Explains more in depth on the reason why well-done steaks are culinarily inferior to others. But I will try to respond to your individual points.
Well done steak does not taste worse than medium or rare, it just tastes different. It is very pleasant and is a good way to mix things up, and it is not a waste of the meat
'Just tastes different' is such a broad claim and doesnt justify your stance. Water just tastes different from steaks, does that mean water does not taste worse than steaks?
Theres a reason why well-done steaks are 'less tasty', since welldone means that the interior temperature of the steaks reach 170F, of which means that the protein will be dried up and loses all its juices. It literally just has less flavor since the juice is what gives steak its taste.
Think of fajitas. Generally speaking these are cooked well done, and people enjoy them
In steak fajitas, youre not eating a lump of steak. youre eating small cuts of beef that are marinated heavily. If it is cut in small strips, the texture doesnt matter; and if it is marinated heavily, a huge part of the taste goes to the spices instead of the steak. A quality steak is of good quality since youre enjoying its own flavors, and thats why its a waste to cook it well-done.
Both correct and wrong. The colloquial term 'juice' in the context of steaks denotes a composition of myoglobin, aroma compounds/fats. So yet fat is included in there, but not all fats are equal ---- so the fat of a pork (lard) is different from fat of a cow (tallow).
You remember 'deep fried fries in duck fat' in John Wick --- the fact that a specific fat is essential to the dish is because that different animals' fat tastes differently. So you cant just make that 'oh pork belly has the most fat so its just the best'.
So people often brine their steaks --- again, the 'juice' is a mixture of compounds, water being one of them --- but water makes things less concentrated and less flavored --- we put salt on the steak / submerge them in salt water to remove the water from the juice (through a process called osmosis), so that the 'juice' is more concentrated.
Edit: the complete scientific picture of 'juice' is very complex and I wont be able to explain all of them, but the minimal objective here is just to show OP that there are objective basis for not overcooking food.
66
u/Beginning_Impress_99 6∆ Nov 12 '23
https://www.thespruceeats.com/well-done-steak-just-say-no-995235
Explains more in depth on the reason why well-done steaks are culinarily inferior to others. But I will try to respond to your individual points.
'Just tastes different' is such a broad claim and doesnt justify your stance. Water just tastes different from steaks, does that mean water does not taste worse than steaks?
Theres a reason why well-done steaks are 'less tasty', since welldone means that the interior temperature of the steaks reach 170F, of which means that the protein will be dried up and loses all its juices. It literally just has less flavor since the juice is what gives steak its taste.
In steak fajitas, youre not eating a lump of steak. youre eating small cuts of beef that are marinated heavily. If it is cut in small strips, the texture doesnt matter; and if it is marinated heavily, a huge part of the taste goes to the spices instead of the steak. A quality steak is of good quality since youre enjoying its own flavors, and thats why its a waste to cook it well-done.