"Sorry sir, we can't guarantee a well done steak"
#61
Join Date: Aug 2008
Posts: 3,888
Seagulls are coastal birds that do not fly long distances. Shearwaters do fly considerable distances over water. Strangely you also occasionally come across pigeons far out to sea. They are lost, poor souls. They are powerful long distance flyers but can't land on water to rest; shearwaters can.
#62
Join Date: Dec 2010
Location: New York/ DC
Posts: 41
Sounds crazy to me. You are telling me that it is like playing Russian roulette when ordering a steak? So is it like that with other food? That is the worse excuse ever. Then stop serving steak or give a disclosure if anyone so dares to believe it.
Was on a LHR-YYZ WT+ flight and selected the steak and potatoes option. Mrs Numb3rs who sat beside me got the same thing.
I started eating mine was was pleased with it. Cooked well done, as all my steaks have been in the air, and was not too dry. Mrs Numb3rs was not happy with hers at all, it was bloody red. Now I know someone would love the steak in that condition.
I notified the CSM of the issue and was told. "Sorry sir, we can't guarantee a well done steak". This was due to the sizes and shapes of the steak and that is why there would be different levels of how well the steak was cooked.
Not a complaint from my side per say but just curious if ppl on the forum here agrees with the CSM or do I have a valid arguement?
I started eating mine was was pleased with it. Cooked well done, as all my steaks have been in the air, and was not too dry. Mrs Numb3rs was not happy with hers at all, it was bloody red. Now I know someone would love the steak in that condition.
I notified the CSM of the issue and was told. "Sorry sir, we can't guarantee a well done steak". This was due to the sizes and shapes of the steak and that is why there would be different levels of how well the steak was cooked.
Not a complaint from my side per say but just curious if ppl on the forum here agrees with the CSM or do I have a valid arguement?
#63
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Philadelphia, PA, USA
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, SPG Platinum, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Platinum, AAPlatinum
Posts: 199
While preferring a level of doneness is all well and good (I prefer pink myself), earlier this year I was travelling and served a steak that was raw in the middle... and I was pregnant. Not just pink, straight up raw. Becoming more of a health risk.
Since food options are plentiful and I was in J, I cut off and ate the done edges and ordered something else off the anytime menu a few hours later. I thought about saying something but really, as noted, you can't really guarantee control over how every steak is cooked onboard.
Since food options are plentiful and I was in J, I cut off and ate the done edges and ordered something else off the anytime menu a few hours later. I thought about saying something but really, as noted, you can't really guarantee control over how every steak is cooked onboard.
#64
Join Date: May 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 5,380
While preferring a level of doneness is all well and good (I prefer pink myself), earlier this year I was travelling and served a steak that was raw in the middle... and I was pregnant. Not just pink, straight up raw. Becoming more of a health risk.
Since food options are plentiful and I was in J, I cut off and ate the done edges and ordered something else off the anytime menu a few hours later. I thought about saying something but really, as noted, you can't really guarantee control over how every steak is cooked onboard.
Since food options are plentiful and I was in J, I cut off and ate the done edges and ordered something else off the anytime menu a few hours later. I thought about saying something but really, as noted, you can't really guarantee control over how every steak is cooked onboard.
#65
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: The Sticks, Queensland, Aust
Programs: QF, VA, VS, PX, AI
Posts: 12
This thread amazes me. Every airline steak I've ever eaten, on any airline, is either 'well done-stewed' or 'well done-nuked'. I would love to sample a rare steak (as they are meant to be) but never will as I now avoid the steak option.
Cheers skip
Cheers skip
#66
Join Date: May 2010
Location: UK
Posts: 5,380
The difficulty with steaks is that the airlines prepare them by par-cooking them first ('sealing' them) then chilling them so on the outside they are brown and inside raw. When the crew cook the steak the crew simply put the dish into the oven for a period of time. I guess there are many problems associated with gauging how long to leave the steak in the oven for each particular customer - there may be over 50 CW customers for one galley, and the steak has arrived chilled (not warm as it would be if preparing a fillet steak this way at home). Not only that, but the steak will be reheated with other foods on the dish, for instance a potato option, and that will need a minimum amount of time to heat, which may mean that a rare steak is near impossible. Perhaps possible in F where more time and attention can be given to each particular passenger, but getting the timings right will take some skill and practice I think.
#67
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: NB, Canada
Programs: Fairmont, Amex MR, Marriott
Posts: 2,531
#68
Join Date: Mar 2014
Location: Glasgow, Scotland
Programs: BA, KLM, United, US Airways
Posts: 4
This thread reminds me of Business Class trip on United some years ago when the FA responded to a request from my neighbour for a well done steak "honey, they all come out the same, but I'll leave yours to the last, that way it might be more done".
#69
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: NB, Canada
Programs: Fairmont, Amex MR, Marriott
Posts: 2,531
#71
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Central Texas
Programs: Many, slipping beneath the horizon
Posts: 9,859
As for the red wine, 55 years ago, I arrived, not much of a wins drinker at 22, in my first Italian liberty port. On an ensign's modest pay, I often opted by "cheaper wines", out of the barrel over the bar or the "crown-capped' market variety which back then, the lira at 640 to the dollar, sold for about 300 lira for a liter bottle. At 50 cents you could go wrong, but soon developed a broadly inclusive palate.
Later in life, my income still modest, I regularly bought wine from the "bathtub" just inside the front doors of "Fiesta" markets, truly discriminating vintages for $2.00 or less, and later found a couple of drinkable sorts of "2 Buck Chuck", Trader Joe's principal offering.
Yes, I've encountered some less than grand wines on airlines, but never one incapable of dulling the pain and easing the boredom, always better than the steaks.
#73
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Philadelphia, PA, USA
Programs: Hyatt Globalist, SPG Platinum, Hilton Diamond, Marriott Platinum, AAPlatinum
Posts: 199
#74
Join Date: Nov 2011
Programs: BA Silver
Posts: 1,222
Well, I can certainly expect that the steak will be poor, therefore should any of the alternative choices not be "poorer", I'll order them.
As for the red wine, 55 years ago, I arrived, not much of a wins drinker at 22, in my first Italian liberty port. On an ensign's modest pay, I often opted by "cheaper wines", out of the barrel over the bar or the "crown-capped' market variety which back then, the lira at 640 to the dollar, sold for about 300 lira for a liter bottle. At 50 cents you could go wrong, but soon developed a broadly inclusive palate.
Later in life, my income still modest, I regularly bought wine from the "bathtub" just inside the front doors of "Fiesta" markets, truly discriminating vintages for $2.00 or less, and later found a couple of drinkable sorts of "2 Buck Chuck", Trader Joe's principal offering.
Yes, I've encountered some less than grand wines on airlines, but never one incapable of dulling the pain and easing the boredom, always better than the steaks.
As for the red wine, 55 years ago, I arrived, not much of a wins drinker at 22, in my first Italian liberty port. On an ensign's modest pay, I often opted by "cheaper wines", out of the barrel over the bar or the "crown-capped' market variety which back then, the lira at 640 to the dollar, sold for about 300 lira for a liter bottle. At 50 cents you could go wrong, but soon developed a broadly inclusive palate.
Later in life, my income still modest, I regularly bought wine from the "bathtub" just inside the front doors of "Fiesta" markets, truly discriminating vintages for $2.00 or less, and later found a couple of drinkable sorts of "2 Buck Chuck", Trader Joe's principal offering.
Yes, I've encountered some less than grand wines on airlines, but never one incapable of dulling the pain and easing the boredom, always better than the steaks.
I find almost any red wine is palatable to me if its given a bit of breathing space.
#75
Join Date: Mar 2012
Location: LAX
Programs: AA Plat, Million Miler, Hilton Diamond
Posts: 21
I was on TWA many years ago in F where steak was the main course. When I questioned how well done I could get it (I like med-well but order well so I get med-well) the CFA came over to me and said, "I understand you think I can't cook a steak the way you like it." It came out perfect!