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The USDA recommendation is overly conservative, but the worst part is some people (and thermometer instructions and recipe books) claim 140 degrees is "medium" or "medium rare". Sorry, it's medium well.
Depends on who you ask, but a lot of steak sites call 140F rare. Like this one:
But 140F equals medium well? I don't see that, either in references or in my kitchen.
The key thing is to try things different ways to find what you like. I've found that a lot of people who are accustomed to ordering their meat well done actually change their minds once they taste a good steak cooked medium rare. A lot of time the preference for well done meat traces back to childhood food issues that never got worked out. Chefs tend to prefer medium rare meat because it is juicier, tenderer and more flavorful than meat cooked longer.
But eat what you prefer, it's not an issue for me... unless you order well done at my table and it throws off the timing of when you get your dinner by 20 minutes. Sorry, I'm not waiting!
But 140F equals medium well? I don't see that, either in references or in my kitchen.
The key thing is to try things different ways to find what you like. I've found that a lot of people who are accustomed to ordering their meat well done actually change their minds once they taste a good steak cooked medium rare. A lot of time the preference for well done meat traces back to childhood food issues that never got worked out. Chefs tend to prefer medium rare meat because it is juicier, tenderer and more flavorful than meat cooked longer.
But eat what you prefer, it's not an issue for me... unless you order well done at my table and it throws off the timing of when you get your dinner by 20 minutes. Sorry, I'm not waiting!
Oh!!! . . . Great!!! So now people who like a well done steak have unresolved psychological food issues?
Oh and BTW - caterer here - if you order well done at a restaurant all your friends get to wait for their mains an extra 20 minutes while yours cooks.
There's been many a blood sugar fuelled well done steak fight in even the best establishments, amongst hungry parties made to wait for their food, especially if booze is involved.
I can guarantee you one thing, if I ever hired you to cater and you did not cook the food as I specified exactly you would not be paid at all.
Whether you like it or not or think the food is ruined or not, you are not paying for it, you are not eating it and you are not to question how I want things done when it comes to a service.
If I want a rare cow at my catered event I will borrow one from my brother in law and let it roam the event on it's own four legs.
Ruined to you being such a "foodie" (a word that is quite over used) does not mean ruined to me.
Especially expensive cuts of steak, I just don't get it.
Because they prefer it that way. Why else? My father has always wanted his well-done. He will send it back if it is not cooked completely though. Drives me nuts, but that's what he likes.
im allowed to have my opinion. people are giving their opinions on here all the time and nobody instituted a requirement for them to be authorities in the subjects of their opinions. overcooked steak is always inferior to properly cooked steak. the vast majority of people who think they prefer it overcooked would change their minds if properly weaned off of burnt steak (like a baby) and transitioned to properly cooked meat.
When my mom stayed with dad's family during ww2, they'd cook steak so much it was like leather. She cooked her own rare and her brother in law left the table when she cut into it.
Years later, when I was a kid and they came to visit we went to a steak place. She was very surprised when he ordered his rare. Yes, things can change. He said his wife refused to destroy good meat and he found he liked it that way.
Because that's the way I like it. Why do you care? You're not paying for my meal!
I do not like the sight of blood at all. I pass out at the sight of blood.
I do NOT like the taste or texture of pink or red meat. If I wanted to eat a raw cow, I could walk down to the end of my street and start gnawing on the live cows in the field.
Your chance of food poisoning dramatically decreases by eating meat well done. Maybe you like sitting on the toilet all day. I don't. Nor do I like sticking my face in it.
I don't eat chewy bacon either! Oh the horror!
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