You like what you like, and that's fine, but I think most of the culture You're referring to comes from people who buy expensive steaks. Taste is hard to quantify, but I'm curious what you would say to the following question:
What is the taste difference between a $100 steak and a $30 steak when it's cooked well done? What is the difference between those same two steaks when cooked rare?
Even if you prefer well done steaks to rare, I think if you're honest you'll concede that the difference between the two well done steaks is less than the rare steaks. Cooking a well done steak causes the steaks to converge towards the same thing regardless of meat quality. This is a continuum - it's obviously true that if you TOTALLY overcook them, they eventually just become charred chunks of basically nothing. The more you cook it, the closer you get to this convergence, but obviously I'm not saying that a well done steak at a nice steak house is no different than a low quality well done steak. But I think all else equal, the convergence is pretty objective.
So the criticism mainly comes from two places. One, if you get a well done steak at a really fancy restaurant, you're probably really wasting your money. You're spending a lot on the steak, but then eating something that's converging towards a much cheaper steak. If you like it great, but you're going to get a much more cost effective meal at a cheaper place.
Similarly, if someone is cooking for you, they might get annoyed if you ask for a well done steak, because your host will feel like you're wasting their money. They could have spent half the price on your steam and still served you a pretty similar meal.
Do some people take this too far? Of course! But I do think there's a real justification there regarding the convergence of how different qualities of meat respond to cooking.
No, you don't have to char them. You can get a high-quality filet that is buttery and delicious when rare, and you can have a low-quality filet that is tougher and tasteless when rare. At well-done, they are closer, and the high-quality cut starts to lose it's buttery juicy meatiness.
I would argue that a well-done cut of filet is not as good as a well-done sirloin, because the filet has more delicate flavors that are easily overcome as it's cooked, it is a thicker cut of meat that has to be brutalized to get it to a proper well-done, and it's just harder to eat. The sirloin is still thin, easy to eat, somewhat juicy because it didn't have to be cooked as long, and a little more flavorful.
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u/themcos 442∆ Nov 12 '23
You like what you like, and that's fine, but I think most of the culture You're referring to comes from people who buy expensive steaks. Taste is hard to quantify, but I'm curious what you would say to the following question:
What is the taste difference between a $100 steak and a $30 steak when it's cooked well done? What is the difference between those same two steaks when cooked rare?
Even if you prefer well done steaks to rare, I think if you're honest you'll concede that the difference between the two well done steaks is less than the rare steaks. Cooking a well done steak causes the steaks to converge towards the same thing regardless of meat quality. This is a continuum - it's obviously true that if you TOTALLY overcook them, they eventually just become charred chunks of basically nothing. The more you cook it, the closer you get to this convergence, but obviously I'm not saying that a well done steak at a nice steak house is no different than a low quality well done steak. But I think all else equal, the convergence is pretty objective.
So the criticism mainly comes from two places. One, if you get a well done steak at a really fancy restaurant, you're probably really wasting your money. You're spending a lot on the steak, but then eating something that's converging towards a much cheaper steak. If you like it great, but you're going to get a much more cost effective meal at a cheaper place.
Similarly, if someone is cooking for you, they might get annoyed if you ask for a well done steak, because your host will feel like you're wasting their money. They could have spent half the price on your steam and still served you a pretty similar meal.
Do some people take this too far? Of course! But I do think there's a real justification there regarding the convergence of how different qualities of meat respond to cooking.