People who like their steaks well cooked often ask this question. Why do people look down their nose at people who order their steaks well done? There are a couple of primary reasons: 1) They’ve learned to hate on well-done steaks from foodie culture, 2) They’ve been convinced by food “experts” that cooking a steak well-done ruins it, and 3) They truly believe that a steak cooked to rare, medium well, or medium tastes much better and they don’t want you to miss out on a truly great steak. But, is there anything wrong with having your steak well done?
No, there is absolutely nothing wrong with having your steak well done. Many chefs, including one notable grumpy chef book writer who most other chefs love to quote on social media, hold a number of misconceptions about the term “well done.”
Case in point, I recently saw that a “chef” had answered this question on social media and his response proved that some people should not be in the hospitality business. Also, it was dead wrong. I’ll paraphrase it for you:
Chefs like it when people order well-done steaks because it gives them an opportunity to pass off a bad piece of meat that’s just about to expire and be thrown away. Customers who stupidly order well-done steak can’t tell the difference anyway, so they are happy and the restaurant saves money.
Yes, he said “stupidly.” And then, of course, he quoted Anthony Bourdain from Kitchen Confidential:
People who order their meat well-done perform a valuable service for those of us in the business who are cost-conscious: they pay for the privilege of eating our garbage. In many kitchens, there’s a time-honored practice called “save for well-done.” When one of the cooks finds a particularly unlovely piece of steak—tough, riddled with nerve and connective tissue, off the hip end of the loin, and maybe a little stinky from age—he’ll dangle it in the air and say, “Hey, Chef, whaddya want me to do with this?” Now, the chef has three options. He can tell the cook to throw the offending item into the trash, but that means a total loss, and in the restaurant business every item of cut, fabricated, or prepared food should earn at least three times the amount it originally cost if the chef is to make his correct food-cost percentage. Or he can decide to serve that steak to “the family”—that is, the floor staff—though that, economically, is the same as throwing it out. But no. What he’s going to do is repeat the mantra of cost-conscious chefs everywhere: “Save for well-done.” The way he figures it, the philistine who orders his food well-done is not likely to notice the difference between food and flotsam.
“In many kitchens.” Anthony Bourdain had a bad habit of claiming to speak for many kitchens, instead of only the ones he worked in. Nothing he said is standard and all of it is dead wrong.
I want to get into those misconceptions about well-done steak, but first, let me correct the record. When a customer orders a well-done steak, a good chef who wants to make his guest happy will seek out the best, freshest, most well-marbled piece of meat he can find. This way, he can produce the juiciest and tastiest well-done steak possible. Cooking a well-done steak without drying it out and ruining it is a test of skill. I know, I did it many times.
Some snooty chefs in high-end restaurants generally assume that anyone who orders a well-done steak doesn’t care how it turns out. So, while they will not offer a terrible piece of beef, they will choose the thinner and less carefully portioned steaks for this customer. This doesn’t mean there will be less steak or that they will not try to cook it well, only that they figure that the customer won’t care this their steak is more oddly shaped, thinner, etc. because that customer just doesn’t care at all about their steak.
And that brings me to those misconceptions. I’ll blame Food TV and the internet age for this. Chefs are portrayed as omniscient kitchen Gods who are experts on all things food. So, even a chef who hardly ever serves steaks, or doesn’t at all, feels they have to speak authoritatively on the subject. Steaks are something that customers order to their specifications. You don’t get to dictate what your customers like. While there are many dishes where the chef gets to carefully choose all the parameters with no variation, steak simply is not one of them. This is even true of specialty steak dishes such as Steak au Poivre.
The problem is that many people, including chefs, think that the term well done means charred until gray, dry, and rubbery. There may be people who want their steak charred, dry, and rubbery. But, did you realize that there is no such thing as a steak in between “done” and “well-done.” Some people order done steaks, but most people use the term well done or well. Here are the cooking stages for steak:
- Rare: 120-125 F (fairly cool red center)
- Medium Rare : 130-135 F (warm red center)
- Medium: 140-145 F (warm pink center)
- Medium Well: 150-155 F (slightly pink center)
- Well Done: 160 F and above (little or no pink)
Well done does not say “incinerated and gray.” A good steak restaurant will ensure that even well-done steaks are tender and flavorful. A steak cooked to a full 160° F will not be as juicy as a lesser done steak, but if a well-marbled high-quality piece of beef is chosen, it can still be somewhat juicy and certainly flavorful.
What does 160 F and above mean? Well, if you order your steak well done at a good restaurant, they will likely cook it to just around 160° F. Some may consider 155° to 160° to be well done. Only if you, the customer, specify specifically that you want the steak cooked very, very well done, with absolutely no possibility of pink, etc. will they cook the steak above this temperature. They may or may not use a thermometer instead of a touch test and their experience and skill. Generally, a well-done steak will be firm with little to no give. But, it won’t feel like an asphalt shingle.
Let’s look at how Ruth’s Chris Steak House describes well-done steak:
Well-Done Steak: 160° to 165°: A well-done steak spends the maximum amount of time on the heat, resulting in a center with no pink. If you want to cook your steak to this level of doneness, make sure to stop cooking it when the temperature hits 155°. You don’t want to overcook the meat, or else it can become chewy and dry. Instead, let it finish cooking off the heat for a few minutes while you finish getting dinner on the table. You’ll be amazed how a little patience really pays off and creates the juiciest possible steak.
I might quibble about the no pink at all part. A tiny amount of pink may be present in what some cooks consider well-done. There is no universal consensus. But, notice that they didn’t say the steak would be dry, they noted ways to keep it from getting to dry!
Now let’s look at what one of the best steakhouses in Chicago has to say, Rosebud Steakhouse:
Well Done (155°F and above): A well-done steak is cooked fully through, with no pink in the center. The texture is much firmer, and while it loses some juiciness, it still offers a hearty, beefy flavor. At Rosebud Steakhouse, our chefs ensure that even well-done steaks remain tender and flavorful.
Rosebud believes in a slightly lower temp for well-done (remember, no universal consensus). But, I think that last sentence says it all! Our chefs ensure that even well-done steaks remain tender and flavorful. Grumpy chef, I take it, would not have been welcome in their kitchen.
Chefs who think the way the chef quoted above thinks are probably in the habit of over-cooking well-done steaks. And if they overcook well-done steaks, they probably overcook steaks at other doneness levels too, like rare, medium, etc. Or, conversely, they don’t cook any steaks at all and like to shoot their mouths off on Social Media.
I like my steak medium. If I am aware that a restaurant routinely overcooks or undercooks their steaks, I will order medium-well or medium-rare, accordingly. Most restaurants today will not serve rare steaks due to safety concerns. No matter what grumpy Bourdain wannabes on the web say, order your steak the way you want it. If they send you out a burnt piece of rubber full of gristle, then send it back, unless you like that sort of thing.
