The Food Thread

HesCalledDyer

Growing up the only thing I ever knew was "well done."  My dad cooked everything to well (or "too" well?).  I mean, it was so well done that I'm not sure how I didn't accidentally stab myself (or anyone else at the table) while cutting the meat.  Beef, pork, lamb, venison - may as well just have been jerky.  And I'd drown steaks in A1 just to get some juice and flavor.  Every time we went to restuarants, he'd order well done and I would too, because it's all I knew.  This was adopted into my early adult life as well.  I think I was about 25 when a friend of mine finally said "Dude, what the fuck?" and made me try a slice of medium rare.  Told me if you had to put sauce from a bottle on a steak, you're doing it wrong. And Christ was he ever right! For 25 years - my entire life up to that point (and still a good ~61% of it) - I had no idea you could get those flavors from a cut of meat just by not overcooking it to the point of boot leather. No more A1 from that point on, that's for damn sure.  Now, don't get me wrong, I'm fully down with like a butter & herb pan sauce or something like an au poivre - but the bottle can stay on the store shelf!

Get_Right

A1 is good on scrambled eggs or an egg sandwich!
But it has no business on a good steak.  Maybe on a bad cookout steak.

rgambs

A1 is great with a steak, no matter how good a steak, as long as you don't drown it.

Silly rules.

HesCalledDyer

Not really a rule for me. It’s just that it was the only way I used to get flavor. My entire childhood I thought steak was just this tough, dry piece of meat that you needed to douse in sauce to get taste.

Since I discovered that steaks had plenty of great flavor on their own when cooked properly, I’ve had no need for it. I could totally see using it as a marinade (and not just on steaks) or even using it as a base for a pan sauce. It’s not a bad sauce at all, but a good steak can and should be able to stand on its own.

F Me In The Brain

Never have poured steak sauce on a steak but I eat it as rare as they will let it out and want to taste it.
That said I pour hot sauce on all sorts if things.  If you wanna sauce?  Sauce away.

hedonist

A-1 was popular in my childhood homes though the steaks were always cooked well (ie, not overdone).  I just thought it was a thing everyone did.

My husband laughed the first time he saw me seasoning steak beyond salt and pepper.  S & P are pretty much all we put on it now.

Give 'em to me pink inside but not rare!

rgambs

I think steak is one of the most overrated foods.
Yes it's delicious, but it doesn't have the complexity of flavor that people act like it does.  
It surely doesn't rival a good aged cheese.

Cliffy6745

I adore steak.  That said, Lamb > Beef

PJ_Soul

hedonist said:

A-1 was popular in my childhood homes though the steaks were always cooked well (ie, not overdone).  I just thought it was a thing everyone did.

My husband laughed the first time he saw me seasoning steak beyond salt and pepper.  S & P are pretty much all we put on it now.

Give 'em to me pink inside but not rare!

I think it's okay to use steak sauce on great steak cooked well - some people just really like the taste! And some think that flavour enhances the taste of the steak rather than masking it. If I put HP on a steak, that's why... because I like HP and it plus the flavour of the steak is a yummy combo.

hedonist

I love a good steak but I don't / can't eat it often.  Definitely on my list of simple favorites, along with shrimp cocktail, a solid lasagna, etc.

Speaking of simplicity, nothing like hummus, pretzel chips and an apple for breakfast.  I feel like a champ!

jerparker20

A-1 is great on hamburgers.  Not allowed on steak, unless it's a badly cooked steak (anything north of medium).

I too grew up with over cooked meat.  My dad liked things cooked and loved ketchup. It wasn't until my brother started working in a high end restaurant that I discovered how to eat/cook cuts of meat.  I won't even consider cooking meats without a timer, thermometer, or slow cooker nowadays.  

rgambs

All these rules are ridiculous.
A medium-well cooked steak isn't badly cooked if it's ordered that way, and you can put whatever sauce on it that you want.  There are better and worse choices, not right and wrong choices.
Ketchup on a well-done steak is one of the worst food choices that people actually make, but it's not wrong.

I prefer a medium cooked steak, I like my Tuna and Salmon cooked medium well.
I can absolutely understand why many people don't like the dead animal flesh they are eating to be bleeding on their plate and a "holier than thou" attitude about it isn't necessary, it's just pretentious.

rgambs

At a rib cooking competition "fall off the bone" ribs are scorned and quickly eliminated, even though 90% of people like them that way and it's the only way to guarantee you won't be gnawing on gristly connective tissue.
Why?  Pretentious food rules.

Put ketchup on whatever you want and give anybody who disagrees the fucking finger!

hedonist

Maybe a tie-back to my childhood, but my favorite ribs are the old-school Chinese restaurant variety.  My family used to regularly pound those down at Man Fuk Lo in the 70s.

For me - salmon, just beyond translucent in the middle, and tuna with a quick sear.  Wish I didn't suck so badly at cooking fish.

rgambs

I like my meaty fishes everywhere from raw up to torched and dry.
Tuna and Salmon have a uniquely dry but juicy texture that I like when cooked well-done, but the flavor blands out quite a bit.  

Get_Right

rgambs said:

At a rib cooking competition "fall off the bone" ribs are scorned and quickly eliminated, even though 90% of people like them that way and it's the only way to guarantee you won't be gnawing on gristly connective tissue.
Why?  Pretentious food rules.

Put ketchup on whatever you want and give anybody who disagrees the fucking finger!

I agree with you on this. I like ketchup on my hot dogs. Probably the same as A1 on a steak for some people.  And I should say that steak sauce is served at Peter Luger's, which is generally a top ten US steakhouse.

F Me In The Brain

Ketchup on hot dogs?  Are we back to this???!!!

Just kidding.  As much as I live by my own ways I am happy to see others live by their own.
(Just don't put ketchup on my hot dog!)

HesCalledDyer

No ketchup on a hot dog is actually a rule, though.

rgambs

HesCalledDyer said:

No ketchup on a hot dog is actually a rule, though.

The dumbest rule I've ever heard!
It's a friggen hotdog.  It's offal.  

Who in the fuck makes a rule that you can't put a certain sauce on ground up ligaments and tendons?  Dumb fucks, that's who!

HesCalledDyer

The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council.