Medium Medium Rare Medium Rare Rare

[bsaana]

Dang you idrinkarum, now I really want to go to Smokey Bones. Only one I was ever at was in Virginia Beach, and there are none within even a 8 hour drive from where I live (last I checked). Sadly it has been over 4 years now .

[Mike Taylor]

If the surviving members of Monty Python ever needed new fodder for a sketch, this is it. Medium-medium well? Not that much of a jump to spam, spam, spam, baked beans, spam, spam and spam.

[BamaBabe]

Blast you two talking of Smokey Bones! The Hubs and I used to go to the one in Montgomery quite often. Until. they. closed. it.!!! We were confused and heartbroken. We loved the steaks, pork, etc. but especially the warm cinnamon sugar donuts with strawberry cream dipping sauce! Oh mercy...talk about drool-worthy.

[Mytical]

The perfect steak (to me) is tender, juicy, and has no pink anywhere in it..but not burnt. Just a little of the 'fat' should be on it..that is some good eats..even if it is bad for me. The best steak I've ever had was just lightly glazed with some sort of barbeque sauce..no clue what/how my cousin made the sauce (it was his own recipe and he will not share). It had just a hint of hickory flavor, and your mouth was waterign before the steak ever hit your lips.

Now my cousin couldn't cook steak with a "Cooking for Dummies" book, and three personal professional chefs telling him how to, but my dad could..this was the only time they combined their skill..and it was absolutely delicious.

[Mr Hero]

Did I miss something? When did CRML start up again at the pub? I really hope there have been changes in management.

[Jester]

As soon as I saw the thread title, I had a good idea what this was going to be about.

After 25 years in the food service industry, this is not a foreign concept to me.

"Can I get my steak rare to medium rare, please?"

Of course, our computers don't have such buttons. I could type it in, but then I would have to go explain it to the kitchen. Which would mean either (A) trying to explain this idiotic idea to one of the Haitian cooks, many of which don't speak enough English for me to explain simpler more sensible concepts. Or (B) running that by my head chef and finding out if he loves his knives enough to not throw them at me.

Thank you, no.

I just smile and nod to the customer and order the lower temperature, knowing we can always cook it a little more later, but we can't cook it a little less. And the vast majority of the time, the customer is happy with the meat when it comes.

Myself, I prefer my steaks and my burgers bloody. Actually, I usually like a nice medium rare, but since 95% of places overcook, I usually order rare and end up with medium rare, and I'm happy. Besides, I'd rather have a true rare than a medium, so if they cook it truly rare, that's great....and better than if I ordered medium rare and got a medium.

But if I ordered a medium rare and got medium, you know what I'd do? I'd fucking eat it. Just like I did yesterday at lunch.

And by the way, anything past medium to me? Gross.

The only thing I like well done in my life is sex.

Sadly, that seems to be the one thing that's consistently rare.

SC: It is inbetween medium rare and medium! So it is medium-medium rare! So that is far too well done! I like my steaks rare-medium-rare not medium-medium rare! So it is not medium rare!

We are talking about a few drops of blood at this point. In other words, lady, shut the fuck up and take your ridiculousness elsewhere. It would be one thing if you ordered medium rare and you got medium well. You ordered medium rare and you got it medium rare, but in your mind, medium-medium rare.

Next time, order a fucking rare steak, you stupid cow.

SC: So what am I supposed to do?

Learn to live in the real world, perhaps?

I was unaware there was such an intricately complex grading scale for the cooking state of a steak.

As has been noted, there isn't. But you deal with customers daily. Are you really all that surprised by this?

Take the cow into a darkened room.
Explain to it the concept of fire.
Bring the cow to the table
Back away.

Oh, holy hell, that was hilarious. And one I've not heard before. Fucking awesome!

[Mytical]

As an odd aside..and just because I am in one of my odd moods..I'll share my dads idea of these terms.

Rare - Most peoples idea of 'Medium Rare'.
Medium Rare - It isn't quite a brick..YET, but starting to look like charcol.
Well Done - I don't know..see to get it this done, most places would have burned down by the time they reach that point.

So when my dad is cooking I have to ask for it 'rare'..or else I might as well eat charcol. His exact words is "I want to make sure my food is dead."

No...it was dead two hours ago..now it is starting to be ASH.

[XCashier]

.
SC: Fine. I will keep this one. But I am not happy! How hard is it to cook a steak? Really? Do you have any idea what you are doing? If I knew it was going to be this much trouble I would have stayed at home and cooked myself!
Me: Well you know what to do in the future then.

I turned on my heel and walked away. I heard her mumble "Did he just say what I think he said?"

Yes, he sure did! PWND!

Some folks are just way too persnickety for their own good.

[CaroPhoenix]

Sorry for mentioning Smokey Bones!

I wanted to go to Longhorn Steakhouse. However, I'm going to have to settle for Uno's. They have steak. They can make it rare for me. And I'll be absolutely happy. As long as it's of the steak variety. (We have a coupon, and hubs doesn't feel like going to All American Steakhouse so I might go there tomorrow with Child Rum - besides, she'll be free tomorrow! It being Kid's Night there and all. )

Mr. Rum should realize that once Aunt Flow comes for her monthly visit, we are basically living in steakhouses or restaurants that serve steak. l

[Dreamstalker]

I used to eat my steak medium-well, now I can't figure out why I would ever do that. I've only had steak tartare once and loved it (also grossed out a relative which was a fun bonus).

Dammit, now I want steak but me is broke

[ShootMePlease]

When I ate meat, I enjoyed nothing more than a nice Pittsburgh rare steak. Yum !!

Gordon Ramsay once had a great idea for gauging a steak's doneness.

Press your cheek: Rare
Press your chin: Medium rare
Press your forehead: Well done

It has served me well over the years when cooking for others.

[AccountingDrone]

I am horrid, now I have the sous vide, we sous vide most of the non-ground meats ... and it really does a killer steak, though we toss it on the grill to finish it, one of these days I may get out the torch and finish it that way once just for fun.

I swear, it does a corned beef better than any other way I have ever had it! It doesnt shrink and get stringy, like boiling. It doesnt shrink and get strange like roasting. The flavor intensifies, the fibers and collagen soften, and it stays solid enough to properly slice on the bias without shredding!

We also did artichokes in the sous vide. Not steaming or boiling intensifies the flavor. It is a recipe where you marinate the hearts of artichoke in olive oil, lemon juice and herbs then seal them and vide them for most of a day. Amazing.

[thansal]

The one my family swears by is a sous vide egg, it's apparently the perfect egg :P

And yes, it's my dream that one day Sous Vide will be normal, it cooks just about ANYTHING better than conventional cooking meathods, the only thing is, as you said, a bit of browning for the Maillard Reaction.

IIRC, my step sister and her husband do chicken via Sous Vide and also swear by it there.

[Dave1982]

You know, on top of the whole "rare-medium-rare" nonsense, didn't CRML once say that this isn't exactly the sort of place that's known for their steaks?

[Victory Sabre]

CRML, you had the perfect response to her stupidity.

Concerning steak: I never have problems with it. Why? I like mine well done. Every steak that I've ordered that way turned out perfectly to me.

I love grilling my own even more. Hopefully Monday the weather will be good enough to grill.