Why Black Folks LOVE a Well-Done Steak
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- Опубліковано 5 лют 2025
- Join us while we, explore the rich history of Black community timeless love for a well cooked steak.
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As a child, I wasn't given a choice for my temperature preference. After years of incarceration, finally, at the age of 28 years old, I was asked, "How do you take your steak?" I had no answer. A chef asked me to trust him, and I experienced a mid rare ribeye and was blown away.
I ain't eating no steak that's not well done no red whatsoever
Same situation the first time i ever ordered a steak at a restaurant. I just got what everyone else did, when that shit was bloody i sent it back. But as i started appreciating and learning more i started eating my steak med rare and even some cuts i can eat rare now. I say that to say, i think the way we cook steaks is a cultural thing growing up we just ate what was in front of us
@trapmuzik6708 Jesus Christ, how ignorant, uncultured, and stubborn can you possibly be 😂. You probably think the red stuff is blood as well lol. keep eating trash steaks, you have that right lol.
@@KevinjHiggsIt's literally not blood, it's mainly water and a protein.
We never really had steak growing up, and in the Millitary they would cook the steak well done, Now as i started hanging out in casinos and they had the Buffets and would get the Prime Rib which tasted amazing, and noticed that it was medium rare, at that point as i started going out to steakhouses, i would ask for Ribeyes or Prime Rib medium rare which again taste amazing compared to well done, IMO, once for me its well done, i continue to cook it slowly tell it falls apart like pulled pork or yankee pot roast.
My Mexican mom cooked steaks well done. When I was 20 I had my first medium steak. Changed my life. My mom tells me now as an adult "You grill a lot. You didn't like steak as a kid"... should I tell her? LOL
No!
Nah.
I was about 40 the first time I had tacos Al pastor. That changed my life. I stopped in at a Mexican grill and ordered a steak quesadilla. The owner of the place handed me my order and said I gave you something else to try as well. I ate the food in my work truck. First the quesadilla and then the taco he included. I was blown away. I walked back into the shop and asked “What was that?!” He said with a smile “Al pastor.” I ordered two more on the spot.
yes honesty is best even in a case by case basis. theres a reason some ppl may never get better at cooking, no one tells them how they think it could be better
Sounds like how i began to appreciate some vegetables from fresh, rather than the can or boiled to death. My mom’s background was mostly Irish and she lived in Britain for a bit, so there ya go
People don’t know what they like, they like what they know.
And a lot of those people don't know what they don't know. I was one of them until I decided to branch out and try something different with something familiar.
They also fear what they dont know, and we tend to hate what we fear.
This brotha got the black McDonald's commercial voice from back in the day "2 all beef patties, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles on a sesame seed bun just the way you like"
You forgot onions
black in the day
How did you just control my mind like that? 😮
Lmaoo 😂
He a crackhead now, but i remeber dat fool..
Middle School football team went to Steakhouse before the big game. Normally we could only get the buffet, but this week we could order off the menu. So we all ordered steaks. I ordered mine well done. The waiter brought everybody's food, my steak looked like a hockey puck. It tasted like shoe leather too. Everybody else had ordered nothing more than medium well. My friend let me have a slice of his medium rare steak. That was the day I learned that nobody in my family could cook. I haven't looked back
i enjoy a pimp steak and eggs every now n then
It was probably a poor quality cut of steak too
@@ShakTMT you cant cut a piece of steak or meat of any kind where well done is the right temperature to cook it. My family, specifically my BIL use BBQ sauce to hide the poor quality of their cooking. lmfao
@@mckinleyroscoe4566 yeah I agree. But a bad cut will also significantly impact that - you can get what this dude described with a bad cut thats been cooked medium rare too, leathery and chewy with too much sinew
@@mckinleyroscoe4566there is a type of steak where well done is best. The kind that could make you sick. Well done steak is more prominent in areas with a recent history of bad food quality control because it cooks out the bacteria and parasites
I’m Native American, most of our elders eat well done steak 🥩 my dad once told me they didn’t risk getting sick by raw meat. And they love the charred fat with some salt 👍🏽
We don't eat no undercooked meat.
We don't need no soppy, bloody, soft, tasteless, bacteria slimy uncooked meat.
It's a common thing for all people that only started to change once refrigeration became ubiquitous. The later the adoption of refrigeration the longer it held on. My grandparents were from the silent generation and had iceboxes as children. They had no concept of rare meat. My mum and dad had iceboxes when very young but eventually had fridges. My mum was older. She had medium well at rarest. Dad liked medium rare, as do I, but I'll occasionally eat it blue.
That makes no sense, you dont refrigerate an already cooked steak! Also there are numerous meat preservation traditions that cured, cooked and preserved meat for a long time, like jerky, and pemican. Fridges jad nothing to do with people cooking meat well done or medium rare
@Wade_Adakai
Agree, real meat is cooked all the way through done and sizzling crispy on the outside.
@@thedango6890 no, but you do refrigerate the raw meat, which slows down the growth of bacteria, which makes eating a rare steak a lot less risky. If you can't refrigerate it and the meat came from an animal that wasn't butchered the same day, you should cook it well done to kill anything nasty that might make you sick.
20 year ago has a friend who refused to cook me a well done steak. I thank him.
That was a true friend!
Indeed if that should always the rule at the grill
I'm black and I kinda always knew the reason why black people like their well done steak. As a kid, I ate well done steak, and if we went to a restaurant that served us undercooked steak or burgers, we would send it back because we had the idea that it would make you sick. No one wants food poisoning, and to have to go to the doctor or hospital meant money. When I started dating my chef husband, who is from West Africa and also grew up eating well done meat, even more well done than black people eat in the states 😂 He introduced me to medium steak. And I havent looked back. Back in the day (like before refrigeration) we didnt have the luxury of getting fresh meat. So we cook it to death so we wont get sick. Simple as that.
@@NaturallyMeeee 😆
@@NaturallyMeeee That's asinine. Plus how could someone who eats over cooked food introduce you to under cooked meat?
@lroyjetsonson5060 I said he's used to be a chef, and as per his training, he cooked steaks to the temperature that his customers want. After doing that for a while, he tried a medium steak and loved it too. I said he's from a place that eats overcooked meat as a kid, but not now
@@NaturallyMeeee I read all that. You also said that he introduced you to medium rare steaks. What lie did I tell? Another thing is do you really believe that we were eating our steaks well done because of rotten meat😂😂😂😂😂😂 Most Blacks lived on farms and slaughtered and butchered the meat themselves during slavery. They didn't go to meat markets. Maybe it's for the same reason that your husband ate his well done too. Because our ancestors didn't eat bloody food in Africa either. 😂😂😂😂
@lroyjetsonson5060 ok. You believe what you want. I'm not here to argue, like you seem to be. Also...there's a tribe in Africa that drinks cow blood.
I could have never imagined steak doneness leading to a twelve minute video essay about black history. Great video
My sister's mother in law went blind from macular degeneration. One day my BIL and sister took his parents to a steakhouse. She ordered it well done. My BIL whispered to the waiter to cook it medium rare, because she couldn't see it. She took one bite and said it was the best she'd ever had and told her husband, "You take a bite of this. I told you they can make a well-done steak tender!"
not the sharpest knife in the kitchen drawer
@@startervisions Naah, she was just blind and assumed that if she ordered a well-done steak that that's the way it would be. If she'd ever found out she'd have beaten my BIL, if she could get hold of him.
That's hilarious😅 thank you for sharing that
😂🤣😂
You know that this is actually a crime.
You know what's a real joke to me? Is the fact that? The rate of foodborne illnesses and diseases sit, hand in hand with people eating under cooked food.
Also the fact that, every time there 's a foodborne pandemic. Suddenly everybody wants to make sure that food is well done.
It's like when an atheist say I'm not religious. Suddenly you on your knees after hitting a loud boom, while on an airplane.
My mom latina also cooked our meat well done. Then my father took us to a steak house in Time's square which was the first time I saw a steak with "pink" in it. I thought the cooks had gone crazy, my dad reassured me it was all right to eat. I haven't looked back since.
Its good any way if its a good steak. Sirloin or fillet is still good well done
No it’s not alright theres no way it taste good in any form it’s dry tough and devoid of any good flavor the fact that you said that let’s me know you have horrible taste in food and you cook garbage that you call a good meal when it is simply lacking in every way. A fillet mignon is a very expensive and tender steak meant to be cook rare to medium rare any more than that and you destroy the whole purpose of eating a fillet in the first place it’s asinine and disgusting that would even say that about a fillet go eat some tri tip you child oh and by the way that taste better medium rare to.
😂 yeah mom needs that meat well wellll done
Orale is your Dad white?
As a black man, well done is the absolute worst way to cook a steak ,and I didn’t even know the Black people had a stereotype about well done steak😅
It's true, my father's generation is all about well done everything. While you used to rib him about it, i don't anymore. It's your food, eat it how you like and no need to shame.
U probably was raised by white people
Same, same. I didn't know about this until I saw this video!
Bet we aint be know we be gots 2 tip neither. Why come we aint be smart?
Being a beggar sucks right? Get a career so u can Finally be a man@@jaydee9086
I’m a 35 year old black man and I started eating my steak rare to medium rare about 4 years ago and haven’t looked back. The tenderness and melty texture makes my knees weak. Don’t bring me no hockey puck.
I'm a 55 year old white man. I remember all of the steak sauce commercials from the 80s and such. You don't need any damn sauce if you buy a decent steak and cook it medium rare. I think a lot of it has to do with the supply chain, cattle breeding, etc. We can simply get better meat now.
You don’t know any better. Not your fault. You need to travel more.
Medium rare ok, but rare? I’m guessing you’re American. You guys got no culture.
If you think that's what we'll done means you had people cooking for you that can't cook.
35 also medium well started around 4 yrs ago also during 2020
This makes sense. When people's cooking of meat is based on cooking low and slow cooking to make tough cuts edible, it makes sense that those same people would eat all meat well cooked.
That said, a medium steak on a charcoal grill is the best thing ever. Give it a try.
It depends on the cut and the quality. Medium is best for filet mignon as well as wagyu, but for most other steaks, medium rare is the way to go.
That was my guess, in the poor side of town being assured clean meat would be iffy. I think now even poor people can afford safe meat. Just don’t buy from a guy on street corner. But people do shit how there parents did and if you don’t mingle out side the neighbor hood tradition changes show. Hopefully when more black people move into the middle class or at least know people there they break with tradition and enjoy a better steak.
@@mikewilson858 Education too. Like knowing that cooking to a certain temp actually does kill all (or like 99.9%) of the pathogens that might make you sick, and that those certain temps might leave some pinkness and tenderness in your food (including pork, chicken etc).
I like steaks more done as i got older. Used to eat rare to medium rare, now medium to well
Not at all. I meal prep brisket or pork shoulder every single week 16 hours in my slow cooker. But im used to A5 fronm back home so everything else is rare
This is a wonderful perspective that I had never considered, so thank you for bringing it up. My personal taste is best summed up as "introduce it to the fire, but don't let them talk too long," but it's really valuable to me to learn the foodways of people I share this world with.
Worked at a steakhouse when I was 23 years old, everyone ordered steak medium rare or medium, a few well done. Tried medium rare for the first time, haven’t had anything different since then. Of you buy the right cut of meat, it will be tender and juicy. For the queasy people the red juices are not blood, it’s myoglobin.
@@Bigfish1day yo I was today years old when I found out it’s not blood😭😂
It’s blood still😂and that’s 👌🏽if you like it
@@ChefGradyit's not, though
Same here. I only do medium rare. Well done is too chewy for me.
Medium rare for me also
Eat it how you like it. Don't worry what others think.
Exactly what I say. Don't worry about how I eat my food.
It's not about that. We'll done beef is carcinogenic
@@changeyourenergy708 let them fools eat that shit
Just make sure to drink some Iron City Beer with your steak.
@changeyourenergy708 not eating any rare meat....at all..maybe medium well to well..but definitely not blood rare.
I'm black myself but if you're eating steaks well done then it's best you stick to fried chicken because nobody should be spending 30 bucks on a tri-tip just to make it taste like an old boot.
Eat it how you like it.
Only way I’ll eat well done is with a1 sauce and beer to take away the sorrow
WELL DONE my Brother...Pun intended...😉
I see what you did there 👁👁🔍🔍 and I'm here for it.
no frfr 😩💁🏽🥰
That was cute lol 👏🏽👏🏽👏🏽
As a child, I was taught to only eat it well done and was scared of pink meat.....as an adult I prefer it Medium Well.
I feel like children should eat it well done I would make my child eat it well done but I’m not 😂😂😂.
@christophercurry6543 agreed but I almost feel bad doing that to a child😂😂
Same 😅
Me, too. Growing up, my father always insisted that everything be well-done, and, I understood that to be a safety-related concern, so, being as I do value my health, I had zero problems with the reasoning.
Fast forward, my first-cousin, attended culinary school, has cooked in a couple of local country clubs, favors the medium-rare/rare, the way that they want it, when they're paying country-club prices for it. He's my go-to for all things food-related, however, on this one thing, I just can't go there with him.
EVERYTHING else, his advice has been spot-on, but, trying to eat something that's still trying to run off of my plate just doesn't really appeal to me.
Very good. 🤝
Dont know how so many people in these comments think that the red part of a steak is "blood"
So what is then?
@@CutthroatrahWhat are you asking?
@@Cutthroatrahit ain’t blood lol
@@Cutthroatrahjuices and fats that get rendered from the meat cooking
Myoglobin
Tell the truth it's just because Uncle Larry always got drunk at the cookout and burned all the meat
Lol that too
That transcends all races I think. I deal with this now with my brother-in-law
Exactly what my mom would do. And then she had the audacity to claim it was "medium well" and not burnt to a crisp like it was. Alcohol makes you do stupid things.
Nah .
God told us to not eat flesh & blood .
We actually listened to him at 1 point as a whole, as shocking as it may sound .
Now, we're making Sodom & Gomorrah blush .
Smfh
My people, do not be deceived .
Any & everybody that tells us to do the opposite of what God said is on Satan's side & you must depart from them .
💯💯
See naw.. we ain't let the drunk get on the grill!
I'm partial to well-doneness myself. I just recently learned it had an association with black culture, I'm glad to have gotten a better understanding of the history.
Bes check that DNA ma man:) only joking:) its all good and from my pov its always interesting to hear how other culture's culinary exploits have evolved and why, for us as bruh described it was def a combination of ancestral cooking methods survival and necessity which created what we have today.
Scorched on the outside, blood rare in the center. I've always heard it referred to as "St. Lois style." ABSOLUTELY WONDERFUL!
Wow. That sounds like something I'd like to try. I love rib eye so it'll probably work.
I had my first medium steak a few months ago. Blown away. In my own kitchen.
I spent my youth eating fancy steaks all over the world, including Kobe, Japan, but just now learned about how the level of doneness impacts flavor and texture.
My parents still only eat well done. They will not change. They do not want to try anything new.
Since I was a child I always wanted my steaks medium rare to rare (just like my parents).
I remember my first steak I was 16 and started working at a restaurant, I grew up with my grandparents and my grandmother had broke her back shortly after my mother was born.... I didn't realize we were poor till I asked my grandmother why we never had steak at home. Her response why would we spend a weeks worth of groceries on one meal.
We bought the cheapest cuts of meat not because anyone forced us to, it was because that's all we could afford. We didn't have food stamps or welfare to help. Just a measly social security check that didn't pay the medical bills. Sometimes life isn't fair just be glad you can afford a steak a lot of families can't.
You didnt tell us how the steak was cooked though
@@swappedoutZ71I would argue that the cheaper the cut, the rarer it has to be. If I could afford Wagyu A5 then I'll gladly say well done is the best way.
No one gonna make me eat a well done steak 🥩
No one can make you eat anything that you don’t want to.
@@Cutthroatrah I can
It is categorically unjust that African-Americans were denied access to meats in anything but poor condition, requiring they be cooked beyond an enjoyable level of doneness.
While it's important to acknowledge the injustice, it can be done without engaging in mass martyrdom. To continue to dine on steaks that are treated so abjectly is nothing short of masochism.
Dining habits borne of a bygone fear of pathogens are nothing of cultural value-they are not culinary traditions, they are archaic medical issues.
Just like I don't want to see blood in my meat, I'm not an animal.
@ exactly
I remember in high school I went to my white friend’s house and his dad was cooking up steaks for dinner. When he asked me how I wanted mine I told him well done and he looked visibly upset that I would dare ask him to cook it all the way through. It felt weird explaining to him that Mexicans don’t normally eat cuts like NY strips, ribeyes, filet mignon, etc and that skirt steak or flank steak are our main cuts of meat. For those that grew up on the rancho it doesn’t make sense to cook chicken or pork all the way through and not do the same for steak; all those animals live on the same damn farm, might as well not chance it with undercooked meat.
A lot of latinos and south americans eat their steak more done than most I find. When we bbq with my friend's Chilean family, we always have to take our meat off 10-15 mins before theirs.
If you still eat it well done. You like eating leather boots lol
A tritip well done and a medium tritip are like oil and water
may i ask tho like it makes sense with butcher cuts but is it bad for me to think it's slightly insulting if someone gets a more expensive cut and is asked to cook it longer than it needs in fear of becoming sick?
it is kind of weird to insist a host cook expensive cuts as if they were butcher cuts. idk.
Post transplant I was told to always order or cook all meat as well done to prevent bacterial infection since I’m on immunosuppressants. I haven’t ordered a steak at a restaurant ever since. No way I’m paying that much for a well done steak.
Good to hear you’re living a miserable life 👍🏻
I too am a transplant patient and have had mine since 2001. I've never once eaten a well done steak and I never will, and I eat stuff like sushi/sashimi/nigiri all the time. I've never once gotten sick. Not ONCE. Trust me, you'll be fine. A medium rare steak is plenty cooked to kill any bacteria, especially in the states where meat is generally pretty clean and safe to eat even raw (which I have also done many times). Treat yourself to a medium rare or at least medium steak. You'll be fine, I promise.
It's highly unlikely that you need to cook USDA inspected beef well done even in your situation. I'm not a doctor but do some research. I'm almost positive any internal temp above 140 would be very safe.
@@johnpenner2632 The USDA establishes very high standards for meat. American beef is of pretty high quality, especially in comparison to the laws we have for non-meat/dairy through the FDA.
@@hunterno7704 yeah, most food borne illness today isn’t caused by the consumption of meat, it’s caused by the waste of cattle seeping into the water supply that’s used to water plants, particularly greens that’s why romaine lettuce, spinach, and sprouts are constantly being recalled. That being said, pork and chicken should absolutely never be consumed undercooked, not even in America. There are countries where it’s much safer to eat raw pork, it’s actually commonly eaten in Germany (Mettbrötchen), but their food safety regulations are much more strict than ours are.
I grew up in the midwest in the late 60's into the 70's and with most of the adults in the family remembering the depression era everything was cooked to 'well done' no matter what meat was used - beef, chicken, turkey, pig or fish. No one I knew back then ever ordered anything other than well done for steaks until long after I was an adult myself. When I took over the grill cooking for my family I cooked my parents steaks to well done as they liked and experimented with different levels for myself and eventually settled down to medium for what I order in restaurants as it seems easiest for most places to get close to accomplishing. So long as the steak isn't turned into shoe leather I can enjoy it from medium rare to well done without much issue so long as it's a good cut of beef.
There is no debate for me. I'm black. I used to eat well-done steak, and I knew nothing about marbling. After learning and tasting the difference, there is no way I would ever go back. I would absolutely not go to some high-end steak place and pay all that money on an expensive well-done steak. A lot of my friends and family liked well-done streak, but that's because a lot of us grew up eating small, cheap steaks; just like some of us only on had experience with ribs that were grilled and charred like like burgers.
I appreciate the history of my people. I understand what we went through. But now that I have access to things they did not have, I will take advantage of it. I find of feel like this preference is pretty much just based tradition. Some of us come from families who rarely eat steak, and it was well-done when we did it, so we convince ourselves that it's our preference. I would say 90%, and that's probably being conservative, of my friends and family that I make a quality medium or medium-well steak for never go back. Most of them also move away from their desire for steak sauce and cheap steaks. I kind of look at this like some people who say they don't like BBQ. OF course, some of them don't like it because what they're eaten most of their life is only BBQ-ish. Its mid-level prepared food just drown in BBQ sauce.
I’m black (62) and have always known about marbling and high end steaks my whole life and while my parents loved Medium to Medium Well and so do I, many of our family members including my daughter like blue rare to rare. I agree with you on the Medium-Medium well!!👍🏽
@@lagunn327 my sister likes mid-rare. She is part of the reason I went from well to medium-well because when she was eating medium when I was stil eating well when she moved after getting her Masters
They beat well done steak into us the same way they did Christianity (lol I also can't understand why most of our people still follow massa's religion). I'll give that steak to my dog before I ever eat that shit well done
The biggest problem in the black kitchen they go by the look instead of having a high end food thermometer. Stop cooking to looks. Start cooking to internal temp. Food is more juicy and way more tender
@@georgerucker9263 yeah I pulled out my thermometer once and someone said "oh you getting fancy now."
As a child I wanted it well done but as I’ve gotten older and worked in catering, medium well is okay!
same
Me too!
That's as far as I'll go and I hate when they cook it medium instead
Medium Well is the $hit!!
Medium well is perfect for me
You can have it however you'd like, I just wish people that like rare steaks weren't so dastardly enthralled in the choice of those who don't. You would've thought this was the 60's and well done was the equivalent of black people 💀.
wasn't expecting this video to be so in depth, and entertaining. you’ve gained a new subscriber.
I’m black and I cook steak both ways, depending on the cut, the dish, who I’m cooking for and how long I have to prepare it. A well done steak that is marinated properly and slow cooked can be amazing. Medium well is great, but only for certain cuts with the right seasoning and a proper sear/reverse sear technique. The way people will choose a mediocre medium steak someone just slapped on the grill over and well done steak cooked with care just blows my mind.
right! I love a slow cooked pot roast or corn beef cut. my mom makes it well done everytime and it's so flavorful tender and delicious. some things are meant to be well done lol.
@@luvrbaethose aren't steaks. Things like chuck roast and other larger cuts are cooked longer to allow the fat to render. A NY strip or ribeye does the exact opposite when overcooked to well done. That internal marbling is lost and as a result you get a dry/tough steak
@ri067953 I didn't call them steaks, ik they aren't. I'm just saying I like most of my meats well done. fried chicken too I always cook em well done and crispy. I say that bc I used to work in food in a white area n they didn't cook their foods well done. they called a well done rotisserie chicken burnt when it had a nice crust in the outside. they cook to temp, most black ppl cook way past the temp to achieve another layer of flavor whatever that may be (crispy, charred, etc) . no offense but I didn't ask for a lesson bc I understand the difference. but still some ppl may not cook their pot roast well done, that's how I like my meats. dead and cooked thru n that's all I'm saying. 🤷🏾♀️
Who the hell are you the package says steak but I guess you know better steak god
Cooking a *good* well-done steak is more difficult than cooking a good rare steak. You can always put an undercooked steak back on some heat but you can’t uncook one that’s well-done.
I like steaks either way, depending on the cut. The flavor profiles are completely different.
I absolutely love steak. It’s one of the easiest things to cook but one of the most rewarding. Growing up, the biggest flex to another dude was cooking him a really high quality steak. Getting the best cut, the best sear and cooking to perfect medium rare 💯
It would be an honor to convince a black person to eat a medium rare steak, that it’s food safe and it’s not actually blood 😂 I have an Indian friend who had never eat a steak medium rare, and only had shitty steak from frozen meals and cheap cut. His mind was blown when I served him a medium rare steak basted in butter and herbs
You sound like a good friend. ❤️
I’m not going past medium though, not in either direction. 😅
@@dewilew2137Thanks 💯that’s all good, medium is acceptable haha. At least medium would give you enough flavor
Wow I personally consider it such a pain to cook steak (I only started eating it as an adult) and I've loved cooking basically my whole life. The kinda prep and mindset I have for steak just feels like such a faff compared to a roast chicken.. but I know people feel that way about roast chicken too.
But an excellent steak is CERTAINLY one of the hallmarks of a knowledgeable and flexible chef.. it's honestly why I even started eating steak/beef to begin with... To see what all the fuss is about lol.
Medium is perfect.
I used to order my steaks well done, then I went to medium well for years. Recently I tried a medium cooked steak and I find it to be the best.
Same and I refuse to go lower than medium😂
@@318GrandMandefinitely depends on the steak and the thickness. Try experimenting. Medium rare sirloin vs medium rare ribeye is a whole different world.
It also depends on ware you go. Some places cook steak well done when you ask for medium well. There are several types of sirloin cuts. We are known to buy the cheapest one. You can flash that cut on the grill for 3 min and it still will be tough.
I followed that same progression to medium.
And after all of that, you're still wrong. There's a reason why medium rare is the standard.
My high school girlfriend’s mama used to cook steak well, well burnt! Lol She always said “You can't trust it if it’s still red. It could have worms.” . No one could tell her different. It was as tough as a B-52 bomber tire. I hated it 40 years ago, but once & awhile, if I get one burnt, I think of her and smile. Thanks for the great video.
Love this video, man. Food history is fascinating, and especially diving into how things have changed or remained the same over time within different geographies and cultures.
I never understood why people cared so much about how someone else liked their steak. If I like my food a certain way, leave me alone and let me enjoy it.
Has to do with the cookout. I don't trust anyone who prefers well done to man the grill.
@@LilT2o00 I think anyone who takes the time to ask you how you like your steak would actually cook it that way for you.
@@LilT2o00 Same could just as easily be said for folks who undercook their meat 🤦🏿😂
@@charondesousa8868 Undercook means not safe to eat. For example, you undercook chicken, GGs enjoy your hospital trip. Anything safe to eat is not undercooked lmao
Growing up I never liked steak. My family always cooked it well done. It wasn't until I was in college and went to a fancy steakhouse. I wasn't interested but my friend recommended that I try the the t-bone medium rare. I took one bite of that steak and I was an absolute heaven. That's when I realized that my family have been over cooking the meat for my entire life. Now, medium is the highest level I'll take it, but I would prefer medium rare. My family accuses me of being a vampire when we go out and I order steak, because there's often still a little blood visible.
Tell them not to worry about it because it's not even blood. It's myoglobin. If it was blood, it would have darkened to black from heat and oxidation.
My kid, now 13 is a vampire! He loves rare steaks. No idea where he got that taste from, but that's how he likes it.
I’m sorry, well done if not eaten immediately taste like a leather book. Medium is truly the way to go
Absolutely
Yes. Medium is perfect 👌
I agree, medium is the way for me as well
Medium rare
Yes
In European cooking the whole animal is used. Those “inedible”parts have actually always been prized because this where you get the collagen for many jellies such as Head Cheese. I encourage you to spend 2 minutes looking at traditional German cooking and you will find similarities to soul food.
Due to the constant racial divisiveness on just about all fronts most people don't realize all of us have more in common than not. That's why I hate stereotypes so very much. We just do things differently to get the same end result.
I’m black and I’ve never heard this. My personal preference is to walk the cow by the grill and serve it immediately.
A man of culture I see! ❤
Show it a picture of fire, that's enough
I had some lady that said that white people are all vampires because they eat steak that is not cooked properly.
😂😂😂😂 believe me it’s a thing…I was like that until I became an adult and my mom made it medium rare….omce I ate it I never looked back
I think what was in this video was true till the late 70's or early 80s. The reason for Black folks eating well done these days, IMO, is that they think any reddish color liquid from meat is blood. About 10 years ago, I was at a restaurant and a black woman was arguing with the manager there saying her chicken wings were under cooked. She was making so much noise about it, I walked by her table to see, and I saw it. She was dead wrong on it being undercooked. One end of the bone had that dark purplish/brownish color. The manger was so fed up with her, and because they had already remade her wings, he offered to take it off her bill. She refused and was yelling about how she wanted them to remake it again. She was so nasty, it made me want to punch her. LOL.
Rare is just a flex to say how high the quality of meat is
I'll move to another protein before I go low quality on a steak.
Not exactly. For example, I cook London broil rare because it tastes better even though it's considered a low quality piece of meat.
@Lifesizemortal "low quality doesn't mean cut." It means "of the highest standard, freshest, and refridgerated." It means you basically have enough resources to eat meat so fresh you can eat it rare or meat that has been carefully protected.
No its just white people trying to force their ways on others
No its better. This ignorance is exactly why black ppl wont go anywhere
My wife is Caribbean and her preference is to stew meat VS roasting… stewed ox tails, stewed chicken, stewed fish. When we eat a steak, she prefers it a little more mid-well with a sauce. It’s just how her tastes have been wired. Just like her preference for heavily seasoning, which I sometimes find overpowers the meat.
White former grill cook at various steakhouses here: very interesting topic and informative video. I didn't know the temp preferences were regional as well as racial. I'm in central CA and well done is a pretty common preference in general as well as specifically black and Hispanic, in my experience here as a cook. I like steaks rare to mid rare but everything else definitely needs to be 165°
I grew up in central California, worked at many steak houses. Yes some people would order well done, but very few.
Only thing I cook to 165 is dark meats like chicken thigh. Steak 135, pork 145, chicken breast 155
@@TheJimicus you are correct absolutely on the money.
@TheJimicus I don't believe all likely pork pathogens are eliminated at that temperature but I guess it's up to you flavor vs food poisoning
@@tomtom2719 The modern FDA guideline is 145 for pork. Trichinosis is virtually unheard of these days. Also, generally the way safe temps work isn't a hard line. In chicken breast, 165 kills any pathogens instantly but 155 kills anything within about 45 seconds and makes world of difference in texture.
With modern methods like sous vide you can hold meat at 130 or so long enough that it's pasturized and safe. It would likely be a bit gross though.
I grew up eating rare and medium rare steak. Pork and chicken were cooked thoroughly but steak and roast beef was another thing and my mom knew how to cook it.
Ok and? You think you is better than us coz of that or what
@ufinc I'm sorry, we're you trying to make some sort of statement? I'm having difficulty interpreting your musings.
Thank you for sharing this history and context
Definitely learned a bit today. Grumbled (mostly in jest) about friends asking for well done at restaurants or when I was preparing but this all definitely makes sense as to the history behind it. Great video.
I've found most people who prefer well done steaks would rather have something other than beef.
Just my experience.
I grew up eating well-done steak because that's how my parents cooked it. As I became an adult and exposed to different cuts of different meats from different cultures, and finally experienced the buttery goodness of a medium-rare to medium ribeye or A5 wagyu or delmonico bison, I never went back to well done & never had to touch a bottle of steak sauce ever again. It was my biological mother who taught me that if you order, or cook, a steak well-done, theres no further room to reheat and eat what should be steak. Youre better off with jerky at that point. Now, of you're buying cheap steaks from old cows at discount marts, then yes, turn it into overseasoned tire rubber/leather - or make a stew or some other dish out of it. However, if you're getting prime cuts from the butcher, let the flavor of the marble do its job.
This is an educated answer.
My mother and grandmother preferred well done so as a youth I hated steak. It was like eating a belt with half a bottle of A1 lol. Not until I ordered my first medium steak as an adult did I come to appreciate steak.
Ewww
My parents in rural Ireland only ate well done, I ate my first medium rare steak in my mid 20s! It was a revelation.
Mom said in her youth when my grandparents would have steak, they would go into the lidded roasting pan, seasoned, water added, and baked for 1.5 hours or more. The meat would fall apart. She said it was how it was done and not just by my grandparents. Me, I like it medium rare.
So it was well done but still moist
Well that's a pot roast, not a steak.
That's pot roast you may as well add gravy, onions, and potatoes.
That’s braising, typically done with tougher cuts of meat, not steak.
@@wannabe41 and yet that's what they did. Why argue with reality and history?
I was a Well Done guy, and then i grew up!!
you obviously can't cook. I've been making tender well done steaks over 15 years. It's a technique you need to accomplish to get it tender..
Bye!
My kid likes his steaks warm. I think that's the best way to describe it, because the less cooked it is, the better he likes it. In fact, I think he'd eat it raw, if we let him. No idea where he got that taste from because I like my steaks medium and his mother likes them well done.
@@ChiefBigWooYou stewing that meat then.
@@ChiefBigWootender and well done is an oxymoron.
As a Latino, I am the first born in Latino American in my family. I had my first restaurant job at the age of 15. I learned why well done just ruined steaks especially good cuts. It took me years to educate my family and show them what we’ve been missing out on. My point is sometime we have to break out of our custom because they were rooted in necessity and to protect us when we had very little but things changed and so should customs if you’re able too. I appreciate this video and see a lot of my own folks in this video. Thank you for your educational research.
It does ruin good cuts, but there's nothing wrong with ordering a well done sirloin, if that's what they like.
I prefer medium rare to medium, but had to learn acquire that preference over time bc I grew up eating medium-well (well done was considered burnt in my family). But my friends and family that prefer well done always reference the security in knowing the meat is fully cooked which basically equates to safety. It's how we were taught that we couldn't trust the food source, and undercooked food was unhealthy food, especially meat. It's our culture❤❤❤
My culture too but it’s not correct. I go against incorrect as my own personal culture.
Because of my parents, I grew up eating well done steak. But once I ordered my first steak medium, I NEVER wanted a well done steak ever again!
Since I was a child I always wanted my steaks medium rare to rare (just like my parents).
No chef worth his weight in salt has ever argued in favor of well-done steak. No debate there.
Well-done has no flavor whatsoever. No one eats well done steak for that.
You’re chewing for 20 days with a Well done steak 🥩
Well done in black community because we were used to eating lower cuts of meat.
Tougher cuts too that why a lot of the good black foods like oxtail and ribs are better slow cooked bbqed or braised. Sadly these cuts have gotten pretty expensive nowadays
You people just make up things and pretend like it's a black thing. By the 70s and 80s plenty of black folks had access to quality meat. I'm not a steak eater but Mom has never liked cheap meat she would go to different neighborhoods to get quality food. I also grew up with my family owning farms and gardens so I had access to fresh meat, poultry vegetables.
Exactly
@Myopinionmattersthemost Coping hard with a legacy is not easy. 😂 there is nothing to savour in well done meat.
@@Myopinionmattersthemostnothing worth listening to starts with "you people"
I can definitely understand why black people of the past required their steaks well done. I personally prefer my steaks cook medium rare to medium well.
Medium rare is considered the perfect steak. You still maintain most of the seasoning and juiciness.
@@whitead25 🤔if you season it, wrap it in plastic wrap, then let it sit in the frig for 15 to 20 minutes or over nite 😏 then right before you start cooking turn your oven on to 375, put a pan (one that can be used in an oven) on the burner with olive oil (Extra Virgin) your choice, get the pan/oil hot then sear that steak on all sides top bottom and sides cover that pan, and put in in the oven for 30-35 minutes, remove from oven flip meat, spoon juices over it and let it rest. And that's how I make my "Perfect Steak"😋
It will still maintain a lot of the seasoning and juiciness.
@@willie417 me personally once I get the serial on all sides of the stake I add rosemary butter and garlic to base the steak regardless of how it's cooked. Your suggestion is perfectly sound and it definitely works to maintain as much flavor as possible however I still say in my opinion that medium rare is the best way to go about it if you want maximum taste and flavor.
@@whitead25 sounds good
If i overcook a steak, my dog gets a treat.
I'm a black man and I will say this with complete honesty in that I love a medium rare steak. As a child though, I would always have my 🥩 ordered medium
Medium rare plus is good too but only fine steak restaurants know what the plus means
Fantastic approach and well thought out. I love this video. Earned a sub through nuance and thoughtful insight!
I cooked for my elderly and disabled mother, and she constantly complains "your food is under cooked, it's gonna get me sick!"
I finally told her that her food that she used to cook and even cook every now & then has always been OVERCOOKED!!!
I tempt my chicken at 170° (5 degrees above the required amount) let it rest and allowing after temperatures to continue to rise.......she still says my chicken is almost raw.
Her steak is horribly well-done, but swears its "medium-rare"
Smdh 🤦🏽
Well done❤
Because we the people of the book and the book tells us not to eat meat with the blood.
I was looking for this comment
I'm not of the book, and I like well done. Also, the red color isn't blood. Please stop listening to old bronze age fairy tales.
@@andrew_stamps I CARE! :)
The red juice you see in rare and med rare is not blood but myoglobin. The meat that gets to our tables has been bled already.
That juice is not blood, though. the animals are bleed out. that juice is a red colored fluid called hemoglobin.
Almost fumbled the bag cooking my french bf an almost well done steak 🥩 Thank God it tasted good 😂 and for the sides.
this channel is so unique thank you for your content
to each their own...at 13 back in late 80.s I worked at a 4 star restaurant as a dishwasher and one of the chefs was a black marine...he put me on to medium as well as other textures and seasonings...however ordering a high end steak well done you might a well get flank steak...
I don't eat well done steaks anymore because most of the flavor and juices are missing from the steak once you do that. I used to eat them all the time but the reason I prefer medium rare steak is because you still get the crust and you still get most of the seasoning and you still get most of the juices. When I cook my steaks now that's how I cook them.
🤔This is how I make my "The Perfect Steak"😋
first season it, wrap it in plastic wrap, then let it sit in the frig for 15 to 20 minutes or over nite 😏 then right before you start cooking turn your oven on to 375 (Bake)
Put a pan (one that can be used in an oven) on the burner with olive oil (Extra Virgin) your choice, get the pan/oil hot then sear that steak on all sides top, bottom and sides,cover that pan (with the meat still in it😏), and put in in the oven for 30-35 minutes remove from oven (caution pan will be HOT!) flip meat, spoon juices over it and let it rest. And that's how I make my "The Perfect Steak"😋
I don't even eat beef but that recipe sounds GREAT.
Why would you use a low smoke point oil to sear a steak?
No olive oil, use a quality butter especially if the cut has fat like a ribeye.
Growing up as a kid, my mom always grilled our steaks well done with butter on top just before it was done, and it was delicious. As an adult, I started ordering my steak medium-well, and that's the way I preferred them. I stopped eating red meat over 20 years ago for health reasons, but sometimes I miss the taste.
Give me medium rare. Child liked well done. Adult tried medium rare and hooked for last 30 years
Rare for me, blue if they'll do it (a lot of places won't though)
@@LilT2o00 You are extremely rare (no pun intended) lol Ive just never come across anyone who enjoyed blue steak.
@@LilT2o00 blue??? What’s that mean??
@@MamaHarperr what is a blue steak????
@gwen8859 Blue is the most rare you can get a steak. Even more undercooked than "rare" steak. The inside is completely raw. The outside is barely seared on each side.
I wasnt given a choice as a child lol once I tried mid-rare it was game over. Some people dont try eggs different way either until they get older
I cooked a guy friend a sunny side up egg he acted like he was gonna puke 🤢 I had to cook him scrambled I’m like can you elevate your pallet please 🙄
Senior citizen here. I'm not what most would call an egg eater. They got to be all the way done for me to even consider eating. And that comes all the way from childhood. On the other side I like my steaks medium. Formerly well done chooser until about 25 yr old. I find it sad that a lot of people don't re-visit foods they didn't like as children just to see if they like now with different/better preparation/cooking.
The reason humans brains began to develop and they became as intelligent as they are now was the discovery of fire and they began to cook their food. It reduced the parasitic nature of meat.
I’m Black, and my father was a STICKLER for medium rare steak. However, our family is from Southeast Louisiana so we know food.
I like my steak when TMH say to his fateful servant when entering Heaven, "Well Done."
Not only that we are not to eat anything with blood Periodt
Tell them again.
@@shadeallday3943 smh it's 2024 and people still think that's blood? That's a mixture of water and a protein called myoglobin. There's no blood in even a rare steak, yet alone medium rare
@@shadeallday3943its not blood do some research, the blood is drained out in the butcher process
@@KevinjHiggsblah blah blah, no one wants reddish looking liquid in their food
Both my parents grew up in the "CA BAY AREA". They went to different many types of restaurants. So when the folks had extra money, medium rare steaks was on the dinner for tonight.
I can't eat it any other way my body can only take well done
It’s now my 15th bday
Happy bday
Happy, Happy little one! 🎉🎉 🎊🎈 Now, go to bed.
Happy birthday young one, god bless. I hope you enjoy your day
@@AbeJacobylmao I was thinking the same thing glad someone said it
@@Cana-C-Bud thanks you
👊🏾 Medium well to well done is how I prefer my 🥩 & no steak sauce at all, my wife prefers hers rare & red blood all over the plate 🤢….needless to say we don’t eat steak very much I can’t sit across the table from that 😂
If it ain't pink in the middle I'm not eating it😂😂😂
My dad loves his steak 🥩, medium rare 🤤, I like it well done, because I grew up around my grandparents, that's how they eat it 😁
When I was much younger and working my first proper kitchen job I had a chef who threw a pan at my head for only taking my steaks well-done.
Good video. Informative. Food is fascinating. I went through a chef apprenticeship while still in my teen years; finished at age 19. The managing chef of this fine dining club was a black man. His tastes were elevated and he was a perfectionist. And he liked his steak rare. But everybody else on the staff wanted well done. That is a fact. He taught me to BBQ with charcoal--not gas. And his basting BBQ sauce was always mixed with a little pickle juice. This seems to be the norm in many black communities but I was surprised when he first showed me the recipe, astonished really. His BBQ technique was amazing--always charcoal, always grill with a lid and beer to control flare ups. Everything that came off of his grill was delicious. Me? At 62 I need my steak rare or medium rare--anything else is a total loss.
I would never order a steak in a restaurant because i like it well done and it's like leather at a restaurant but at home i can make a well done steak that i can cut with a fork, just takes time
Exactly the cook😂😂😂at U I refuse to eat anything that is Not fully cooked
brother if you gonna cook steak low and slow, order bbq.
@@p0331546 no you should order bbq
Exactly! This is the real reason well done gets a bad rap its the lazy chefs that don't know how to make em properly.
There are braising cuts of beef and there are grilling cuts. Grilling cuts, like steaks get dry and tough when cooked beyond medium. Save your money and buy a chuck roast and braise it till well done. When prepared with vegetables, garlic, herbs and some red wine, a pot roast is a tasty meal and will be fork tender.
To ask you a question, Because it's cooked damn it.
Very interesting and thought provoking. Im in my 40s and doing well economically, but i think of my parents and their generation and yup its a well done steak or not at all. I never thought why that was but your video of passed down trauma with scraps of food, nearly expired food, and lack of medical care for us does make sense.
I’m black and I love my steak medium rare always have always will
That was when Black people where on the top of their game, I hope we will unite and return.
THIS was fascinating! Nothing tastes better than a good food documentary. As a kid, we'd eat steak once, sometimes twice, a week. Growing up, beef was plentiful around our house. Since I began shopping and cooking for myself, I cooked my steaks the way I learned from my dad, the family's pitmaster and master grill cook. My mom absolutely HATED anything overcooked--fish, chicken breast--anything that came out dry and flavorless. That's the way I learned that the BEST way to eat steak was medium-rare. Occasionally, bright red rare. Although we had a Black cook who insisted on cooking our steaks well-done the first time she made a meal for us, she was "corrected."
As much as I love steak, I stopped eating it once it got to eight bucks a pound. Do I care about cattle farming? No. They're going to have to figure out how to survive without my money.
Is this a joke?
@szasremmurd8002 if you laughed, then the answer is "yes."
The same energy as wash your rice wash your chicken. There are levels to it......
🤦🏾♂Yeah I know…crazy!
Medium rare for the win👍🏾
There is no need to wash chicken, as it does literally nothing (the salmonella is inside the meat, not on the surface) and as demonstrated through decades of food science research, most folks who wash their meat end up spraying their kitchens with raw meat droplets as the pressure of running water will always vaporize a scant amount, more with more pressure. Any extra step in meat handling should be carefully considered and avoided if possible, as every intervention increases the risk of food borne illness by an order of magnitude. Drain the juice, pat it dry with paper towels, salt it a little and let it sit open air in the fridge for 30 min if you're serious about skin texture, but please dear god do not wash your chicken unless it's literally the chicken you've personally raised slaughtered and butchered. Even then, you don't actually wash the chicken, but blanch them to de-feather.
As a kid, I was bought up eating well done until one time a family friend introduced me to medium rare. I’ve never looked back.
I love this channel! I enjoy learning about other people's cultures, and this channel has opened my eyes to things i was never aware of as someone who is not black.
I was always a well-done steak guy until I accidentally got one that was medium.
Now I can never go back to well done.
Just like that.
I’m Hawaiian and my pops would cook his steak well done and I never liked steak. Until I had a medium rare steak. 10 years back I made him a steak and he loved it. He said his pops cooked it the same way.
I switched from ordering well done to medium well. This is because many restaurants don't know the meaning of well done and will completely burn the steak or overcook it until it's dried out.
Yup! Well-done doesn’t mean burnt or leathery. They just don’t know how to cook to that temperature.
@@hellzbelle229 Because only a Canadian would order it that way
It's takes skill to cook a steak well done. I guess some people think that means overcooked
@@phogetta1 It takes something, not sure it's "skill."
They do it on purpose