1. First of all, by well done, I mean brown all the way through, which is not the same as completely burned so that the steak resembles a hockey puck in appearance and flavor.
I have had some phenomenal steaks cooked well done at moderate-to-upscale steakhouses, and the outside was barely charred at all.
After trying steaks cooked to a variety of temperatures, I feel that well done is the best according to my tastes. I don’t feel that the flavor is substantially lost by cooking the steak for longer.
Of course each temperature has its own distinct flavor, but I do not feel that a properly prepared well-done steak sacrifices much, if any, flavor.
The same goes for texture, if prepared properly. That said, in general, I prefer my food cooked all the way through.
When I cut into a rare steak and am greeted with a bright-red gush of raw beef and blood-like juice, I completely lose my appetite. Presentation is important when eating such an expensive meal. Finally, a fully cooked steak reduces the probability of picking up a foodborne illness. So it’s a win anyway you cut it (pardon the pun).
2. I like steak, but I don’t get how people enjoy tough and chewy raw steak. It’s just not enjoyable to eat. Well done (or medium well) steaks imho are more flavourful and I like the texture of the meat a lot better, but everyone acts like I’m desecrating the sanctity of the steak when I order well done. Like, it’s just food. Let me eat how I damn well want to eat it.
3. I just prefer the taste of it and don’t like tasting raw parts of half-cooked steak. Steak is a slice of meat. You’re supposed to cook the raw bits of meat. Nobody eats chicken half-raw. So why is it bad to eat steak well-done?
4. I like Well-Done meat myself too. Coworkers always jokingly bashed me for it, so I tried Medium-Well, Medium, and Medium-Rare burgers n steaks. No difference in taste for me, chewiness I could care less about. So I stick with Well-Done.
5. I don’t get it. It’s raw. It goes in mushy and exits mushy.
Humans have discovered fire. We don’t have to eat the animal raw right after a successful hunt. I really view it as uncivilized and animalistic.
I like medium well. Or well done.
The fibers don’t even break down for proper chewing if it’s too raw.
6. Everyone talks about how rare steaks are so “juicy” but I like a hard and smoky taste. It’s what I enjoy. I’m tired of people treating well-done steak eaters like they are doing something wrong. Steak CAN be cooked well done, and it tastes good (to people like me). In fact, I just cant eat rare steaks, I’ve tried. Something about seeing really pink meat is just off putting.
The common argument I hear is, “eating well-done steak is a waste of the meat. It can be eaten that way, yes, but its an inferior way of enjoying it and shouldn’t be done.”
Well, guess what, the world isn’t all about you and how your tastebuds work. When I get a steak, I pay for it with my own money. I enjoy what I eat and think, in my eyes, it is the best way to enjoy steak. So let off this elitism about eating steaks the “right” way.
7. I like the overall bite within a well done steak. A medium rare to me, has a soft texture that feels weird in my mouth that I just can’t bring myself to swallow it. People say well done steaks are rubbery but I’ve have tender and juicy ones.
8. I genuinely prefer the taste of dry meat over moist. I have weird tastebuds though, so I prefer everything savory to be on the Brulee side of things. Meat just doesn’t taste as good to me, if it isn’t slightly burnt.
9. I was a meat cutter for years so I was able to try a wide variety of cuts any way I felt like preparing them.
The thing that put me off rare meat was how much juice flowed out and the seemingly endless squishy chewing required to finish a bite. With a well done (but well cooked) piece it broke down a lot easier and did not fill my mouth up with the extra juice.
I’m pretty sure most of it was psychological because thinking about chewing something rare would make me gag.
What I found is that the same things that made a cut good when medium rare make it good well done – and I could most certainly tell the difference between a well cooked rib steak and a piece of chuck.
I cannot abide by meat nazis. The perfect way to cook meat is the way you, or whomever you’re serving it to, enjoys it
10. Nothing to do with the taste, everything to do with the consistency. I’m from eastern europe, here everything is well done, so when I first came to the US and tried an american steak at a somewhat upscale restaurant, don’t know if it was medium, rare, medium rare, whatever and I couldn’t care less, I thought I was gonna puke across the table. It had the consistency of rubber and phlegm, and then for a week I had the worst indigestion ever. But I didn’t give up, I continued to try american style steaks all with the same result. Even tho the taste was marginally richer than a properly cooked well done steak back home, that phlegm rubber consistency and the red water that dripped out of it put me off for the time being. Might try forcing myself to eat that stuff again next time I visit but the chances are VERY slim I’ll ever end up liking it.
Theodore Lee is the editor of Caveman Circus. He strives for self-improvement in all areas of his life, except his candy consumption, where he remains a champion gummy worm enthusiast. When not writing about mindfulness or living in integrity, you can find him hiding giant bags of sour patch kids under the bed.