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

[OverVolt]

You're way past the age when you should have learned proper manners. Dining like a 4 year old makes you look foolish in the eyes of others. Google & read up.

I'd slap you with my steak, flip your dish and walk out the door if you gave me funny looks over my etiquette, just saying

Odds are I was raised way more pretentious than you anyway. Guess who didn't learn their etiquette from google, just saying.

I do cut one piece at a time, just out of habit. But I wouldn't really care how anyone eats their food. Being pretentious at fancy restaurants is actually what poor people do. The CEO of Phillip Morris can order anything from the company restaurant that he wants and instead orders a grilled cheese and scarfs it down, just saying. You'd be sitting there cutting your lobster with a butter knife with your pinky in the air, cause omg super fancy restaurant way over my league.

 

[pcgeek11]

Unless you are one of the pretentious assholes ( there are many on here ), do what you want with your steak. If it bothers others that is their problem, not yours.

 

[Carson Dyle]

Unless you are one of the pretentious assholes ( there are many on here ), do what you want with your steak. If it bothers others that is their problem, not yours.

I doubt that it "bothers" others very much. Unless maybe that other is your spouse or friend and is embarrassed by you looking like an six year old at the table.

 

[videogames101]

Fuck em', eat how you like. I generally cut a slice and then halve the slice, essentially cutting off 2 pieces at a time and then eating each before cutting off another 2.

 

[pcgeek11]

I doubt that it "bothers" others very much. Unless maybe that other is your spouse or friend and is embarrassed by you looking like an six year old at the table.

Just as I said Pretentious assholes.

 

[pcgeek11]

Fuck em', eat how you like. I generally cut a slice and then halve the slice, essentially cutting off 2 pieces at a time and then eating each before cutting off another 2.

Oh you fucking savage!

I usually cut off several pieces also. As long as you aren't rubbing it in your hair or someone elses and or slinging food across the room screw em.

 

[MongGrel]

I'd slap you with my steak, flip your dish and walk out the door if you gave me funny looks over my etiquette, just saying

Odds are I was raised way more pretentious than you anyway. Guess who didn't learn their etiquette from google, just saying.

I do cut one piece at a time, just out of habit. But I wouldn't really care how anyone eats their food. Being pretentious at fancy restaurants is actually what poor people do. The CEO of Phillip Morris can order anything from the company restaurant that he wants and instead orders a grilled cheese and scarfs it down, just saying. You'd be sitting there cutting your lobster with a butter knife with your pinky in the air, cause omg super fancy restaurant way over my league.

Got a bit of a kick out of that post.

+1

 

[HeXen]

I stab a fork in the center and pick the whole thing up at once and bite off chunks like a man. Screw the etiquette

 

[Carson Dyle]

Just as I said Pretentious assholes.

So, if you're married to a "pretentious asshole", or you mother and father are "pretentious assholes", or you go out to dinner with your boss and you embarrass him because he's a "pretentious asshole", then you say to yourself "They can all go to hell."

Not looking like a total idiot all the time is an acquired skill, apparently.

 

[MongGrel]

So, if you're married to a "pretentious asshole", or you mother and father are "pretentious assholes", or you go out to dinner with your boss and you embarrass him because he's a "pretentious asshole", then you say to yourself "They can all go to hell."

Not looking like a total idiot all the time is an acquired skill, apparently.

Situations can vary of course.

 

[Jeff7]

I'd slap you with my steak, flip your dish and walk out the door if you gave me funny looks over my etiquette, just saying

Odds are I was raised way more pretentious than you anyway. Guess who didn't learn their etiquette from google, just saying.

I do cut one piece at a time, just out of habit. But I wouldn't really care how anyone eats their food. Being pretentious at fancy restaurants is actually what poor people do. The CEO of Phillip Morris can order anything from the company restaurant that he wants and instead orders a grilled cheese and scarfs it down, just saying. You'd be sitting there cutting your lobster with a butter knife with your pinky in the air, cause omg super fancy restaurant way over my league.

Once I was out traveling together with a sales rep so that we could visit a well-off company that wanted to distribute our products, and we ended up at what I'd consider to be a very upscale restaurant. $50+/meal, that kind of place. I can do $50-$70/week for groceries. There was something like 12 kinds of oyster on the menu and a waiter who could describe each one in detail, a substantial wine list the size of a full menu at a regular restaurant, multiple types of spoons, forks, knives, multiple meal courses...the whole nine yards.
I felt so damned out of place there. I did my best to kind of covertly glance around to try to figure out what other people were doing. "Country boy in the big fancy city," that kind of thing.

I just can't do that kind of thing. $40-$50/meal feels so terribly wasteful of perfectly good money. Yes, the food was good, but it was nowhere even close to being worth that price.

 

[pcgeek11]

So, if you're married to a "pretentious asshole", or you mother and father are "pretentious assholes", or you go out to dinner with your boss and you embarrass him because he's a "pretentious asshole", then you say to yourself "They can all go to hell."

Not looking like a total idiot all the time is an acquired skill, apparently.

I would not marry a "pretentious asshole".

Neither my mother or father were "pretentious assholes".

I have no idea if my boss is a "pretentious asshole" or not as I do not have to suck up to my boss.

And yes, if they were "pretentious assholes" they can all kiss my non-pretentious ass.

If their biggest worry is how someone else cuts up their steak then they are the ones with the problem.

Sorry that you are so worried about what others think about how you eat.

Serious.

 

[Carson Dyle]

I wonder how many people in the US even know (or, God help us, remember what their parents taught them) the basics of how to set a table?

Probably doesn't matter much when you eat all of your meals off the coffee table, or the desk at your computer, or out of a bag in your car.

 

[Matthiasa]

Even that place setting is missing several things.

 

[Jeff7]

I wonder how many people in the US even know (or, God help us, remember what their parents taught them) the basics of how to set a table?

My first thought upon seeing that diagram will be a sign for you:

Casual with two forks and two glasses? There were always two forks in the silverware drawer back home while growing up, but I always figured it was so there'd be small forks for the kids in the house and big ones for the adults. That's how the table was always set, anyway: One fork sized to the person using it. The silverware was generally in the area of the plate. We all had functioning arms and hands and could pick them up even if they weren't in the approved locations.


I guess I'll just ask, since I'm in deep already: Why are two of each necessary? What can one fork do that the other can't do? Seems like more things to have to clean afterward.
What are the two glasses typically for? Water and something else? I...honestly don't know. I've always known food and a drink, singular.

Probably doesn't matter much when you eat all of your meals off the coffee table, or the desk at your computer, or out of a bag in your car.

There's some tone implied in here that sees this as a problem.

Or maybe it's just society slowly shedding an unnecessarily complex ritualized behavior which is only remembered fondly by some because it's an established memory from their younger days of how things "should" be.

 

[Perknose]

Once I was out traveling together with a sales rep so that we could visit a well-off company that wanted to distribute our products, and we ended up at what I'd consider to be a very upscale restaurant. $50+/meal, that kind of place. I can do $50-$70/week for groceries. There was something like 12 kinds of oyster on the menu and a waiter who could describe each one in detail, a substantial wine list the size of a full menu at a regular restaurant, multiple types of spoons, forks, knives, multiple meal courses...the whole nine yards.
I felt so damned out of place there. I did my best to kind of covertly glance around to try to figure out what other people were doing. "Country boy in the big fancy city," that kind of thing.

I just can't do that kind of thing. $40-$50/meal feels so terribly wasteful of perfectly good money. Yes, the food was good, but it was nowhere even close to being worth that price.

Learning to exist in different social situations is the mark of an adult. Being willing to do so is the mark of a successful adult.

In the situation you describe, your discomfort was probably vividly evident to your dinner companion, anyway. You didn't need to hide it. In fact, just the opposite.

You could have straightforwardly confessed to him that there were some points of dining there you were unsure about. This would have marked you as a honest man, secure in who you are, who felt no shame in not knowing a few details. It would have shown him that you trusted him personally to guide you in whatever you didn't know.

Meeting such situations head on shrinks them down to the unimportant triviality that they are. And, in case you haven't noticed, people love to impart their knowledge to someone who asks in such situations. Don't you feel the same when someone comes to you and asks for your guidance about something you know and they don't?

 

[Matthiasa]

In that setup with two glasses one is for wine the other is for water. In a more formal setting there may actually be additional glasses for each wine type and other beverages paired with the meal. The small fork, which should have a wider head (tines), is for the salad and the large fork is for the rest of the meal. The spoon is to only be used for a soup, etc.

Most of it is completely pointless.

 

[CZroe]

Learning to exist in different social situations is the mark of an adult. Being willing to do so is the mark of a successful adult.

In the situation you describe, your discomfort was probably vividly evident to your dinner companion, anyway. You didn't need to hide it. In fact, just the opposite.

You could have straightforwardly confessed to him that there were some points of dining there you were unsure about. This would have marked you as a honest man, secure in who you are, who felt no shame in not knowing a few details. It would have shown him that you trusted him personally to guide you in whatever you didn't know.

Meeting such situations head on shrinks them down to the unimportant triviality that they are. And, in case you haven't noticed, people love to impart their knowledge to someone who asks in such situations. Don't you feel the same when someone comes to you and asks for your guidance about something you know and they don't?

My twin brother and I had that moment when we were around 14yo and having a multi-course dinner at a fancy campaign event. I recall not knowing what the different forks were for and asking etiquette questions of the woman we were seated with and having a conversation about the English vs. American style for cutting/eating the meat (we were taught the English way by our English-savvy mother/grandmother).

I didn't know until later that the woman talked to our mother privately to tell her that she was impressed, not by our knowledge of the subject (we had very little) but that we weren't hesitant to ask questions to make sure we were doing things right instead of going in full-steam-ahead until corrected. I didn't know a significant amount of others felt the same way about that specifically because I figured that they'd use your existing knowledge of etiquette to judge your upbringing.

 

[Jeff7]

Learning to exist in different social situations is the mark of an adult. Being willing to do so is the mark of a successful adult.

In the situation you describe, your discomfort was probably vividly evident to your dinner companion, anyway. You didn't need to hide it. In fact, just the opposite.

I don't know...it comes up in annual reviews sometimes that I'm personable and good with other employees and customers, and our sales reps sometimes receive customer compliments on the professional technical assistance I offer.

I don't like having to do tech support for field installations, don't care much for having to meet lots of new vendors and customers and field techs, and someone calling me "personable" feels really strange. My natural tendency is more towards the reclusive side of the spectrum.
Hell, I got high marks in a public speaking course during college, even with some remarks at my good composure, vocal tone, and pacing. I was very nervous and shaking a bit, but I guess I kept my shit together enough to push through and put on a good show.

You could have straightforwardly confessed to him that there were some points of dining there you were unsure about. This would have marked you as a honest man, secure in who you are, who felt no shame in not knowing a few details. It would have shown him that you trusted him personally to guide you in whatever you didn't know.

I may have mentioned something to that effect at some point, perhaps a preemptive apology in case I used the wrong spoon for something.

I get along well with the sales rep who was on that trip, and I did simply ask him privately afterward how things went at the dinner. He said it seemed like I'd done that sort of thing before, and he's the sort who would have no problem pointing out anything like that, rather than try to dance around an uncomfortable answer. But he's not at that kind of restaurant very often either. In the industry I'm in, there are plenty of field techs, customers, and distributors that are regulars at fine establishments like Pizza Hut or Five Guys. This one was a rarity.


So I guess I can put on a decent act around others that is able to reasonably mimic a normal, well-adjusted person. (Unless there's meat that needs to be cut properly.)
It's mentally draining to wear that face so often, but I've also learned that "just be yourself" is complete bullshit for some personalities, and isn't worth the other difficulties it causes.

Meeting such situations head on shrinks them down to the unimportant triviality that they are. And, in case you haven't noticed, people love to impart their knowledge to someone who asks in such situations. Don't you feel the same when someone comes to you and asks for your guidance about something you know and they don't?

Depends how much time I have, and how many times they've asked me the same question before.

Plenty of guidance has been "imparted" in this thread, that's for sure.

 

[Captante]

Also it probably affects the temperature and the juice/flavor in the steak.

Winner.

 

[EliteRetard]

Dunno what you guys are getting at...saying these places aren't high end steak. Over $15 a plate is fancy, and these places at $30+ a plate are most certainly high end. And when they specifically market and sell steak, it's easy to add that up to a high end steak place. I've been to a few other mom and pop type places and tried steak there as well...it's no better, or much worse.

You guys got any suggestions for an actual "good" steak place centered around say Kent WA (98032)? I dunno if/when I'd get a chance to visit (the cheaper the more likely), but I'd be willing to put it on my list to try. I'm quite interested to know what a good steak tastes like. I'm imagining it to be like the worst meatloaf vs the best. If all I've ever had so far was "the worst" I'm sure I'd like to experience the best.

 

[Jeff7]

My twin brother and I had that moment when we were around 14yo and having a multi-course dinner at a fancy campaign event. I recall not knowing what the different forks were for and asking etiquette questions of the woman we were seated with and having a conversation about the English vs. American style for cutting/eating the meat (we were taught the English way by our English-savvy mother/grandmother).

I didn't know until later that the woman talked to our mother privately to tell her that she was impressed, not by our knowledge of the subject (we had very little) but that we weren't hesitant to ask questions to make sure we were doing things right instead of going in full-steam-ahead until corrected. I didn't know a significant amount of others felt the same way about that specifically because I figured that they'd use your etiquette to judge your upbringing.

It helps when you have the insight to know that there even are rules like that to ask about in the first place.

"Oh look, a selection of different fork types to choose from. How nice of them to give each person a choice of what kind of fork they like best. I'll use.....this one. Then they don't have to clean all those other ones afterward. And I'll put the bread on the big plate and leave this little plate clean too. I bet they'll really appreciate that."
Nope.

In that setup with two glasses one is for wine the other is for water. In a more formal setting there may actually be additional glasses for each wine type and other beverages paired with the meal. The small fork, which should have a wider head (tines), is for the salad and the large fork is for the rest of the meal. The spoon is to only be used for a soup, etc.

Gotcha, ok. I don't touch wine, so that's outside of my experience.
I just think the taste of even small amounts of alcohol is.....well, reminiscent of some kind of industrial cleaning chemical.:$

Most of it is completely pointless.

It really does seem like needless complexity. A fork isn't a complicated thing. One common design is able to suit most dining requirements quite easily.

 

[BUTCH1]

I would expect the steak to be cut at high end steakhouses since the intention there is often to share.

I would never EVER want that done to my steak, it's going to dry out and cool off, F-that crap, bring it to me whole and let me decide how I'm gonna eat it.

 

[feralkid]

Odds are I was raised way more pretentious than you anyway.

 

[Ns1]

I would never EVER want that done to my steak, it's going to dry out and cool off, F-that crap, bring it to me whole and let me decide how I'm gonna eat it.

All good. We live in Murica so you have options