Steak etiquette: Cut it all up at once, or one piece at a time?

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WelshBloke

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
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I think it's one that has been lost in American culture, but I do believe that, at least in the UK, it is still considered proper to only eat with your dominant hand, you just use two hands to cut.

The "correct" way in the UK is knife in right hand, fork in left with tines pointing down (you don't use your fork like a spade), it doesn't matter if you're right or left handed.

Whether the "correct" way matters to you is a different issue...
 

Matthiasa

Diamond Member
May 4, 2009
5,755
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You can dehydrate a steak in the fridge of course on a rack for a few days, have played with it a few times myself as a trial thing.

snip
Yeah I do that with pork and chicken quite a bit, not always intentionally though. I've never done that with steak, although doing it with steak is way more traditional that with either pork or chicken.

The one thing to watch out for though is condensation when bringing the piece of meat to near room temperature since that still leads to surface moisture.
 
Feb 4, 2009
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The "correct" way in the UK is knife in right hand, fork in left with tines pointing down (you don't use your fork like a spade), it doesn't matter if you're right or left handed.

Whether the "correct" way matters to you is a different issue...

Same here in the US except the fork is up. We use it as a spade, hence why we're fatter
 

WelshBloke

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
30,337
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Same here in the US except the fork is up. We use it as a spade, hence why we're fatter
Darn, that's one less excuse that we can use for getting fatter!
We can still keep the "drinking outrageous amounts of alcohol" excuse though, right?
 

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
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If people continue to look at you funny for this, drop your silverware and eat the steak by hand like a giant meat cookie. Then it won't look as odd when you're cutting all of it at once by comparison.
 

Perknose

Forum Director & Omnipotent Overlord
Forum Director
Oct 9, 1999
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When the food hits your plate, it's yours to do with as you please.

No, it's not. For instance, you can't pick up that steak and slap the waiter with it without serious consequences

I figure if a fancy steak place (Outback, Black Angus, etc) can't even make steak taste good...it's just not a good food.

Outback? Black Angus? I believe I've spotted your underlying problem. ;)

OP, you can do what you wish, like leaving your zipper open partly open to let the cool breeze reach your boys or not trimming your nose and ear hair. But it will affect how other people in your society view you.

Cultural norms are, for the most part, all artifact.

Our culture, any culture, is chock full of formal mores that don't make sense to the untutored or the autistic, like stubbornly wearing clothes in public in 100 degree heat.

We do so anyway.

It all falls under the age old rubric, "Act like you know." :p
 
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gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
30,736
447
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No, it's not. For instance, you can't pick up that steak and slap the waiter with it without serious consequences

Your example isn't correct, because it involves somebody else's body that's not yours... that has nothing to do with the food, and doesn't change the fact that you can do something with the food as long as it doesn't involve something else that isn't yours to interact with.
 

WelshBloke

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
30,337
7,987
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No, it's not. For instance, you can't pick up that steak and slap the waiter with it without serious consequences



Outback? Black Angus? I believe I've spotted your underlying problem. ;)

OP, you can do what you wish, like leaving your zipper open partly open to let the cool breeze reach your boys or not trimming your nose and ear hair. But it will affect how other people in your society view you.

Cultural norms are, for the most part, all artifact.

Our culture, any culture, is chock full of formal mores that don't make sense to the untutored or the autistic, like stubbornly wearing clothes in public in 100 degree heat.

We do so anyway.

It all falls under the age old rubric, "Act like you know."

There is a difference between manners and etiquette though.

Manners are inclusive and are meant to be a system of guidelines to make everyone comfortable.
Etiquette is an arbitrary system of rules meant to make outsiders uncomfortable.
 

Perknose

Forum Director & Omnipotent Overlord
Forum Director
Oct 9, 1999
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Your example isn't correct, because it involves somebody else's body that's not yours... that has nothing to do with the food, and doesn't change the fact that you can do something with the food as long as it doesn't involve something else that isn't yours to interact with.

. . . Which literally isn't what he said. Which, you know, is what I was responding to. :colbert:
 

Perknose

Forum Director & Omnipotent Overlord
Forum Director
Oct 9, 1999
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There is a difference between manners and etiquette though.

Manners are inclusive and are meant to be a system of guidelines to make everyone comfortable.
Etiquette is an arbitrary system of rules meant to make outsiders uncomfortable.

An absolute part of good manners involves following the etiquette of whatever situation you are in. When in Rome . . . :colbert:

And etiquette is not designed to make outsiders uncomfortable. :rolleyes:
 

WelshBloke

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
30,337
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Your example isn't correct, because it involves somebody else's body that's not yours... that has nothing to do with the food, and doesn't change the fact that you can do something with the food as long as it doesn't involve something else that isn't yours to interact with.

I can think of many things that I can do to my meal that would get me thrown out of most eating establishments.
 

Ackmed

Diamond Member
Oct 1, 2003
8,476
523
126
I always cut my own, and get it medium rare. Every time, no matter where I am at. Only use a sauce if it just tastes terrible, which is very rare.

My wife went to debutante school long ago, sometimes tells me what I am doing wrong, but whatever.
 

MongGrel

Lifer
Dec 3, 2013
38,751
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Your example isn't correct, because it involves somebody else's body that's not yours... that has nothing to do with the food, and doesn't change the fact that you can do something with the food as long as it doesn't involve something else that isn't yours to interact with.

He's over thinking it a bit, it appears.

:)
 

Indus

Diamond Member
May 11, 2002
9,752
6,368
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My spouse prefers cutting it all up and putting sauce on it.
 

WelshBloke

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
30,337
7,987
136
An absolute part of good manners involves following the etiquette of whatever situation you are in. When in Rome . . . :colbert:

And etiquette is not designed to make outsiders uncomfortable. :rolleyes:

So what's the purpose of etiquette then?

I'm sitting opposite Bob.

Bob orders chicken and rice for his meal and decides to eat his rice with his soup spoon because there's a spoon on the table and it's easier to eat rice with a spoon. That's a breach of etiquette.

Whilst eating his rice Bob uses the "elbows out" position and continues talking loudly whilst shoveling food in, spraying his fellow diners with masticated rice and elbowing the people next to him for good measure. That's a breach of good manners.

What's the purpose of wanting Bob to use a fork for his rice when there's a perfectly good spoon there to use?
I can see absolutely why manners matters.
 

JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
74,456
854
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I've given up on steak...to expensive for me and I rarely get taken out. So when somebody does offer to buy me a meal I'm not going to risk wasting it on a crappy steak. It's either cooked into leather or tastes like poison (I recall paper and acidic metal taste being common). I figure if a fancy steak place (Outback, Black Angus, etc) can't even make steak taste good...it's just not a good food.

6813_4d1d.gif
 

CountZero

Golden Member
Jul 10, 2001
1,796
36
86
It's your food, do whatever the fuck you want to it.

Some people care too much what the others think of them.

The question is about etiquette and etiquette is all about rules. This isn't about eating with your family this is about eating in some kind of professional capacity or in a formal atmosphere. In a professional capacity what others think of you is important, it is not irrelevant.

One piece at a time is the way I'd do it. If you are eating with Europeans and want to throw them off don't swap your fork around ever. Knife in right hand, fork in left and after cutting use left hand to put food in your mouth. The fork hand swap is an American thing, it isn't wrong per se but apparently some people find it kind of funny that we keep swapping the fork around.

Europeans also use the back of the fork for scooping things (the knife to push food on) which is weird to me, it is scoop shaped why not use it...I digress.
 

Perknose

Forum Director & Omnipotent Overlord
Forum Director
Oct 9, 1999
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So what's the purpose of etiquette then?

Well it's not "to make outsiders feel uncomfortable" which is what you said, and what I responded to.

Look, I get the point of your example. The fussier points of etiquette have no fundamental working point except that they are mores ingrained over time into a subculture, like the older, now mostly passe, requirement of a "gentleman" to wear a tie in an upscale restaurant.

But, there is broad overlap between manners and etiquette. Both etiquette and manners rely on basic underlying principles which include treating people with respect and being sensitive to social situations -- not primarily to make other people uncomfortable, as you first said, but to make the people in that situation comfortable by providing a framework of familiarity and expected behavior.

You wouldn't necessarily belch loudly at a formal state dinner, whereas in another society, the guest is expected to belch as a sign the food was good. Both are simply arbitrary etiquette, and yet a person with good manners will follow both in turn, no?
 

OutHouse

Lifer
Jun 5, 2000
36,413
616
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The "correct" way in the UK is knife in right hand, fork in left with tines pointing down (you don't use your fork like a spade), it doesn't matter if you're right or left handed.

Whether the "correct" way matters to you is a different issue...

yea and you heathens drive on the wrong side of the road to.
 

JulesMaximus

No Lifer
Jul 3, 2003
74,456
854
126
Well it's not "to make outsiders feel uncomfortable" which is what you said, and what I responded to.

Look, I get the point of your example. The fussier points of etiquette have no fundamental working point except that they are mores ingrained over time into a subculture, like the older, now mostly passe, requirement of a "gentleman" to wear a tie in an upscale restaurant.

But, there is broad overlap between manners and etiquette. Both etiquette and manners rely on basic underlying principles which include treating people with respect and being sensitive to social situations -- not primarily to make other people uncomfortable, as you first said, but to make the people in that situation comfortable by providing a framework of familiarity and expected behavior.

You wouldn't necessarily belch loudly at a formal state dinner, whereas in another society, the guest is expected to belch as a sign the food was good. Both are simply arbitrary etiquette, and yet a person with good manners will follow both in turn, no?

o_O I've never understood that. As if it's not possible to belch if the food sucked?

I always cut piece by piece as I'm eating. Cut one piece, put it in mouth and chew. Take a bite of something else or a drink of my wine and then cut another piece.
 

WelshBloke

Lifer
Jan 12, 2005
30,337
7,987
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Well it's not "to make outsiders feel uncomfortable" which is what you said, and what I responded to.

As far as I remember etiquette is a construct of the class system. It's very much meant to exclude outsiders, that's why a lot of the rules are arbitrary.


yea and you heathens drive on the wrong side of the road to.
How else are you meant to clobber oncoming drivers with your sword or run them through with your lance? :colbert: