Originally Posted by
nkedel
You just replied to a post from 2004, on a subject that's been discussed to death in the mean time.
In my experience, it's quite possible -- and not even that hard -- to produce a juicy steak that's somewhere in the "well done" range which tastes great and is not tough.
That, or even Medium/Medium-Well won't ever be as tender as a medium-rare or rare one, but some of us would call that "mushy" in many cases.
I say that as someone who likes the warmer end of medium-rare (some people would call it Medium -- mostly pink with a touch of red left at the center) if the beef is good enough... and there's enough thickness cooked to at least a hot pink/medium to leave the steak with some chewiness.
For a thin steak, I'll pass on any red and aim for a nice uniform pink, and for a cheaper one, perhaps a little depth fully cooked to make sure there's a pink center rather than a red one (I'd all that "medium well".)
Of course, definitions of "well done" vary, and there are a few people out there for whom a hot, juicy, light brown -- devoid of pink but not solid grey -- is still underdone. Those guys can't be helped, but I think that's a relatively small portion of the well-done crowd.
Others folks on this thread insist that it's impossible, and that steakhouses who do a bad job of steaks at well/medium-well are justified in doing so; IMO those ought just to refuse to take the order in the first place (some steakhouses do just that) but to accept business and then half-arse because you don't approved of the order is unprofessional.
The challenge that will face someone using traditional steak cooking methods preparing a well done steak is that obviously the thicker the steak the more "over cooked the steak on the surface or close to surface will be if trying to achieve a center temperature of around 160.
A way if achieving that without compromising juiciness or texture is long sous vide prep to say 155 and hold refrigerated and then skillet or griddle at a very high temperature to finish off as and when required. Many restuarants (unkown to their customers) are using this method. In fact it will improve the texture and taste of a cheaper steak.
People that in one sentence will say "I'll never it boil in the bag food" will also say "this steak is the best I've eaten" when cooked that way.
I use to use sousvide for my steaks but do not do so any more.
