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Ordering Food — Medium Rare, Medium, or What?
November 17th, 2005I’m not sure why I’ve been picking up on “user experience” issues in the food and food service industries recently — I guess I love food and therefore get easily frustrated when these issues hamper my enjoyment of the cuisine I enjoy consuming so much.
Case in point: I was out to dinner the other night and I ordered a rack of lamb. The server informed me that the chef recommends the lamb medium rare, which worked out well as I planned to order it that way anyhow. As such, I expected the lamb to be cooked to a solid pink throughout. When it arrived, however, I was disappointed to find the lamb dark red in the center, barely cooked at all.
Aside from the general annoyance that comes from sending food back when the other person at the table has their entree, I became even more frustrated after discussing the situation with a passing waiter. While apologizing, he told me that “the chef’s medium rare is generally pretty rare“. A kitchen error (especially at an expensive “fine dining” restaurant like the one we were at) is troubling enough, but this piece of information was even more agitating. If the chef considers medium rare to be rarer than what is considered medium rare by the general public, why didn’t the waitress tell me that when I ordered the food?
As only a dorky UX professional would, I got to thinking about Jared Spool’s current knowledge vs. target knowledge theory. My current knowledge at the time was the common definition of medium rare. (This may be somewhat debatable, but I’ll stand by my opinion if epicurious agrees.) The target knowledge, in this situation, is the chef’s version of meduim rare. With no other explanation on the menu or from the waitress, as a customer I could only assume that this restaurant’s medium rare is the same as the common opinion. And because I assumed that my current knowledge was enough, I had a terrible experience.
Interestingly, the only restaurant (in my experience) that consistently does this well is Outback Steakhouse (which hardly qualifies as fine dining). At Outback, when a steak is ordered, the server always confirms the temperature ordered for clarification. For example, a customer ordering medium rare will be told something to the effect of: “that will be slightly red in the middle with a little pink” (Outback’s temperatures lean to the rarer side). This effectively fills the gap between current knowledge and target knowledge!
Perhaps in the future, I’ll take more time to clarify with the server to ensure that what I consider medium rare is consistent with the chef’s perception. Wouldn’t it be easier, however, if we all just used the same terminology for the same thing?
March 13th, 2009 at 1:43 pm
Greetings,
I came across your website by accident (google) and just read your diatribe about medium rare. In fine dining, lamb is supposed to be served dark red in the middle if not cooked less than that. At the finest restaurants, chefs go through a great deal of effort to pick out the most tender pieces of lamb. Cooking lamb slightly red with pink in the middle is WAY over cooking it. There’s no problem with liking it that way but save yourself some money as well as embarrassment and go to a TGI Fridays, Ruby Tuesdays or Outback. If you had done that here in Zürich, the chef would have probably come out and ask you if you wanted him to run across the street to a McDonalds to pick you up some french fries to go with your lamb jerky. Granted he would have been way out of line, but I used to own a Michelin 2 star restaurant so I know how diva chefs can be.
On a final note, for meats such as squab, ostrich, and of course lamb, medium rare isn’t the same as medium rare for beef. It is very red in the middle.
March 13th, 2009 at 8:09 pm
My point has nothing to do with what the correct interpretation of medium rare is. My point, which you so nicely solidified with your comment, is that the labels we use to request temperature in meat orders (medium rare, medium, etc.) are open to wide interpretation (or misinterpretation) between chef and customer, and as such are insufficient for creating positive consumer experiences in restaurants.
I’ve eaten lamb served as “medium rare” plenty of times, and it has always met my expectations (admittedly based on beef) for what medium rare should be (not cold inside as was the case during the aforementioned incident). Still, perhaps you are right when you say that “medium rare” is different for lamb than beef. I wouldn’t be embarrassed to not know that, because I have never worked in the restaurant industry. Any chef / restaurateur worth his salt, however, should be interested in helping a customer (and potential repeat customer) understand what the differences might be so that the meal will be cooked to his or her liking. (As someone who claims to have owned a fine restaurant, one would expect you to understand that point, though perhaps that is why your ownership was stated in the past tense). In the situation I described, taking the order as medium rare and then later commenting that the chef’s “medium rare is actually quite rare” made matters even worse, as the waiter was admitting pre-knowledge of the possible communication breakdown, but did nothing to avoid it.
Outback Steakhouse — yes, a terrible restaurant from a food standpoint — understands this concept. At the very least, the management realized that when more customers send their food back, the kitchen becomes less efficient. Obviously, a less efficient kitchen turns less tables and makes less money. So, not only does it make sense to clarify temperature labels from a customer experience standpoint, it makes sense from an operational one as well. It goes without saying that a restaurant that pleases its customers by providing good experiences AND runs an efficient kitchen will probably make a heck of a lot more money that one without those things, regardless of how good the food is.
March 14th, 2009 at 2:23 am
Not trying to act pompous. English is not my mother tongue rather my fourth language. I’m simply trying to convey information as to allow you not to come off “bridge and tunnel” (I believe is the expression).
As for your waiter, in the USA tips are the main source of income so I’m certain he would say most anything. If you are ever unsure, then it is best to ask beforehand, however once again you are paying top dollar for the best trained chefs and line chefs so it is best to trust their judgment. Step out of your preconceived notions about food. That once again is what true fine dining is about. Of course, I am assuming that you are living in a place that actually has rated restaurants and doesn’t just award themselves the title of “fine dining” as I have seen throughout the center of the USA on a road trip once to California.
The past tense of my ownership to do with my desire to retire. Not many Michelin starred restaurants go bankrupt.
Again, I don’t mean offense. Keep in mind which is better to know the information so in the future you will look knowledgeable about fine dining or continuing to make mistakes that make most waiters think you are some hillbilly out celebrating a NASCAR victory.
Cheers,
Jürg
March 14th, 2009 at 6:51 am
The restaurant in question is owned by the former Chef de Cuisine at what was considered (at that time) the finest French restaurant in the US. So I think it qualifies under your fine dining umbrella. Not that it matters, because — once again — my point applies to any restaurant that wants to provide good service.
I find it interesting that you have taken the time to post two lengthy responses on the topic in order to better educate me, yet won’t admit that the waiter should take an extra 20 seconds to do exactly that at the time of order. If it is better to know the information for the future, a good waiter would take the time to ensure the customer does understand while taking the order.
Additionally, I don’t go to restaurants to impress waiters — I go to have an enjoyable experience, and pay them for it. It is their responsibility to understand that everyone who walks through the door will not have the same knowledge of food that they do, and to ensure that each one has a good experience. It is the same in my profession — if I expect the user of my internet application to understand the technical details and jargon behind the application, and they can only be successful if they have this understanding, they will fail. If I build an application that is clearly understood and used by even the most novice users, it will be successful.
Lastly, in the spirit of better education, I’m wondering if you can point me to any resources that suggest that medium rare is different for lamb than it is for steak. Some cursory research that I’ve done has not found any sources to that confirm or even suggest this.