[donsgal]

I've always been of the opinion that there are two kinds of people when it comes to food (sometimes a combination of the two, so I guess that makes three kinds). Anyway, there are taste people and there are texture people.

I, for one, am a texture person. The way food feels to me, the mouth texture is much more important than what food tastes like. To that end, I like food that has "body" to it. I like a nice chewy fried catfish (or talapia) better than I like trout or halibut or some other very delicate fish.

When I eat chicken I like the gizzard best because it is sooo chewy. I am the person who eats all the crunchy things at the ends of the chicken bones. Yes, I even LOVE those hard, crunchy things at the end of ribs!

My dh on the other hand, is not a texture person. He eats things like rice pudding which give me goosebumps! And he likes his steak medium rare.

I like my steak as well done as you can get it without it charring. When I go to restaurants I tell the waitress "shoe leather, please" when she asks me how I like my steak. Naturally, I do not ever order Filet Mingnon or even Prime Rib, because I cannot deal with the looks I get from others for "ruining" those cuts of meat by cooking them uber-well.

Dh tells me that he likes his meat med rare or medium because it is more tender than well done. I understand this is quite true. But I am not interested in tender when it comes to steak. I have tried medium rare and even a bite of RARE steak once (shudder) and it was like eating "nothing" because it did not give you a good chew. dh says that tough meat is disgusting! He tells me "how can you eat that? I'ts tough!" My favorite cut of meat being the KC (or NY) Strip.

I am the same way with all my food. I like my shrimp boiled until they are the texture of hard little rubber balls, and dh tells me they are tough that way and likes them when they have just turned pink and are still tender.

I am wondering out there in HT land, who is a taste person and who is a texture person and how you like your food cooked and why.

Your thoughts?

donsgal

 

[Meg Z]

Ya know, I've always considered myself a texture person...but I prefer different textures than you do! :shrug:

I tell the restaurant people, when it comes to steak, to 'wipe its nose and wipe its butt and put it on the table' I don't like hard, chewy meat...but not because of the flavor. I don't like it because of the texture! I prefer a tender texture. The flavor is a separate thing altogether. I won't even use chicken gizzards in gravy. To me, they're only good for fish bait.

I don't like hard, thick tortilla chips; I prefer the light crispy ones.

I don't want lumps in smooth things, either. Don't put chocolate chips in my pudding or my ice cream. Don't put nuts in my bread. I want those things, but separate, please. No rice pudding for me, either...lumpy stuff that it is.

I'm guessing texture is important to most folks, even if they never stopped to think about it before. But the variance in what textures are preferred will be wide!

Meg

 

[TedH71]

I prefer rare or med rare because of the simplicity that it takes to cut the meat. I hate sawing away at the meat then having to chew, chew, chew like a cow to get it tender enough to swallow. If it's well done then it doesn't taste like meat. Tastes like charcoal or gas.

 

[gilberte]

I like a thick piece of steak (about two inches) cooked on a hot fire so the outside is carmelized but the inside is blood red and rare.

 

[tinknal]

If you are going to ruin a cut of meat why not make it chuck steak or roadkill? The effect will be the same.......

 

[Elffriend]

My father liked his meat very well done, so that's how my mother cooked it. I was in college before I tasted a piece of beef that wasn't well done.

It was an eye opening experience. I have never ordered meat well done since and when I cook it myself, I make it medium. Thank goodness I married someone who also likes it that way.

We were recently on vacation and ate out. DH ordered a steak and 9 yr old DS wanted one too. He insisted that he wanted it rare. He had never had a rare steak before, so I don't know where he got the idea. Still, he raved about that steak all through dinner and ate every bite.

 

[Ed Norman]

My grandpa had a brain tumor cut out 40 years ago, when the operation killed most of them. He survived. Lost his sense of smell and taste. It changed the foods he liked to eat because he said many of them now felt disgusting in his mouth. He still liked cornbread and bacon but not grits or fried eggs, for instance.

 

[RachAnn in NW Okla]

I dont like mixed textures or things that are firm until you bite them (bananas)

this mostly effects basic fruits...

apples=grainy
grapes=firm until bitten
oranges=stringy

for a long time I refused to eat my cereal with milk in it....I didnt like the feel of it in my mouth...I would eat the dry cereal and drink a glass of milk

dont like things in my bread that effect the texture.....dont like sesame seeds

will NOT eat gravy if there is meat in it

DO NOT like my food to touch....wont eat the 'contaminated' parts

hubby likes his steak with no pink at all, just shy of burnt
I like mine fairly pink but it better not bleed

 

[AR Cattails]

I guess I like it all.

I like my steak medium to medium-well done.

 

[GrannyG]

I want my steak well-done. I do not want it to mooooooo at me, and red body fluids to look at on the plate, NO NO NO !

 

[Selena]

Hard pressed to cook a steak or any piece of meat too well done for me. One burger catches fire on the grill? That is mine, don't worry about it. I cannot STAND any hint of red and I too pretty much avoid prime rib. If I end up having to order filet mignon, which is my least favorite steak, I'll tell them to butterfly it. Give me a porterhouse any day.

 

[Shinsan]

I like a thick piece of steak (about two inches) cooked on a hot fire so the outside is carmelized but the inside is blood red and rare.

Me too, though if it's kangaroo I go with medium rare.

 

[FreightTrain]

i love to order house cut prime rib and tell em to "burn it"!! the looks i get are priceless. if they p!ss me off ill order steak sauce and ketchup too! LOL

once somewhere on the Missouri river i ordered prime rib "well done" and the waitress brought me out raw meat!! i mean this was just about as raw as meat in the supermarket... i swear! i had to send it back 3 times and argue with the waitress who insisted raw meat was "well done"! LMAO i was laughing and said to her Ive been eating well done meat for 40 years... i know what well done means... and your cook needs to go back to culinary school and learn it for themselves!! the guy i was with said he would have just up and walked out when the waitress started arguing with him, a paying customer. needless to say i didnt leave a big tip :dance:

 

[Windy in Kansas]

When it comes to taste vs. texture----well give me food that tastes good that also LOOKS GOOD. A bloody, juicy, steak or prime rib has no appeal to me at all.

I rarely order steaks in a restaurant simply because I can't get them well done even when ordered "extra well done without ANY pink showing whatsoever". I have had to bring home more than one steak to finish cooking it. I won't send them back after seeing the disgusting reports of what chefs might do to them to get even. Yuck! It is no fun to be the only one at a retirement dinner not eating because you just can't stomach what is on your plate.

 

[moonwolf]

Not a big beef or steak eater, but if I'm having beef steak or prime rib, it would be medium well done on the cooking scale. Nothing to do with texture, nor taste really. Just 'average'. lol
Remember also some people that crave raw beef simply are anemic and often don't know it.

 

[donsgal]

Me too, though if it's kangaroo I go with medium rare.

I've had kangaroo (well done of course) and it had this marvelous ribbon of this gristley chewing thing running through it. I just loved it.

donsgal

 

[Dave S.]

After tonights steak, I don't think I'll bother eating it anymore. I don't like it to begin with, and having it not cooked all the way has put me off of it for good. I agree with a friend of mine. When asked how we liked our steaks cooked, I said to pull it off just before it bursts into flames. He said,"well, you can put the fire out once or twice".


Dave

 

[Scrounger]

Not every well done steak is "chewy" or tough. I like mine done EXTRA well - even with charred spots - but, if it's done right, you can cut it with a fork.
I get sick to my stomach when I see someone else eating a rare or medium steak. If it has ANY pink in it, I send it back. If it's sitting in a pool of blood, don't even set it on the table. It's not a texture thing - it's DEFFINATLY taste. Same way with eggs - dead done or the dog gets them. There's only one way to fix steak - WELL DONE - anything else is raw.

 

[MariaAZ]

I am not fond of wet grainy textures (no tapioca please!). Crunchy is good, when I was a kid I would chew hard candies because I loved the resistance.

As for steaks and burgers, I'm in the "rarer is better" camp. One of my favorite bread spreads growing up was steak tartare (raw ground beef with spices). If juices run clear out of my steak it's too far gone for me. DH will go as rare as medium rare but to him any sign of pink is "raw" so when I'm cooking for the two of us I kind of tone down the rare. However, when I'm cooking just for myself, I grill the steak or hamburger until it get grill marks, flip it over & let it sear a bit longer (usually a few minutes each side) then I am one happy camper.

 

[Cabin Fever]

....there are taste people and there are texture people.

I, for one, am a texture person....

For some reason, I always knew you had no taste.
:rotfl: