rare steak
Growing up I never ate meat that was even slightly pink. It always had to be well done. Grey meat, mostly beef, slathered in A1 sauce was the stuff I liked best.
Around my 21st birthday I took a chance and ordered a strip steak medium. GROSS OUT! The meat was red and fleshy and tasted strange on the center.
I headed back to grey.
A few years later I was at the now closed Okno in Wicker Park. They had lamb chops on the menu and I decided to order them with some sort of exotic veggie dish. When it came time to order, I said I wanted the
chops well done. From the look on the waiters face, you’d think I’d just laid a steaming load on the floor.
“Sorry sir. We do not serve the lamb chops well done. They only come rare.”
For a moment I considered ordering something else. But eventually I went ahead with them rare, with considerable trepidation.
When they arrived, I thought there was a mistake. They were heavily browned and the bone showed some charring. I thought they were indeed well done.
I couldn’t have been more wrong.
As I slice into the first chop, a bit of pink juice escaped. They were fleshy pink in the centre, easing into a very thin layer of grey just below the surface. Indeed they were rare.
For a moment I went squeamish. Pink fleshy meat seemed like a disgusting proposal. Did I really have to eat this? I loaded a dallop of salty-cheesy mashed potatoes on my fork, along with the small bite of pinkness and popped it in my mouth.
It wasn’t half bad. By the end of the first chop I was eating the rare meat straight. It actually tasted good!
Since then I’ve learned to order my steak / chop / etc. at medium to rare. Certain cuts take rare better, like NY Strip, but I prefer Filet Mignon medium. Skirt steak and hangar also taste better medium. But the lesson was that if it looks gross, try it once. Then try it again. Just because something doesn’t taste good the first time doesn’t mean it’ll taste bad the second.
Open your mouth and taste the world.