The Well Done Steak. Kitchen Chronicles

Are You Or Someone You Dine With Guilty Of Ordering A Well Done Steak?

Don’t worry! We love You! Your steak will be ready in 20 minutes. But please don’t ask for ketchup like someone we know!

Tale of two chefs.

Any Saturday night five years apart.

So an order comes in for a well done New York strip. Word spreads among the staff that there is a well done order. Yes, that does happen!

Young Chef Mark

“WHO ORDERED The F*cking Well DONE STEAK?!!” Tell them I don’t cook the steak past medium and the duck breast medium rare! Tell them to go to Outback! Do you want me to go tell them?”

Chef Mark Five Years Later As Chef Owner

“Who ordered the well done steak?” Looks towards the grill ” Fire (restaurant lingo for start cooking) a vein steak!” Back to the server “Tell them I have a nice big steak and it will take about 20 minutes” Chef peaks out to see who ordered it and laughs to himself

Why is Chef Mark so happy five years later? It is not what you think!

The Strip Loin

The strip loin is a cut of beef from the short loin, a muscle that does little work so it is fairly tender. The best steaks☝ are cut from the rib end, New York Strip, Kansas City, Top Loin, Delmonico. When it is on the bone it is called a T-bone or a Porterhouse depending how much tenderloin is included.

and The Vein Steak!

The vein steak👇 comes from the sirloin end of a strip loin (New York Strip). The vein end can be 20 to 25 percent of the strip loin. What to do with the vein steak? Most restaurants can’t afford to throw away that much steak.

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Can you use the vein end?

Yes! The vein end sirloin can be ground or slow roasted. Many restaurants don’t grind or have need for a roast, so it is waste or used for staff meals. Beware! Many stores still sell this as a strip steak or sirloin. If you see the half moon of fat don’t buy it.

What does a restaurant do?

I cut two huge 20 plus ounce steaks and use it for well done orders. Many restaurants do this.

“Pardon me sir, did you say well done?”

So In comes Mr. Well Done and it is a win win. You give them a huge steak, cook it well done and you get rid of the vein steak. Mr. Well Done is happy because he has a huge steak and I am happy to sell it. Win! Win!

Am I ripping Mr. Well Done off?

No! I cut my regular New York strips around 12 ounces. If I cook it well done it is tough and maybe 8 ounces after cooking. The Vein steak taste about the same when cooked well done.

Mr. Well Done is left smiling with his huge steak arguing with his server that Zinfandel is pink.

Mr. Well Done, well done!

Zinfandel isn’t pink it is a bold fruity red wine that turns your teeth purple. It is a black skinned grape called Primitivo in Italy

The only thing that gets the staff more excited than the well done order is when someone orders a bottle of white zinfandel and the person that orders it smells the cork and swirls.

Those nasty servers! It is not just my restaurants, it is universal like the five second rule.

Comment if you get it! Who do we know that gets ketchup with there well done steak? Be nice!!