Wanna know how to annoy an entire restaurant? All it takes is a taste for steak — and one little word...
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00:00Want to know how to annoy an entire restaurant?
00:03All it takes is a taste for steak.
00:06And one little word.
00:08Everyone's got their own opinion when it comes to beef, from whether you ought to put beans
00:12and chili to how you should cook your steak.
00:14And while everyone's welcome to their own opinion on all that, beef fans everywhere
00:18will agree that there's one word you should never utter when ordering a steak in a restaurant.
00:23Not because of time-honored beef dogma, but because it can cause legitimate problems in
00:28the kitchen for no good reason.
00:30What are you?
00:32An idiot sandwich.
00:33Idiot sandwich what?
00:34An idiot sandwiched at Ramsay.
00:37The word?
00:38It's plus.
00:39As in, medium plus or rare plus, which some people use to indicate they want their steak
00:43cooked just past medium or rare.
00:46Okay, sure, everyone wants their steak cooked exactly how they like it, but look at this
00:51from the restaurant side.
00:52The Steak Doneness Guide, which assigns an ideal temperature to each level of doneness,
00:56exists for a good reason.
00:58It's a shorthand to help a busy kitchen cope with everyone's preferences without sacrificing
01:03time.
01:04Ordering your steak rare?
01:05A kitchen can handle that.
01:06Ordering your steak rare plus, though?
01:08That's unnecessarily ambiguous, and it's not remotely practical when you have 10 or more
01:12entrees on the grill and the difference between medium and medium plus is literally seconds
01:17per side.
01:18Once your steak is done, it may have to sit and rest while the rest of your table's food
01:22is finished, continuing to cook as it sits on the pass.
01:26It's all a matter of deft timing by your chef, and as such, it's always wiser to choose
01:31the predefined steak temperature you consider the lesser of two evils, when you'd be okay
01:35eating if it arrives at your table slightly overcooked.
01:38By now, of course, you've probably realized an unfortunate fact about eating steak at
01:43restaurants.
01:44You're only going to get perfect steak maybe 15 percent of the time, unless you're at a
01:48proper high-end steakhouse, and maybe not even then.
01:51Still, it's worth knowing that there will be a shift in quality depending on where you
01:54eat.
01:55But hey, you get what you pay for.
01:58At a real bonafide steakhouse such as Cattleman's, you're forking over a hefty amount for the
02:02best steak around.
02:04With the kind of prices and bragging rights the establishment leans on, you can order
02:08your steak how you want it and expect it to be done right.
02:12But when it comes to chain steakhouses like Texas Roadhouse, you shouldn't expect the
02:16same level of precision coming out of the kitchen.
02:18While they focus on steak and tend to be consistent, they still have to balance your food with
02:22high-volume service, just like at any non-steak chain restaurants.
02:26So you're going to need to order with more grace and understanding.
02:29As for places like Chili's or Cheddar's, which are high-volume chains that don't even focus
02:34on steak, well, maybe just order the chicken.
02:38Another option is to learn to perfect your steakhouse-style steak at home.
02:42If you're in charge, you'll benefit from total control over the doneness, texture, and flavor
02:46you want.
02:47You can cook it on the stovetop or grill, broil it, sous vide and sear it, or opt for
02:52a reverse sear.
02:53Serve it plain, with compound butter, or slathered in steak sauce.
02:58There's no one to judge you and no one to please but yourself.
03:00And if nothing else, cooking your own steak will help you appreciate how the plus in doneness
03:05isn't so easy to distinguish, let alone achieve.