POLL: Men, how do you like your beef steak done?

[Jingthing]

A lot of people, men and women, think that how a man likes his beef steak done says something about the man, including his masculinity.

Whether that is rational or not isn't the point.

 

So this poll is for MEN ONLY and asks how you like your beef steak done.

Then you are welcome to comment about that, why you like it that way, and your opinions about the masculinity meanings of that preference. 

 

This poll inspired by this article:

 

http://www.slate.com/blogs/xx_factor/2017/03/02/do_real_men_eat_steaks_rare_or_well_done_trump_s_meat_preference_has_men.html

 

Quote

 

Do “Real Men” Eat Steaks Rare or Well-Done? 

...
No matter how it’s cooked, meat—especially red meat—is one of the most heavily gendered foods on the pyramid. Multiple studies have shown that people associate meat with men and vegetables with women, and medium-rare steak ranks above hamburgers and well-done steak in measures of masculinity. “To the strong, traditional, macho, bicep-flexing, all-American male, red meat is a strong, traditional, macho, bicep-flexing, all-American food,” the authors of one study wrote. The connotation spans borders: In Ethiopia, eating raw meat is a “male thing” manly men do together, and most languages with gendered pronouns put meat in the masculine camp.

 

 

Personally, I don't eat beef steaks very often for health reasons, but when I do my preference is MEDIUM RARE. I like it that way because you get the flavor of the beef but it is not overly bloody like rare would be. I would eat raw beef done in a fine French restaurant where I was confident of food safety, but not in Thailand.  However, in Thailand it's actually hard to get that when you order it that way. In my experience ordering it medium rare here usually results in getting it rare. If I lived in Argentina, I would eat beef steak more because its so GOOD there.

I don't think my preference for eating beef steak medium rare says anything about my masculinity, either way. I think it says more about my palate. I do think if I was the type of man that ate steak very often that would be a signal of being more masculine. After all, caring about your health, how "manly" is that? 

As far as men that like their steak well done, well, honestly, I think that's kind of stupid and I would think less of a person for having that preference. 

 

 

 

Edited March 3, 2017 by Jingthing

[champers]

Probably just as important is a resting time for the steak to maintain succulence and taste. I think it is the norm here to take the steak straight from the pan to the plate and then to the customer. Try not touching your steak for 10 minutes when it is served. Eat some salad, chips or other accompaniments before cutting your steak. You should notice a big improvement and the steak should still be warm.

[Jingthing]

Just now, champers said:

Probably just as important is a resting time for the steak to maintain succulence and taste. I think it is the norm here to take the steak straight from the pan to the plate and then to the customer. Try not touching your steak for 10 minutes when it is served. Eat some salad, chips or other accompaniments before cutting your steak. You should notice a big improvement and the steak should still be warm.

I totally agree of course. The cooked meat needs to rest but if you cook it well done that flavor is largely gone anyway. Some steak dishes serve the meat already sliced so in those cases you have to trust the kitchen to rest it. 

[canthai55]

If good quality beef, I like blue rare. But you need a hot grill and a cook who knows how. Still looking for all of the above in Asia

[chickenslegs]

I like my steak to be really scorched (black) on the outside and rare (blue) on the inside - but it has to be good quality meat.  The two different textures and tastes (IMO) bring out the best.

 

I don't think that masculinity has anything to do with it - unless you went out into the field, wrestled the cow to the ground, strangled it with your bare hands, dragged the carcass back to your cave, skinned it, then butchered it and gave the steaks to your wife to cook - over a log fire that you started yourself by rubbing two sticks together. Yes, then I would say you are pretty masculine.

Edited March 3, 2017 by chickenslegs

[grollies]

14 hours ago, canthai55 said:

If good quality beef, I like blue rare. But you need a hot grill and a cook who knows how. Still looking for all of the above in Asia

Pretty hard to find a chef in the UK who knows how to cook a blue steak.

 

I've stopped eating beef but we used to go to a market in koh po where they'd sell a fillet same price as any other cut. Used to buy a whole fillet, hang it, then age in the fridge for a couple of weeks, chop up and freeze.

 

Voted rare cause OP missed out blue from the poll.

Edited March 4, 2017 by grollies

[sipi]

Medium rare in Australia.

Burnt to a cinder in Thailand.

Food poisoning isn't fun (from personal experience)

[Jingthing]

2 hours ago, sipi said:

Medium rare in Australia.

Burnt to a cinder in Thailand.

Food poisoning isn't fun (from personal experience)

It's my understanding that properly cooking to medium rare will destroy harmful things but if you're talking about truly ROTTEN meat, I don't think you'd want to eat that at all.

[Jingthing]

Well done steaks objectively just inferior? I think so. 

 

http://www.eater.com/2017/2/28/14753248/trump-steak-well-done-ketchup-personality

 

Quote

This is a simple matter of science: Steaks with even a little bit of red in them are better than steaks without. This is a fact, a chemical and physical truth, the result of an alchemy of fat and protein and salt, and the way matter transforms when exposed to heat, and the way our bodies connect the chemicals of taste to the chemicals of pleasure. I’m not saying that cooked-through meat is always bad; in fact, it can be wonderful — just look at pot roast or short ribs, cuts of meat that are at their best when fully cooked — but when you order a tender, excellent cut (say, an aged New York strip or a bone-in ribeye), eating it well done means you’re robbing yourself of the quantitatively greater happiness that a pinker middle provides.

 

[Don Mega]

heat hot plate on BBQ on high for 10 minutes, lightly oil with olive oil then cook steak 2 minutes each side.

[CharlieH]

To cook your steaks, heat a frying pan – to a moderate heat for fillet, hot for T-bone or very hot for rib-eye. Add a swirl of oil, with a whole garlic clove and a herb sprig. Season thesteaks with salt and pepper and cook for 1½-2½ mins on each side.

 

 

[sipi]

10 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

It's my understanding that properly cooking to medium rare will destroy harmful things but if you're talking about truly ROTTEN meat, I don't think you'd want to eat that at all.

The only two times I got sick was eating beef. Now I don't chance it.

[Jingthing]

2 hours ago, sipi said:

The only two times I got sick was eating beef. Now I don't chance it.

I understand that reaction. 

The only two times I've ever been a crime victim have been in Portuguese speaking countries so I'm in no rush to visit any Portuguese nations again.

Not particularly rational, but makes sense emotionally.

[Jingthing]

On the rare / well done being a masculinity marker, people can argue either way.

 

For example eating rare or raw suggests an animalistic caveman ... bring me meat and let the blood spurt all over my face!

 

On the other hand, my reason for liking it with plenty of red is really about FLAVOR, and I'm pretty sure caring a lot of about how food tastes isn't a particularly masculine trait.

 

Liking it well done, with flavor killed, that can also be seen as more masculine. Don't care about such things as flavor. The man flavor comes from the ketchup! 

 

On ordering steaks or not, I think it's obviously true at least with westerners that eating a lot of steaks is linked to manliness. The classic stereotype is the first heterosexual date where the man orders a vegetarian stuffed avocado for main course and the woman wondering if her date has testosterone deficiency.  A stupid stereotype perhaps but it's definitely out there.

Edited March 4, 2017 by Jingthing

[Don Mega]

Just now, Jingthing said:

 

Liking it well done, with flavor killed, that can be seen as more masculine. Don't care about such things. The flavor comes from the ketchup! 

 

Might as well save on buying meat and warm up some cardboard instead.

[KC 71]

Medium


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

[Jingthing]

4 minutes ago, KC 71 said:

Medium


Sent from my iPad using Thaivisa Connect

As I mentioned before, in my experience in Thailand ordering medium rare often gets rare instead of medium rare, and I really don't want rare. I've had better luck ordering medium here hoping to get medium rare. About half the time it comes medium and half medium rare but almost never medium well or well done. 

 

Another Thai specific thing is about the usually low quality of Thai beef. Thais culturally seem to like well done or more beef when they like beef at all. When you're talking very low quality beef I'm not sure it makes all that much difference if it is cooked well done. It doesn't taste like much cooked medium rare either. 

Edited March 4, 2017 by Jingthing

[vogie]

I like my steak 'Texas style' Dehorn it, wipe its butt and put it on a plate.

[Jingthing]

Just now, vogie said:

I like my steak 'Texas style' Dehorn it, wipe its butt and put it on a plate.

The way you put that certainly sounds very manly. 

[sipi]

21 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

I understand that reaction. 

The only two times I've ever been a crime victim have been in Portuguese speaking countries so I'm in no rush to visit any Portuguese nations again.

Not particularly rational, but makes sense emotionally.

Three out of three are good odds.

The other option is to thoroughly inspect the kitchen and cold storage prior to ordering.

I will stick to avoidance.

[Jingthing]

Just now, sipi said:

Three out of three are good odds.

The other option is to thoroughly inspect the kitchen and cold storage prior to ordering.

I will stick to avoidance.

I'm really big on avoidance as well.

I haven't had that issue with beef in Thailand and like I said when I have ordered medium rare and get rare I still eat it.

 

[Don Mega]

2 minutes ago, sipi said:

Three out of three are good odds.

The other option is to thoroughly inspect the kitchen and cold storage prior to ordering.

I will stick to avoidance.

cook it home yourself ?

[sipi]

Just now, Jingthing said:

I'm really big on avoidance as well.

I haven't had that issue with beef in Thailand and like I said when I have ordered medium rare and get rare I still eat it.

 

I had one particularly unpleasant experience some years back. A beef steak dinner in Udon followed immediately by a 15 hour jaunt back to Australia.

I will spare you the details.

[sipi]

35 minutes ago, Don Mega said:

cook it home yourself ?

Easier said than done at our Thai home, in the Isaan backwaters.

Actually your reply reminded me of one of the times we had "fresh" beef available.

Whilst the others were preparing a dish of raw beef with coriander and chillies, my Mrs decided to bbq some for me over an open smokie charcoal grill. It smelled and looked just glorious. Dark on the edges and juicy and pink inside. She cut it into finger size portions and put it on a plate. I was salivating. 

Then her Uncle whisks out a bag of green sauce and tips it all over the meat.

Fresh baby calf shit.

I ate it anyway. Milky and a little bitter. A delicacy apparently.

[Jingthing]

I had forgotten that raw beef salad is a big thing in Isaan. Definitely wouldn't trust that.

[Don Mega]

12 minutes ago, sipi said:

Easier said than done at our Thai home, in the Isaan backwaters.

Actually your reply reminded me of one of the times we had "fresh" beef available.

Whilst the others were preparing a dish of raw beef with coriander and chillies, my Mrs decided to bbq some for me over an open smokie charcoal grill. It smelled and looked just glorious. Dark on the edges and juicy and pink inside. She cut it into finger size portions and put it on a plate. I was salivating. 

Then her Uncle whisks out a bag of green sauce and tips it all over the meat.

Fresh baby calf shit.

I ate it anyway. Milky and a little bitter. A delicacy apparently.

I woulda stabbed the uncle in the eye with a fork.

[grollies]

18 minutes ago, Jingthing said:

I had forgotten that raw beef salad is a big thing in Isaan. Definitely wouldn't trust that.

Not raw but seared blue-style. Favorite of mine too. Loads of chilli, mint, lime juice, fish sauce, onion...

mmmmm...

[grollies]

21 minutes ago, Don Mega said:

I woulda stabbed the uncle in the eye with a fork.

I'm with you on this one.

[manarak]

I voted rare, but I really like rare and almost burnt to a crisp, which aren't mutually exclusive.

 

Dark cutting beef is the best meat for nicely seared steaks that remain rare inside. I especially like the ribeye, because the seared fats give lots of flavor to the steak.

[Naam]

7 minutes ago, manarak said:

I voted rare, but I really like rare and almost burnt to a crisp, which aren't mutually exclusive.

 

Dark cutting beef is the best meat for nicely seared steaks that remain rare inside. I especially like the ribeye, because the seared fats give lots of flavor to the steak.

me same same, not different!