AmicAlex Uncategorized beef, meat doneness, meat temperature, medium, medium rare, medium well, rare, well done

Something that I’m sure irks waiters as much as it does cooks is when a customer complains their meat is under (or over) cooked. Sure, if they requested well done and it’s a bloody as hell it’s not the customers fault and it must be fixed. However,more often than not the customer orders medium-rare or rare and then he complains “it’s too pink.” I’ve seen waitresses try to explain to customers that that’s how medium rare looks like, but they want it cooked more, the waitress brings it back to us and we cook it longer until it’s well done, so there will be “no pink.”

When this happens, I’m not sure if it’s just an ignorant customer, a customer trying to be “fancy,” or a customer trying (badly) to impress someone. In any case if it’s ignorance you have a waiter/ess who will gladly inform you on the difference between a rare burger and a well done one, so that’s really no excuse. If a customer’s trying to be “fancy,” in the end he just comes looking stupid. And if he’s trying to impress someone, I must say really? Like looking like an ignorant ass who gives his server hell?

Other than complaint I want to do something to help those of you out there to understand meat doneness:

Term Description Extra-rare or Blue (in French bleu) very red and cold Rare (saignant) cold red center; soft Medium rare (a point) warm red center, firmer Medium (cuit) pink and firm Medium Well (bien cuit) Small amount of pink in center Well Done Gray-brown throughout, firm

Source wikipedia

Now you know, so next time no excuses, por favor.