Well-cooked meat

Have you ever noticed that if you like your meat well done, it invites strange looks? For instance, in a restaurant, when asked “How would you like that cooked?” If you reply, “Well done,” it is almost as if you are swearing…

Yes, it's true that this might apply less to chains of grill restaurants, but in a traditional French restaurant it happens to me fairly often: he raises an eyebrow with a slightly haughty look and asks, “Well done, well done?” or maybe “Are you sure, sir? It is quality meat,” which is a charming way of telling you: “As you appear to be a cro-magnon who is in the wrong era, or at any rate an oaf with no taste, I warn you it'll be like shoe leather.”

Of course, it's very tempting to reply curtly at that point, “Well done, which means done well, cooked just right!”, but be reasonable, don't go off on the offensive, develop this a little:

My dear sir, it so happens that I prefer my meat well cooked, and I consider that it has a far better flavour (which I enjoy very much) and this – as you should know – is due to Maillard reactions (who is neither a footballer, nor a reality TV personality, but a famous French chemist of the 19th century). He brought to light the complex physiochemical reactions which take place during the cooking process and which produce such delicious aromas and tastes.

You will already know, I am sure, that in North America they have a grade of cooking which goes beyond what any French cook would consider “well done”, known as “Chicago”. Between you and me, I agree that it's a little excessive, yet they probably serve the best steaks in the world, and over there, even in the most basic diner you can eat a perfectly-cooked piece of meat with both taste and tenderness to knock you off your feet.

You are no doubt going to object that “well done meat is tough”, and to that I would reply: not at all! My dear sir, you are looking at the issue the wrong way round: if to be tender your meat needs to be half raw, then your butcher is a rogue and is selling you old tyres in place of meat. Either that, or your chef is an ass who hasn't got a clue how to choose meat. If that is the case, and you are the boss, if I were you, I would sack both of them.

If not, I will have: baked potatoes and Béarnaise sauce to go with my well done meat, and for dessert, a crème brulée, thank you.

Back to top of page

Lasts posts

• 

  The 3 essential knives

  You must have heard a chef or cook say: "There’s no good cooking without good ingredients". This ...

• 

  Using stretch food film effectively

  Maybe you use food film in your own kitchen. You know, the very thin, clear plastic stuff that you ...

• 

  The mock CAP baker's certificate exam

  The next instalment in my life as an apprentice baker at the French INBP professional school. I’m ...

• 

  Rosemary in recipes

  Rosemary, as I’m sure you know, is a culinary herb: It is one of the famous French "herbes de ...

• 

  The Holy Grail of French bakers

  While browsing through the recipes on this site, you may have noticed that while I adore cooking ...

• 

  Is it really necessary to cream egg yolks?

  Let’s try and answer a question that crops up in cookery and patisserie, even if it verges on the ...

• 

  Egg yolks and caster sugar

  We often come across recipes where we need to mix egg yolks with caster sugar. This would appear to ...

• 

  The golden-brown finish on puff pastry

  Let's take a look at the tricky matter of producing puff pastry with an attractive, golden-brown ...

• Other articles

• See all posts
• Random post
• RSS feed