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Published on the Doomstead Diner on December 16, 2018

…and the Winner is…

…Prime Rib, Medium Rare

Discuss this Survey in the Diner Pantry

The final days of the Conspicuous Consumption of Beef stuffed full of hormones, injected with antibiotics and fattened up in the Chicago Feed Lots are upon us, so I took this time to gather information on the preferences of the modern Amerikan Carnivore with a survey of favorite cuts, preparations and presentations of Almighty Steak. "Beef. It's what's for dinner."



The survey is now closed, if you didn't get your vote in in time, too fucking bad. We got a statistically significant sample based on our estimated average weekly readership of around 500 pairs of independent homo sap eyeballs of around 500. 43 Diners responded to the Survey, and the results are pretty clear. Ribeye Cut is the most preferred by Diners, prepared as a Prime Rib Roast.

Ribeye took the Win by a significant margin, with Tenderloin coming in to Place,

Generally speaking, the results of the survey came out as I expected they would, with a few minor surprises along the way. We got 43 respondents to this survey in a week, which is reasonably Statistically Significant with our estimated independent pairs of Homo Sap eyeballs reading the Diner each week at around 500. By and large, Diners are Carnivores who have not taken the Politically Correct road of going Vegan and have a general demographic of white males, usually older. For this demographic, the survey is probably pretty accurate on a larger sample size as well. For this survey, we come in with a 95% Confidence Level and a 15% Margin of Error.

Ribeye took highest honors as the Winner against Tenderloin (aka Filet Mignon). This didn't surprise me for a couple of reasons. First is the PRICE. While I can sometimes pick up a nice juicy, well marbled Ribeye for around $6/lb ON SALE up here in Alaska, I can NEVER get Tenderloin at less than $10/lb. The other reason is the FAT content, which Amerikans are so fond of. Ribeye is much fattier than Tenderloin, which is quite lean although more tender overall. Because of all that fat, Ribeye also comes out better on the BBQ, a common method of prepararation most of the time since usually the only time you would cook a full Standing Rib Roast is for family gatherings. However, the difference between Ribeye and Tenderloin was a little less than I thought it would be.

On meat Done-ness, the majority of Diners prefer their meat Medium Rare, with Rare in 2nd, Medium Rare in 3rd and Medium Welldone finishing out of the money in 4th. Welldone didn't even finish the race, NOBODY likes their steak welldone at the Diner! Who wants to eat Shoeleather for Dinner?

Responses to Question #3, "Do you ever eat beef raw?" really surprised me. 42% of respondents answered "Yes" to this question! I have never been together with someone for a meal who admitted to me they liked eating raw meat. My mom of course warned me that eating raw meat was unhealthy and you shouldn't do it, but the first time I pinched off some fresh ground beef bound for the Hamburger Grill, I was HOOKED! In terms of getting this delicacy at restaurants, usually you only find it at top end French Restaurants in the form of Steak Tartare or in Italian restaurants as Beef Carpaccio. I'm more of a fan of the Beef Carpacio for this meal.

Question #4 was a bit of a surprise as well, in asking whether the Carnivores preferred a Prime Rib preparation for Ribeye or Grilled on the BBQ as Ribey Steaks? Prime Rib did win out on this, but not by as large a margin as I expected. I attribute this mainly to the fact that BBQ Ribeye Steak is the way most people eat it most of the time because of the number of people you need to be serving for dinner to buy a whole Rib Roast, and to buy Prime Rib at a restaurant for yourself is EXPENSIVE. It's usually one of the highest priced dishes on any menu. Prime Rib preparation though is substantially juicier and even for me who totally loves BBQ Beef, given the choice I would take Prime Rib.

Most Carnivore Diners prefer their Tenderloin cooked over the Open Flame on a Grill, I myself tend to prefer this cut sauteed in a pan with Butter, Garlic and Mushrooms. Filet doesn't have enough fat on it or in it to really give a tenderloin that yummy char-broiled taste, and with the pan preparation you can also do a nice reduction wine sauce for it such as a Cabernet sauce. This adds a lot of flavor to the dish and enhances rather than covering up the flavor of the meat itself.

On the Steak Thivkness issue, here I was REALLY surprised. Most of the respondents liked their steaks cut to a 3/4" to 1" thickness. This is way too thin for me, although it is probably the most common thickness steaks are cut to in the Food Superstores. However, whether on the grill, in the pan or in the oven, a steak has to have some thickness to have a rare center. I like my steaks quite thick, between 1 1/2" – 2". >2" is a bit of overkill. 1" – 1 1/2" is OK, but I still prefer a little thicker than that.

For Steak Additions to spruce up your steak with an accompaniment, Sauteed Mushrooms edged out Caramelized Onions and the various Sauces you might use on a Steak, which was by no means a complete list, sauces are pretty endless actually. One sauce I did not drop in which I should have but just forgot was A-1 Steak Sauce. I used this one quite a bit back when I was a kid, although I no longer have a taste for that one. Many people do though. Overall these rankings came in pretty close with the exception of peppers which trailed badly, and I agree with them. I do like Mushrooms the best with steak, but the onions and the sauces are also good. Depends on your mood mainly and the quality of the meat and how it is served. On a Steak Sandwich, I like to have the additional accompaniments. If it's a relatively low quality Sirloin, I also like to have some additions. I was a little surprised pappers fell so far back as they are popular with steak both in Mexican cooking in Fajitas and in Chinese cooking, especially Szechuan dishes.

For Salt, most Meatosauruses are in the Medium Range, but with a few No Salt and Heavy Salt aficionados on either end of this spectrum. I go for Light Salt generally speaking, I feel too much salt buries the flavor of the meat too much. I am OK with Medium Salt though also.. I have sent restaurant steaks back to the kitchen for ones that were just too salty, as I will also do if they are too overcooked. You're paying through the nose for these meals, it should be prepared the way you asked for it!

Moving on to Ground Beef, unsurprisingly Hamburgers were the favored method of preparation, Grilled over an Open Flame on top, Skillet braised in 2nd. Given Amerikans eat a steady diet of Hamburgers basically from birth at Fast Food Joints and at Family Barbecues, the prefernce here is totally understandable. The middle choices of stuff like Meatballs, Meatloaf, Bolgnese Sauce etc kept changing spots throughout the polling, with Meatballs finishing finally in 3rd in the money. Given that a larger protion of the population than I thought eats Raw Meat, I was a little surprised to see this choice come in trailing the pack in Last Place. Raw is my favorite way to eat ground beef, but it has to be real fresh straight out of the grinder. I actually like Ground Chuck better than Ground Sirloin or Ground Round because it is fattier. I like an 80/20 lean meat to fat content rather than the 90% Lean stuff. Otherwise, I would put Meatballs ahead of the hamburgers in my choices as they are more flavorful if done right and an exellent complement to your pasta. Also great with marinara sauce on a Hoagie. If I do have a Hamburger though, it's always open fire grilled. I never eat a Fast Food burger anymore, not even the White Castle slider style mini burgers I loved as a kid.

Finally, in the Sauces category, Au Jus took the Win, Worcestershire to Place and Barbecue Sauce to Show. If you bet the trifecta, it paid 100:1. As I mentioned, I forgot A-1 Steak Sauce in this list, a major oversight. I wasn't surprised by this finish, although it's not my choices at all. I'd put a Cabernet reduction sauce in 1st, Peppercorn Sauce in 2nd and Bernaise in 3rd, with Au Jus finishing 4th for me. Again I think the sauces which won did so because most people don't usually have them with their steak and are more familiar with the bottled sauces like Worcestershire and BBQ Sauce. Generally you have to eat at an expensive steakhouse to get a more refined sauce, and few people will make them at home.

To close, I want to reinforce that this is meant as no disrespect to Vegan Kollapsniks as one of their choices to try and be kinder to the environment, and kinder to animals too. The issue there is that your stopping eating meat won't make any difference, if you don't eat it someone else on the planet will. People won't stop eating meat until it's just not available to buy, or becomes too expensive to afford as it was for most of its history prior to large scale industrial agriculture farming and ranching. As far as cruelty to animals goes, you have to remember that the animals raised for food by Homo Saps wouldn't even be alive if it wasn't for their care and feeding of those animals by Homo Saps they wouldn't be alive at all. Life out in the wild is pretty cruel also, if you have ever watched a video of a predator taking down its prey it's not a pretty sight and the Lion or pack of Wolves doesn't worry about being humane or eating the prey while it is still alive either.

Humans evolved as Omnivores, and animal protein of one sort or another has been part of our diet since we dropped down out of the trees to conquer the Earth. So, while it lasts, the Meatosauruses on the Diner will keep eating the flesh of other animals, and at some point in the timeline perhaps the flesh of other Homo Saps as well. Time will tell on that one.

Below, you can scroll through the full results of the Survey.