Longhorn Steakhouse hooked us up here, agreeing to share aggregated data about how Americans prefer their steak. Longhorn shared a years worth of steak orders1 from all of its 491 U.S. locations, revealing how Americans ordered all different cuts of steak. It turns out that Americans claim to like their steak a lot rarer than they actually do!
There are serious differences in how people order different cuts, and we wanted to know why.
Every steak has a different fiber, said Jens Dahlmann, the executive chef at Longhorn. If you look at the most tender steak, its the tenderloin. Thats a steak that lends itself to barely cooking it. Its got a very soft fiber and very sweet flavors to it. It works great for rare and medium-rare.
Prime rib also works great on the rarer side. Because its cooked slowly and at low temperatures, a rare order of prime rib can come out without the bloodiness that turns off many rare-averse people. Other steaks can handle more heat.
Steaks that still perform very well even if you go to a medium-well temperature, those would be the highly marbled steaks, the ribeye, even the porterhouse or T-bone, Dahlmann said. There is a bone running through the middle, and around the bone retains more moisture and flavor.
David Berson, director of operations at Peter Luger Steak House in Brooklyn, agreed. Some people like a ribeye rare, but I would recommend cooking it a little longer. Its got a lot of fat.
