When you go out to eat, you’re obviously entitled to order whatever you want off the menu. Additionally, when you order a piece of meat cooked to order, and the waitress asks how you want it cooked, you’re also obviously entitled to ask for what you prefer. But in some cases, you might want to rethink that. There is a bunch of evidence on why you should never order this type of meat at a restaurant, and you should know what it is.
If you like your meat well done, then you might want to stick to making it at home instead of ordering it that way. Apparently, the chef can turn on you if you ask them to do it, and that’s basically the last thing you want when your food is in their hands.
James Bricione, Director of Culinary Research at the Institute of Culinary Education, told INSIDER, “Chefs don’t typically appreciate well-done orders unless there is a very specific reason for the request (elderly, pregnant, etc.). They typically reserve the least desirable cuts (thin, tougher pieces) to cook well done. In general, less attention is given to well done orders.” So, if you’re looking for a good piece of meat, you’re better off getting it cooked less, unfortunately.
This isn’t just the chef being rude: they genuinely feel that by ordering your meat well done, you’re taking out a lot of flavor that would be there, and the dish won’t taste as well. They feel that it ends up making them look bad because you walk away from the restaurant eating something that they feel could have been much better. Basically, the chefs automatically think the dish is ruined. As a result, they won’t put any extra effort into it — because what’s the point? Patrons who like their meat well done probably beg to differ — and not all chefs feel this way. We get where the anti-well done chefs are coming from, though.
In fact, some restaurants will even try to get customers to order something else if they ask for a well-done steak. Landon Brown, a general manager at 3rd Street Tavern in St. Peter3, Minnesota, told The Takeout that if a customer asks for well-done steak, they have servers try to push their chicken instead. And if the well-done order comes through, the kitchen does get annoyed. Brown said, “It’s always a joke in the back-of-the-house, when you see that well-done steak come back. Like ‘Well, they wrecked it.’ It’s well known among service industry staff that well-done steak is a total no-no.”
Even scarier? According to Dr. Oz, one old trick is to keep steak that’s past its prime and may no longer be good, and use it for a well-done order. The idea is that it’s so cooked that you won’t be able to tell the difference. (It does become a health hazard, so we really hope restaurants don’t actually implement this “trick”).
Still, most chefs don’t have the luxury of refusing to make the order, so they will do it. Danny McCallum of Jacobs & Co. Steakhouse in Toronto told The Takeout, “I have and will always cook steaks to well done. If a guest wants it well done, then that is how they shall get it, without prejudice. As I see it, you are paying, you can have it however you like.”
So, if you don’t mind getting a slightly tougher cut because you enjoy the taste of well-done steak, go ahead and keep ordering it! But if you want to know the chef put more effort into your dish, it’s something you’ll want to skip.
