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One of my great food revelations years ago was eating pork cooked a bit pink. It was fantastic.
Like many people my age I grew up eating pork that was always dry and tough. I rarely liked it. Occasionally it was decent in breading and served as a cutlet.
Somewhere the USDA and others figured out that pork doesn't need to be cooked to 170 deg to be safe. But they didn't send a memo to all the people who learned to tolerate a tough pork chop.
I agree it is should be eater's choice over chef's choice. But my taste buds say medium rare (or a bit less if the beef is really good) tastes best for beef and lamb. Pork should be light pink. And I almost always prefer chicken thighs over chicken breast since chicken thighs survive over cooking better.
I have to admit that I enjoy reading about some "sushi nazi" chefs sprouting in a few cities. They refuse to make California concoctions and ridicule people who put too much soy sauce on their sushi. 75% of the people I know who claim to like and eat sushi eat no such thing. They eat something else made with rice.
When you order a piece of meat well done you might as well order the cheapest piece of meat on the menu. You are not getting the most flavor out of the piece of meat. It can only taste so good well done. I have seen a person order a filet mignon well done. The waiter asked if he wanted it butterflied. He said no. I took forever to cook and looked like a ball of black char. He might as well of ordered a well done hamburger patty.
LOL I guess that was where I was going earlier...but didn't want to derail the thread.
I don't get the ego trip with chef's. You're cooking food for crying out loud. Something that everyone else does every day of the week. Granted it is at a much higher level than where the average person cooks but again, it's still cooking.
I know I'm certainly not building rockets and performing brain surgeries, yet these folks don't have near the ego of chefs. I guess I just don't get it.
Personal taste is fine, and I understand that some like their meat more well done. A chef should cook to the order of the guest, the guest is "always right" as they say. HOWEVER, if you are in a fine dining establishment and order well done meat you are liable to get a crappy cut that they couldn't serve to someone eating something less well done ... and YES, well done meat is far tougher, and has less flavor than a medium rare or less steak.
Someone mentioned liking the char on the outside. Well, anyone who knows how to properly cook a steak can give you a perfect medium rare with a great, charred outside, rendered fat, and still medium rare. You get the char, the flavor, and it still has an amazing texture and taste that is not that of shoe leather.
Come to my house and I'll serve you what you order, but ask me what it should be and I'll tell you. There is a REASON that virtually every tv chef, as well as virtually every chef period will tell you medium rare is what to order - it is where the meat tastes best.
Of course not...I'm a tax accountant. Something, unlike cooking, not performed by just about everyone every day of the week. I just couldn't imagine doing something that everyone else does and having an ego about it. But maybe they feel the need for justification...I don't know. I'm not a psychologiest either.
Of course not...I'm a tax accountant. Something, unlike cooking, not performed by just about everyone every day of the week. I just couldn't imagine doing something that everyone else does and having an ego about it. But maybe they feel the need for justification...I don't know. I'm not a psychologiest either.
Everybody threw a football or baseball as a kid, but not everybody is Joe Montana/Tom Brady/Bret Favre. There is a massive difference between what a home cook does (many if not most who are not very good), and what a high quality, accomplished chef does.
I do my taxes, as well as those of many friends, but that doesn't mean I'm a tax accountant/expert like yourself ...
Seems like on every cooking show, the contestants are lambasted for meat that is "overcooked". Seems as though they all like their beef red and bloody, pork glistening (ugh) and chicken juicy. Personally, I can't stand any meat that has any trace of pink or is excessively moist. Why can't professional chefs agree that the doneness of meat is subject to personal taste? And please don't tell me well done meat has no taste - it does, just not the taste of blood.
Sure, you can eat black bananas as well if you want stuff overdone.
You sure its actually the taste difference, and not what you were brought up to understand how meat "should" be cooked?
I ordered Elk in a restaurant a while back and the waitress asked me how I wanted it cooked - I said "Chef's choice" as I had never eaten Elk before. I received the best, juiciest, and most flavorful steak I had ever eaten - cooked at medium rare. Sometimes you have to let the chefs do what they do best.
I like my steaks/roasts on the rare side- the best flavor-
if its cooked to much, it dries out, chewy and flavorless-just my opinion
chef's get upset, because if you ask for a well-done steak, (even tho the patron asked for it) if its a top cut like, fillet, rib eye, strip, porterhouse- he just ruined some of the best meats you can buy- and when served- it looks burnt- other patrons see that and think-this chef doesnt know how to cook a steak- or he just ruined a nice steak
also the frustration comes from- if you are going to ask a chef to cook a high quality steak- to well done- its going to be as tough as a top round-you just ruined the steak
I guess my local Texas Roadhouse has a really good chef, because I always order my filet mignon well done, butterflied, and it always comes out very juicy, just not pink. It isn't dry at all, and it isn't burned. It is done just enough that the pink is gone, or there is just a tiny hint of pink left in the middle. Just right. I love the flavor and the texture.
Personally, I love a well done filet, but couldn't gag down a medium rare of any kind of steak for a million dollars. It may be what "tastes best" to some, but not to me. It totally is psychological, but psychology can be a powerful thing. To me, pink = you will get sick from eating this. Therefore, I can't make myself eat it, and if I could, I wouldn't enjoy it, and probably would feel sick afterwards, because I was convinced I SHOULD feel sick. So if I know I'm going to feel sick from eating it, it doesn't taste good. I don't eat sushi either.
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