I can't eat meat that's not WELL DONE...what's wrong with me!?

[DVC-Don]

When I was a server, the cooks used to get so mad when people would order a great cut of steak well done. "Why don't I just grill up some shoe leather?!"

I had to laugh at this. My dad was a butcher and said the same thing. Me? Medium rare please.

 

[JustCallMeMommy]

I think upbringing has a whole lot to do with tastes, and I think that's OK. I like my meat rare or medium rare, depending on what I am ordering. Just this weekend, I took DD and a friend to get burgers. I ordered ours medium rare, but I had to ask the friend, because I assume most kids are going to prefer less pink, even if my kid likes rare. I framed my question as, "You are probably used to medium well or well done, right? No pink in the burger?"

 

[mamamary]

I always like meat to be well done. Growing up I had a sister who liked it very rare - we drove my mom crazy.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Also I need to state that I HATE when everyone says that I ruin the steak like that...isn't taste subjective to everyone?
This is my mom's fault...when she had me even as a kid she would cut EVERYTHING open when I was younger and say make sure it's not pink - if it is it's not cooked. (80's paranoia about food poisiong or something that was going around)
I just don't like the taste!!!! It's so soft too! Am I weird or do I have fellow weirdos!

Yes taste is subjective. But for those that like their steaks well done, they are wasting their money on the better cuts. Why pay for a well done strip only to have it come out exactly the same as a well done round steak when all is said and done? The former is $14 a pound here. The latter is $3.50 a pound. The difference in quality is lost when steaks are well done. Why get a more desirable cut just to cook that which makes it more desirable right back out of it?

Um, that depends as much on the cut of meat as the way it's cooked. I don't like tenderloin or rib-eye (two very tender cuts) because they tend to be too fatty. I eat striploin or sirloin which are denser, Much leaner cuts. No matter how you cook them you still need a knife. I'm trying to picture somebody seated at Morton's grinding away at a New York Strip with a fork only...Dinner would be exhausting!

Filet Mignon (tenderloin) is one of the least fatty of the better cuts of steak. That is why it is so prized because it is both lean and tender. Though it is about equal in saturated fat to a strip, it has a slightly lower overall fat content. Other than the Top Sirloin, which is the lowest quality cut one would typically find in a steak house here, one really has to go down to some lesser quality cuts that the supermarkets carry to get a significantly leaner steak.

Fat/Saturated fat

Ribeye 37.6/15g
T-Bone 25.6/10.5g
Porterhouse 16.4/6.5g
Strip 18/6g
Filet 16/6g
Top Sirloin 10/4g

Of the not better quality cuts
Flank 17.2/6.6g
Flap 12/3.8g
Bottom Round 11/3.5g
Top Round 7/3g
Eye of Round 7/2.4g
Sirloin Tip 5.4/2.1g

 

[CampbellzSoup]

Do you guys know I went to Peter Lugers in NYC and the chef came to me and said that's not how I cook a steak...and my friend said you will make it how I pay you to - I'm sure I got an extra glaze on my steak that day.

 

[hereyago]

I was brought up with it needs to be well done,but I ended up enjoying medium rare. Dang,now I want steak.

 

[hereyago]

Do you guys know I went to Peter Lugers in NYC and the chef came to me and said that's not how I cook a steak...and my friend said you will make it how I pay you to - I'm sure I got an extra glaze on my steak that day.

I agree with your friend.

 

[Kbee]

When I was younger I would eat my steak well done, could not have any pink in it at all.
As an adult I eat it medium rare. I can't believe I spent 20 years missing out on a delicious steak!

 

[Diznygrl]

Drooool, the picture in the OP is making me crave steak.

I'm very paranoid when it comes to fully cooking pork, chicken, and ground beef. But when it comes to steak/tri tip, give me medium rare to medium or give me death!!

I don't eat shoe leather, and I don't eat well done steak.

 

[Minnesota!]

See, I don't think well done tastes/feels tough. I think anything below it tastes too soft....like flesh. Or like how the inside of my cheek feels. I don't enjoy that texture, at all.

It is like eggs...I think cooking an egg to overhard is ruining it...you miss out on the runny fabulousness to dip your toast in. Some others think the taste/texture of the yolk is disgusting. Same difference.

And, FWIW, I think all steaks taste the same, no matter the cut. Cooking does not change that FOR ME!

 

[runsandjumps]

I grew up with a mom that liked everything well done to burnt. I like my steak well done, however I haven't really tried anything other than medium well. I don't like fatty cuts of meat, but now I think I might try it different next time and see how it goes.

 

[Hrhpd]

You just don't care for the taste of blood. Any time meat is served with pink juice running out of it, there will be a slight coppery taste from the uncooked blood. Nothing technically wrong with that; but not everyone likes that flavor, any more than everyone likes something like Cilantro.

FWIW, you probably didn't realize the difference easily as a child, but if your mother was commenting on safety, the odds are that the meat you were eating at the time was pork. Starting in the 1960's the USDA warned us not to eat rare-cooked pork because of the risk of getting Trichinellosis by ingesting microscopic larvae along with the undercooked meat. There was never any such warning in regard to beef. (But I suppose some people never realized that cows don't carry it.) These days, commercially-raised pork is mostly all safe, too; the most common way to get Trich in the US today is from eating wild-caught boar or bear meat.

There were some worries about beef due to mad-Cow Disease for awhile in the 90's, but it was never a serious concern in the US food chain. While the prions that cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease are unfortunately not destroyed by thorough cooking, they also are NOT present in the parts of a cow/steer that Americans normally eat. Only the animals' nerve tissue may harbor them; that is, meat from the brain or spinal column area. (There was at the time a local traditional "brain-sandwich" dish served where I live, that was made from deep-fried beef brain. Now it is only available with pork brain instead.)

That is completely false.
All blood is removed from beef during slaughter. If there is any left in a cut of beef, it is just a trace.

The red you see in beef is a protein called myoglobin. Since beef has a high water content, the red myoglobin mixes with the water and becomes the pink liquid you are mistaking for "blood."

Since there is no blood, you cannot experience the coppery taste of blood.

Ever wonder why you don't see a ton of red blood in chicken? Same thing, the blood is removed at slaughter. And 'white meat' does not have a high content of myoglobin. Red meat has a high content.

And to stay on topic, I prefer my beef just waved over the grill. Although I want my burgers well done now with all the media exposure of the dangers of undercooked ground meat.

 

[Disneylover99]

I like my steak well done. If you get a good cut of meat and cook it right it's delicious.

 

[BrianL]

I prefer my steaks about medium well. Well done CAN be done as no pink but still juicy, though it's a fine line before you go too far. Once a steak has gone past that, you can't un-cook it.

 

[Anesthesia Fine]

My favorite burger restaurant cooks burgers to order. I can get a medium burger. It's wonderful.

As for steaks, I pretty much subscribe to the Denis Leary method: "I'll carve off what I want, and ride the rest home!"

 

[Luvchefmic]

Dear OP 1. you are crazy 2. you don't go to one of the most famous steakhouses in the world and ask the chef to lower his/her standards 3. it's all your mothers fault 4. did I say you're crazy

Would love to hear you went to one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants

 

[DisneyDreamer2504]

Another well-done person here. I prefer both the taste and texture of well done meat. When it's any kind of rare it is tasteless to me. I find the soft texture very unpleasant, and I usually gag. I've also never understood the 'ruined' comment and it really pisses me off. Apparently someone decided what the 'best' way to serve something is and just because lots of people like it, it's the only right way? No. To me, a rare steak is ruined. Obviously I rarely order steak in restaurants and don't eat much red meat to begin with, but no amount of explaining why rarer is 'better' will ever make sense to me.

 

[anniemae]

Yup, another crazy here. I only like steak well done. There is no right or wrong, eat it how you like it. Don't be a steak snob people!

My DH cringes when I order my filet well done, but why on earth would I order it rare if I don't like it rare? I hate the jiggly texture of rare meat, the smell of rare meat, the red juice dripping all over. Not appealing to me AT ALL. The nice steak houses will butterfly it for me and cook it well done. So Yummy! It is also very tender even cooked well done.

 

[EMom]

Dear OP 1. you are crazy 2. you don't go to one of the most famous steakhouses in the world and ask the chef to lower his/her standards 3. it's all your mothers fault 4. did I say you're crazy

Would love to hear you went to one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants

I just can't place the chef's standards above those of the paying client. If they want a steak well done, do it.

 

[Missy1961]

I was thinking of this thread tonight as I ate my perfectly cooked still kinda pink in the middle steak. It was delicious! The only beef I eat well done is hamburger. The rest, rare or medium. So so good!