Doneness of Beef

There seems to be some discrepancies in people’s perception of what medium rare is when it comes to the doneness of beef. I was serving a dinner, carving a roast beef and had a lady ask me for medium done. No problem we can do that. I carved her a couple of slices done medium, nicely pink and went to put it on her plate. She made a strange face so I ask if she would like it done a little more. She replied yes and I cut her some that was medium well to well done and she was happy. Now I wouldn't have thought much about it but I had this happen about 5 times in that evening: people asking for medium but really wanting medium well to well done.


This got me to thinking about what could be a miscommunication between cooks and the general public. It could be that I just don't know what is medium but I have my doubts about that. After almost 30 years in the industry and 100's of 1000's of steaks and roasts cooked I'm pretty sure that I got it figured out. So what's the deal here? I think that the doneness we are taught in cooking school doesn't match what older people think it should be. I say older people because I have found that if the group has more seniors in it you will serve more well done beef than if the group is younger. Also if you press an older person to name what they want they will tend to say medium but really they want medium well. So I guess it is like most everything else, Know your clientele and you will make out OK.

For those interested the following is a description of the different degrees of doneness as we are taught in cooking school more or less degrees of doneness

On a similar vein, I have often been asked how I tell a steak is done. Well for me after years of doing it, it comes down to timing and feel. I touch the steak and can tell from the firmness how well done it is. For those starting out here is a little trick I use to teach my students: With your hand relaxed poke the fleshy part where your thumb attaches to your hand on the palm side. Feel the firmness there. This is how a rare steak should feel. For medium rare touch your thumb to your index finger (just touch don't put pressure on it) see how it is firmer. This is how a medium rare steak feels. Medium steak, same procedure but using the middle finger and so on it goes until well done is thumb to pinkie. Hope it helps.