[redace1960]

not a chef.
i have said rare, really really rare, 'philly style', black and blue, blue, extra rare, cold inside, and even "wipe it's *** and throw it on a plate" (really, at a chili's up in vancouver bc) and i STILL GET MEDIUM. dammit, i want the mother cold on the inside and charred on the outside! (which i have also said.) sometimes i think its the staff's prejudice at work-'oh, she really COULDN'T want that.... that lil' housewife doesn't really know what she's saying..' when yes, in fact, i do!! really! beef doesn't taste right unless it still looks like meat!

in other words, rivitman has the definitive 411 on this.

*sigh* gee, i feel better now!

[Sarge]

[quote=redace1960]not a chef.
i have said rare, really really rare, 'philly style', black and blue, blue, extra

This is refered to as a Pittsburg style steak not Philly

[redace1960]

d'oh!
well there ya go!
thanks for the info! why pittsburgh, i wonder?

[shahar]

Pittsburg - I heard two explanations both about steel mill workers who would cook their meat at work. One version has them using a blow torch(A trick I use my self for my pittsburgian customers{I think that's gross, but try to respect it}). Another has them cooking it on the hot machinary. I believe the term was originally just refering to a hard char, not for rareness.

Three more points, please. FOH seems to rarely know what a rare, med etc are. Educate your staff(Even though they always seem to fight that)!

Customers inventing temps drive me mad - "MR more toward the rare". What is that? I'll just program my steak cooking maching for 3f less than MR.

Cooks and chefs who look in scorn at any order above med. Burning, no seasoning, "forgetting" in the oven, etc. A well done steak can be made to taste good. It can also be quite juicy.

Ok, enough of my ranting.

[ducdodger]

the only thing that matters is that the person who is paying doesn't like the way you cooked it. There wrong, your right blame,it on the waitstaff........it still doesn't change the fact that you have to recook it. Why do people who are allergic to garlic want the garlic potato puree on the side. When did fish become a vegetable. The customer is not always right. But they should always get thier way. You dont want to recook food, there's alway an opening if the front of the house.

[Skeleton]

I worked at a steakhouse for the last 8 months (thank goodness that's over, bleah!) and we had this printed on our menu:

Meats

Served with your choice of garlic mashed potato, baked potato, rough-cut steak fries or the Chef’s rice of the day.

How we do it…
Blue Rare - The rarest of rare, very lightly grilled on both sides
Rare - Seared on both sides with a cool and bright red center
Pittsburgh Rare - Charred on both sides and blue rare in the center
Medium Rare - A warm red center and pink toward the outside
Medium - A juicy pink throughout
Medium Well - A pink center and well done toward the outside
Well Done - Grilled until there is no pink showing

[Mezzaluna]

Redace, tell them to walk it past the stove!

I hadn't heard of the term "Pittsburgh" in relation to steak until I saw it here at ChefTalk. (Yet one more reason to bless the day I found this site.) I used to order it "charred rare" but usually wound up with rare or medium rare. I have my theories as to why this happens, but I will send a steak back if it's overdone.

To be honest, in some restaurants the quality of meat is not good enough to enjoy it rare or Pittsburgh style. If I find myself in one of those places (I know which ones in my area) I order something else.

[Cook-Jetto]

lol yea just tell them what "kind: you want it..


And some might not let you do it for foodbourne related issues

[Shaolin Bushido]

Originally Posted by chinds85

I find this frustrating, but I would imagine that it is only because I'm relatively new to the line (only been doing this for about two years). Nothing makes this cook turn red more than a customer who orders his meat rare, but sends it back three times to be "cooked more" until eventually we find out that what he calls "rare" the rest of the professional world calls "medium". We get this all the time because of the great variety of meats my restaurant serves.

I almost want to put posters into production that show cross-sections of a steak with the different degrees of done-ness labeled. I'm sure these exist, but at this restaurant this problem occurs so often that I almost want to include a diagram in the menu! Does anyone else have some meat stories to tell?

I was watching a show the other day and the customer told the waiter he wanted Steak tartar but he wanted it prepared and assembled before him ... well, the waiter asked him are you sure; you know what it is and the customer assured him he did and rushed him off.

When he came back and began combining it, the customer shrieked, "It's raw!"

The waiter who had been waiting tables for over 40 years dutifully returned to the kitchen and while the chef was bellowing "of course it's raw ... that's what it is!" ... the veteran waiter said in a low and soothing voice, "just cook it a bit".

It was hilarious.