number if a mite expensive for a taste test); have the cuts prepared *identically* but for their grilling time (so for example if you get only two cuts then make one well and the other medium; if you get three cuts, then try medium, well, and one of the five remaining options; and so on); and then, when the steaks are served, take a bite of each, with a large drink of water in between each bite, with no steak sauce or any other additions. Do this and see what you think of the taste of each piece. If, for yourself, you like the taste of the well-done steak best, then good for you. But I suspect you may be surprised just how bland the well-done steak is compared with its next of kin and that you be mistaking "meat of any flavor and quality + mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm steak sauce " for true steak.

I've been through that experiment already, sadly. We have a chain of restaurants in California called Home Town Buffet, which serves Rancher's Steak all week. Even using such a cheap/lean steak, they'd go bankrupt if tons of people burned through that dish, so their strategy is to cook the food as little as possible and just leave it out there. Well-done steaks are eaten with impunity, but fewer people are willing to take the rarer steak. If you want well-done, you have to request it, but a re-cook only ups the cooking by one. So, a rare becomes medium-rare, and a medium-rare becomes medium.

Progressively, the steaks have become less thoroughly cooked ever since Rancher's Select was added to the menu. I've had the misfortune of eating a poor tasting steak only to discover it's blood sandwich.

Originally Posted by Talon87

EDIT: One such steakhouse that allows you to do what I just mentioned would be the Texas Roadhouse steakhouse chain. I'm not sure if Logan's offers a similar option but I wouldn't be surprised as the two steakhouses are carbon copies of one another. Outback Roadhouse almost certainly does not offer such an option so don't waste your time trying it there. See if there's a Texas Roadhouse near you, peek inside, and see if you can spot the butchery right near the very front, where the waiting girls congregate behind their podium.

Haha, there's one near Vacaville*.


*Translator's Note: Vaca means Cow

[deoxys]

I'll never like rare simply because it's gross and cold.

I know of someone who'd let the steak touch the grill for only a few seconds on each side before they'd consider it cooked enough.

[Amras.MG]

I personally always get medium now, though I used to get well done when I was ordering a burger with the family. I also appreciate cooking a lot more now, and my tastes have matured... *shrug*

[Copygoo]

Originally Posted by Holy Emperor

Medium rare for life.

[kusari]

I eat it rare because the way I see it, a steak is like a balloon: It's more fun when its full than flat. Comparison comes from the fact that whenever I see a well done steak it looks thinner and less filling.

Also, bleh steak sauce. Almost as bad as ketchup.

[Princess Ana]

Originally Posted by kusari

I eat it rare

Good man.

[Ethereal]

Something off topic I wanted to share: the mouse fetus thread thingy made ne expect that Dopple went to the market and found a steak that looked like a human arm or something.

[DaveTheFishGuy]

Originally Posted by deoxys

I'll never like rare simply because it's gross and cold.

See, I don't have this problem. I let it cook for long enough that it's warmed up, but it's still nice and red.

[Slash]

Anywhere from rare to medium, generally medium-rare as ideal. Before I really got into cooking, I was more of a medium-well kid, but I was like 13 at the time, so that's forgivable. Then I learned there was a way to get flavor from a steak rather than use a sauce. I never use sauces now, and my meats are usually cheapish cuts (standard grocer)

[Rangeet]

Originally Posted by kusari

Almost as bad as ketchup.

Because quickmeme doesn't like embedding and I'm too lazy to re-upload.

[Coolz8]

Medium Rare... I still haven't tasted any of it, and I still wonder why people like it better than regular meat... Though ground angus does taste delicious...

[Sneaze]

Since this conversation was in TO nearly a year ago, I'm just going to paraphrase exactly what was said by most people who enjoy their steak rare/medium-rare.

"Steak is meant to be eaten rare. Well-done was invented for little kids who won't touch anything remotely bloody because ew gross and want their steak to taste like a crappy hamburger."

[Talon87]

Y'know something ...

... this would have been a perfect opportunity for a poll.

[Sneaze]

Indeed it would have. Also, this thread is leaning dangerously close to Debate territory. And by that I mean it jumped over the fence ages ago and is currently flying overhead, ignoring the fact that it will eventually be targeted, shot, and caused to plummet into Debate harder than playing Dwarf Fortress with a blindfold on and using your elbows.

[Rangeet]

Originally Posted by Talon87

Y'know something ...

... this would have been a perfect opportunity for a poll.

http://forums.upnetwork.net/showthread.php?t=4239

[Lady Kuno]

You didn't have to make a new thread in a different section just to make a poll. You know, mods and admins can put polls into existing threads.

But whatever.

Anyway, when I first saw this thread I thought it was supposed to be about rare meat. Like Zebra or Lion meat.