We've been going to the Steer & Stein Steakhouse for almost the full 21 years we've lived in the High Desert. I've had their Sirloin and Rib Eye steaks, but have never been able to eat one completely. I have no problem with Ribs, Burgers, Chicken, and Fish, but the steaks are No Go, even though Steer & Stein has been voted the Best Steakhouse in the High Desert for years! I've always ordered my steaks Medium Rare, but have found them difficult to Cut and Chew. Maybe I should order them cooked differently? There are 5 degrees of cooking a steak: Rare Medium Rare Medium Medium Well Well Done I've never tried the 4 other ways...would I find another way easier to cut and chew? Thanks... Hal
Well done is the only civilized way for the steak to be cooked. I rarely order steak in steakhouses because, apparently, they disagree. Even when I order my steak well done, it's usually served bleeding, and I have to send it back. When I order steak well done in a regular restaurant, I seldom have that problem. I think it offends steakhouse cooks. I tell them to cook it until they think it's well done, then leave it on a few more minutes.
I worked as a waitress in a steakhouse long ago. The manager told us they generally err on the side of cooking the steak a little less, because the customer can always send it back to be cooked more, but you can't send it back to cook it less.
Rare is just another word for raw. Well done is best but I'll eat a medium rare rather than send it back. Steakhouses like to serve them on the rare side because it's faster.
The best steaks are sirloins with a good bit of marbling. The fat gives it moisture and flavor. I prefer mine medium well done... with just a streak of pink down the middle. Any steak that is well done is apt to be tough, dry, and tasteless.
Just to show you, everyone likes their steaks cooked a different way. Maybe you could buy a steak, put in in your oven broiler or grill and keep trying it through various phases of cooking and see which one works the best for you.
I think this makes perfect sense. A stack of over cooked steaks in the kitchen wouldn't keep the restaurant afloat financially.
Hal, in my experience it is the quality of the beef and not the degree of doneness that affects the tenderness. My preference is medium-well; I don't like bloody but I don't want the meat dried out, either.