Why do people cook expensive steak well done?

Question

Especially when the USDA says that it is PERFECTLY SAFE to eat steak that is 145 degrees (medium-rare).

Doesn't it lose all of the taste. Why not just buy cheap steak?

Answer 1

The old timers (>65 y/o) were always taught to cook steaks to med-well or well to prevent bacteria or parasites. The food supply is safer now than then, but old habits die hard. Many of those people taught their children to overcook their steaks as well, and tastes are developed pretty young.

Answer 2

Well done is a bit extreme, but I am squeamish about seeing blood running out of my meal. One of the most exquisite steaks I have ever had was Chateaubriand in a restaurant in Anchorage, Alaska. The outside was seared black and the inside was only slightly pink. I for one never order a cheap steak. It's either Filet Mignon or the aforementioned. But medium, maybe medium well, but not totally well done. That would be a bit on the dry side, I guess.

Answer 3

People have different preferences with steak it's not just because they think they're going to get sick if the meat's not cooked all the way through. Everyone has different taste buds as well so for people who like stead well done to them it still tastes like a good piece of meat.

People eat with their eyes and what the texture is like in their mouth so for everyone that's different.

Cheap steak if not cooked properly can also be tough and chewy and I don't think anyone would like that.

Answer 4

We cook rib-eye or tenderloin once a month. In the summer we usually have it twice a month. We have a back deck off the kitchen. It's where we have the BBQ. In the winter I simply turn it to face the door. That way all I need to do is open the door, lift the lid and bbq. We eat a lot of BBQ all year round. I'm more of a poultry, fish and veggie person. I make steak because my husband loves it so much. My kids love steak.

Answer 5

Upbringing, a lot of people have old fashioned parents that believe if it is bleeding you will die of some sort of food poisoning my mother is one of them. She burns every cut of meat she cooks just to make sure the "germs" are dead. one of my friends had to take me to a restaurant and order me a medium rare steak for me to eat it because mother says bleeding steak will kill you, but now i won't even eat a steak if it isn't pink in the middle.

Answer 6

I have never figured out the answer to this one. I also want to know why people smother a perfectly good medium-rare filet with steak sauce...if it's cooked right, you shouldn't need any!! Enjoy the flavor!!!

Answer 7

Because some people don't like to eat a bloody a s s piece of meat. I don't see how people can eat it rare or even medium rare. Gross! Blood! Yuk! It's medium well to well done for me every time!

Answer 8

People are stupid and think they are gonna die from a little red meat.

Personally, I like mine rare to med rare. This is how my dad raised all of us. If we had guests over, steak was always med rare- he told them if they want it cooked more they can do it themselves or grab a burger from McD's...

My filet can moo a little and twitch a little on my plate and that's how I like it!! A well done steak is horribly unappealing looking. I'd rather munch on a leather coat.

Answer 9

A favorite cut where I live is Churrasco, (skirt steak) I eat mine rare to med. rare and it is OUTSTANDING. Cooked well done you could sole your shoes with it. People who over cook a good cut of steak should not be allowed to eat anything but chuck.

Answer 10

I do not have a answer for you except to say they are INSANE! I like mine pink in the middle!!!

I think, half the problem is that people don't understand that it is perfectly safe. They get into that scared mode, where they don't bother to educate themselves about anything, they just panic.

My hubby like his RARE and when we go out every time the waiter/ress brings his steak they are always so worried that it's not done enough for him but he likes it next to mooing!!!