Steak Temperature Terms That Don't Actually Mean Anything

Ordering steak at a restaurant can be fraught with challenges, from embarrassment at requesting your preferred level of doneness to your waitperson not even asking for your preference. For an expert's perspective on navigating such situations, Food Republic spoke with Jonathan Bautista, the Executive Chef at Ember & Rye, a steakhouse by Chef Richard Blais in Carlsbad, California. His first bit of wisdom is: "There's no shame in ensuring your steak is cooked to your liking." While the message from cooking shows and celebrity chefs is that steak should never be cooked beyond a still-pink medium-rare, you're entitled to have it the way you like it. Plenty of people enjoy a more well-cooked piece of meat, and even grillmaster Bobby Flay prefers his steaks cooked medium.

According to Bautista, the most direct way to ensure that your meal is cooked to your level of perfection is to "[p]olitely tell the server the temperature you prefer when ordering." Ordering well done at a steakhouse is really that simple, even if your ideal isn't exactly the restaurant's standard.

To that end, it's also important to use the right terminology. Bautista's next pro tip is that "there's no such thing as 'medium plus' or 'medium rare minus'." Use the correct descriptors to prevent miscommunication and avoid unclear labels, which will only confuse the kitchen staff. Your best bet is to ask for one of the five accepted levels of doneness: rare, medium rare, medium, medium well, and well-done.

A steak's doneness is determined by its internal temperature. Rare steak ranges from 120 to 130 degrees Fahrenheit and will still have a blood-red center, which remains cool and tender. Medium rare varies between 130 to 140 degrees Fahrenheit. Steaks cooked to this temperature have some warmth in the middle, will have developed a touch of pink around the red center, and are slightly firmer on the outside but still soft inside. Medium rare steaks remain exceptionally juicy as the lower temperature locks in the moisture and flavor.

A medium steak gets cooked to 140 to 150 degrees Fahrenheit. At this stage, the meat may have a bit of red through the middle but will be mostly pink with a warm center. Medium well steak hits 150 to 160 degrees Fahrenheit. At this phase, there will be no more redness, very little pink left over, and the meat will be hot all the way through. 

Well-done refers to an internal temperature of 160 degrees Fahrenheit or above, and it happens to be the controversial way Donald Trump likes to eat his steak. At this temperature, there will be no pink and the meat will likely have turned gray. Most juices and fat will have been cooked out, resulting in a drier and chewier piece of steak. According to Anthony Bourdain, well-done steak eaters get the restaurant's worst cuts, but what one person considers to be burned, another may think is just right.