<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by Dan Wicker:
I think the reason people get so worked up over this is that both camps are hellbent on their opinion and cannot be swayed. The majority of well done people absolutely refuse to eat anything less than well done. Won't even try it. Cringe at the thought. And they let it be known that they don't want blood on their plate. I think a lot of people who prefer well-done meat are pre-programmed to order it this way because they've never had anything different. If it's what they grew up eating, it's likely what they'll prefer in life. Maybe I'm overgeneralizing here, but that's been my observation.
My friends and family know that I enjoy grilling and smoking as a hobby, so why would I recommend medium-rare if it wasn't fantastic? I absolutely still cook a steak to their preference, but it knocks my ego down a little when they pass right over my recommendation and won't even give it a shot. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
This is a great point Dan. It's programmed into them somehow, whether that's the way their dad did it, or they never knew how to cook it any different or they would prefer medium but undercooked it a few times and decided that there is no way to screw up overcooking, or whatever.
My FiL is a classic example. He practically tanned the meat for years. First time I had my eventual in laws over, along with my parents, I grilled steaks and showed the guy the principles. Sear, bake, rest, serve. He's a very irascible old guy that won't change his ways for anything, but he was also meeting my parents for the first time so I knew I had him so I served him a medium steak knowing that he wouldn't make a donkey out of himself and refuse it.
As we sat down to eat he said, "let's see if you know what the <heck> you are talking about." My future MiL was ecstatic as for the last 30 years the only place she had a rare of MR steak was at a restaurant. So he eats the entire steak and doesn't say a word. He leans back in his chair and says, "the <heck> you don't know what you are talking about." For my FiL that's a compliment. He went on to say, "that's one of the best steaks I have ever eaten."
Fast forward a couple of years. After showing my FiL how to cook steaks maybe 4 times, everyone is still scrambling for the Worcestershire or BBQ sauce when he grills them as he flips them over with a fork and tans them on the grill. My MiL would tell him that dinner would be ready at 7, but 30 minutes before the steaks are to go on she would hand me the platter and the tongs and whisper, "go make the steaks. I want mine rare."
He got wise to this pretty quick and would head me off. I just went with the flow. No way was I arguing with either of them. The last time that happened was on my MiL's birthday a couple years ago. He turns her steak into shoe leather and she lets him have it at the table. "Either cook them right, GD, or let Scott do it. I'm sick of these <lousy> steaks you've been serving for 30 Fing years."
My FiL is 6' 5". My MiL is 5'4" and in a back brace from when she broke it a few months prior. No one said a word or made eye contact for the rest of the meal. Everyone helped do the dishes so we could all get out of there as fast as possible. Took him another year to get it down but now he can actually cook a good steak now. Sear, bake, rest, serve (and no meat forks to turn them).
After all that, one of his son's, my BiL, still asks for his to be cooked well done. And when my FiL or I cook steaks we cook one well done for Brian, and the cycle repeats...
