Mmmm

i used to be a "well done-er" until one day i bought a mega thick peice of rump, 5 minutes on each side was only just enough to bring it to medium rare, so i thought bugger it and ate it like that and loved it, i also think it depends alot on the steak itself, rump and fillet imo are best cooked rare - medium rare while i think Sirlion and especially Ribeye are more forgiving up to medum well but i still have them medium rare... like as been said though, always make sure your steak is room temperature before you cook it and ALWAYS leave your steak to rest for at least as long as you have cooked it for to let the meat fibres relax and for the juices to redistribute themselves back into the meat

I don't get this 'let the meat rest' thing at all. It never tastes any better rested than it does unrested, in fact i much prefer piping hot.

Taste desn'tchange a lot, but the texture is a lot more tender and the steak is jucier

I think 99% of chefs, if not 100% would agree that resting improves any meat.

Exactly. I rest it under foil on a warm plate and it doesn't go cold. The lesser the cooking time the greater the resting time. Its a muscle and will tighten/tense up when cooked - it needs time to relax to make it more tender.

Either rare or blue for me - basically just show it the pan. There is nothing better than steak tartare from a good restaurant.

It is good that some people like it well done. It lets the kitchen get rid of all the duff pieces or end cuts as the diner wont be able to tell the difference if its cooked that long

Ah perennial steak thread!

Wow. Nonsense like this usually ends up on the first page of the steak threads here. I'm shocked that it took so long! What utter garbage.

Every place I have worked in as a waiter in my younger years has always used the "keep for well-done" principal. Its just sound inventory management.

Having two parents that work in catering (my Dad owns his own small restaurant) and being virtually brought up in the restaurant business, I call bull**** on your post.

medium-rare for me

Medium rare for me, nice and pink and juicy in the middle.

I had a rump steak last night and it was absolutely spot on.

Why you shouldn't waste money on expensive steak: Tesco and Asda beat Waitrose and M&S in taste test
•Cheaper superstores beat their more expensive rivals in sirloin steak test
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...aste-test.html

The chef Anthony Bourdain has said the same about lesses quality cuts being reserved for well done steaks.

I don't really care that your Dad's place doesn't do it and you haven't experienced it. I worked in 3 places - a bar, a small restaurant and a fine-dining establishment over the course of 4 years at uni and they all did it and the way the chefs talked about it it was pretty much standard practice.

That just proves your Dad doesn't do it. I'm sure plenty of other places do.

I don't get it. If you have a duff piece of steak, cooking it "well done" won't change it, it'll still be duff.

It's probably alright if you dice it and chuck it in the slow cooker for 3 weeks

Ho hum. Judged by an 'independent expert panel of judges', not named of course, who are judging supermarket steak against ... um ... slightly more expensive supermarket steak.

I will continue to buy more expensive steak from my local butcher, and give ALL supermarket steak a wide berth.

It's admirable that your dad doesn't do it, but I have heard the same from people in the industry. It does happen.

I was thinking that.

Exactly.

The diffence is that cooking a really good bit of steak "well done" makes it duff. It will still be better than a duff peice to start with, but not really a big difference.

I would have thought that cooking a piece of duff steak "well done" would render it totally inedible, rather than almost inedible.

Cold un/undercooked meat...............bleeuuucchhhhh

Why not just go straight to the abattor rip it off the hooks and eat it there and then?