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No food preference provokes a reaction as strong as the one for a well-done steak. However you may feel about fruit on pizza or which flavorings to add to a cup of coffee, it pales in comparison to the firestorm of controversy that accompanies opinions about the level of doneness for steaks.
Strangely, as far as unpopular preferences go, it is the most common one. According to a YouGov survey, well-done steak is the most popular way that Americans prefer their steaks, beating out medium-rare (23%) and medium-well (16%).
How can this be? Is this a case where the most popular choice is simply wrong? How did we ever get to this point in the first place?
To better understand the divide between these preferences, let’s examine the arguments for and against well-done steak.
4 Reasons to Hate Well-Done Steak
First up, let’s take a look at the arguments against steak that is well done. Common objections include the following:
- Everything is Wrong: Unlike a medium-rare steak, a well-done steak is tough, chewy, dry, and flavorless. This culinary abomination completely lacks the juiciness that makes eating steak so appealing. What’s more, it features a gray-colored interior that is far from appetizing.
By eating steak made this way, you’re reminding everyone how awful this food preference is. - True Aficionado: If you truly appreciate food, that means you owe it to yourself to have it prepared in the best way possible. For steak, that means grilling to a level of doneness before reaching “well-done”, which in this context actually means “overdone”.
By having it cooked for too long, diners are denying themselves the optimal way to enjoy this delicacy. Only with a level of doneness equal to medium rare or below can people enjoy steak in its optimal state that offers the best taste and mouthfeel. As such, a preference for well-done exposes an ignorance towards steak culture.
Simply put, you can’t be a real fan of steak if you’re eating it well-done. - Steak Sauce: Overcooking your steak is one thing, but adding steak sauce to it? That is simply too far. Steak sauce is such a culinary mistake that it calls into question the sensibility of anyone who uses it. This condiment completely overpowers the natural taste of the food it covers, making for a waste of natural flavor.
Basically, if you’re adding steak sauce to your steak, why bother with the steak at all? All the taste comes from the bottle, making for a fake experience. - Sign of Quality: Cooking steak to a medium-rare level of doneness requires high-quality meat. If you’re choosing steaks for dinner, cooking it well-done makes for a wasted opportunity for a precious resource.
If you want your steak to be well-done, at least limit yourself to lower-quality beef. That way, you’ll be giving someone else the chance to enjoy it the way it was meant to be eaten. And in this final state, you won’t be able to tell difference between high- and low-quality steak anyways.
4 Reasons to Love Well-Done Steak
It may be hard to believe, but here are some reasons why some people prefer their steak cooked well done.
- Cooked Food Should be Cooked: The difference between raw ingredients and their final form as a dish is cooking. Although this doesn’t happen with other types of food, it somehow remains acceptable for steak to arrive at your plate in a less-than-cooked format.
As such, undercooked steak is too similar to raw ingredients. What’s more, the “blood juice” commonly found in lower levels of doneness makes eating steak unappealing. - Food Safety: When it comes to food, nothing is more important than your health. To ensure that the food you eat isn’t harming you, it’s important to prepare it properly. Only by cooking food to the proper temperature can all parasites and bacteria be killed.
For steak, this means cooking it well done with no exceptions. - Not All Steaks: The public is mistaken about their notions of well-done steak. “Well-done” doesn’t have to mean “burned to a crisp.” Conversely, in the hands of a good cook, a steak can remain tender and juicy. In order to achieve this, cooks actually need to have skills and experience.
It’s totally possible to make steak well-done that is juicy and delicious. You just have to know how to do it. - Don’t Tread on My Preferences: As free and independent individuals, we’re all entitled to our opinions. As such, asking me for my steak preference is to respect me for my steak preference.Simply put, it’s disrespectful to ask me how I like my steak, and then judge me on the answer that you asked for.
Don’t ask me something if you’re not willing to follow up on your own request.
Conclusion: Who’s Right?
With both sides offering compelling reasons of their own, we’re content to allow others to settle this debate for us. But as a parting thought, here are some statistics to consider from the previously cited YouGov poll.
As it turns out, our preferences for steak may say more about us than we could have ever imagined. Americans that prefer their steak medium-rare instead of well-done tend to be:
- Men (26% in favor of medium-rare) and not women (20% in favor of medium-rare)
- Republican (30% in favor of medium-rare) and not Democrats (19% in favor of medium-rare)
- Baby Boomers (26% in favor of medium-rare) and not Gen X’ers (29% in favor of well-done)
- Earning less than $80,000 (31% in favor of medium-rare) and not earning less than $40,000 (31% in favor of well-done)
No matter which way you prefer your steak, you’ll get the best results for your favorite level of doneness by using a steak thermometer like the ThermoPro Lightning. Get yours today!
