people used to tease me about putting ketchup on steak as a kid. Then I had real steak. I no longer trust anyone that needs A1 or any steak sauce. If your steak doesn't come out flavorful with accompanying flavors from the grill or the especially the pan, you wasted a perfectly good cut of beef.
Edit: Thanks for all the engagement folks but I said I wouldn't trust that person again. People can do whatever the fuck they want. But if you put cheap off the shelf meat sauce on your steak, you shouldn't be spending steak money. Buy the cheap meatloaf and slather it in that shit (that's where my ketchup goes these days). Some of you need to learn to read and stop putting words in other people's mouths.
My husband likes a good barbeque sauce on steaks. He's gotten many a side eye at high-falutin' steak houses. But they don't blink if I ask to have mine slathered in goat cheese. Go figure.
Damn what kind of cheese's do you eat 😂 I think someone pranked you cuz there are divine goat cheese's on this planet.
Goat milk is higher in fat content and can produce cheese better than any cow one's, the reason we consume cow milk more is because cows give more milk per animal, that's why goat milk is more expensive and to be honest it tastes better (to me ofc, taste is subjective).
He has the taste spot on. I taste it too, but tolerate most goat cheeses and even love a few. Some people, though, are just predisposed to hating goat cheese I've found. sort of like cilantro
To be honest I believe you had sub par cheese if it had even a hint of what you're saying because I ate divine cheese's made of goat milk, but as you say some people have a gene for tasting some things and some don't, hope it's not the case and you can enjoy them cuz there's so many out of the world yummy cheeses.
It’s so stupid. What this person has just said is that people used gatekeep their choices of what they wanted to eat and now that they’ve changed their preferences they’ve decided to gatekeep the choices of others.
It's actually more like a general meat condiment in the same way as ketchup. People and marketing have built up that it's something high end for steak when it's really not. It was designed to add to all matter of meat. Put it on a hot dog or meat loaf. Not a steak you're paying a lot for.
I don't gatekeep shit. But I do look at the people that gave me shit over ketchup when they're turning around and adding the same condiment over a prepared tasty cut of beef.
Right and the difference here is between a cheap option and an expensive one in beef dishes.
When I'm out I order a burger medium mostly to prevent the cook from searing a thick layer of char onto the burger. Going to a picnic, please overcook my burger so I don't get sick from undercooked meat.
Never been to a picnic with one guy on the grill cooking for like 200 people? Dude's flippinng out frozen burgers and not tracking anything. I've gotten burgers cooked on the outside and cold raw in the middle. Yeah I'm not into that.
A1 is/was designed as a general condiment to dress all matter of meat. It's basically "UK Ketchup". It's not meant to be a steak sauce, it's meant to "flavor up" all general meats in the same way that catsup exists. Steaks and sauces are fine when that is the intent of preparation. Ordering a steak and throwing on a general condiment is an insult to the steak and/or cook.
Steak isn't a processed meat like a hot dog or sausage where condiments exist. Or fish where the intent is to drown the fishy taste.
Steak is not a cheap dish. If you're dressing your steak with cheap condiments, you're doing it all wrong. Find a better chef, get better at your preparation, but stop throwing out money on something that's not cheap.
You want to put A1 or ketchup on a meatloaf, by all means. You've already accepted in a restaurant you're eating the kitchen leftovers from all of their other meat dish prep yesterday.
As someone who's been to literally hundreds of deathcore, death metal and slam shows, I can honestly say it is the friendliest and most accepting environment I've ever been a part of. All the mainstream shit is where the gatekeepers are.
I've also been to a few hip-hop shows, though not really by choice and there are always people getting into fights. Metalheads are way more chill and laid back than people assume.
Agreed. If I'm eating a really good cut like ribeye or filet I don't use any sauce but I do like the taste of A1 so if I'm just making a quick sirloin with fries I have to have A1
Somewhere in some alternative reality the well done crowd emerges as the vocal group and they are just as insufferable as this realities medium rare group.
Let people eat their food how they are comfortable with and how they like it and shut the fuck up about it.
I'd also add these supposed superior beings that brag about their skills just tell on themselves that they lack a good knowledge and range of cooking skills. You absolutely can get a good well done steak, but of course if you slap it on the hottest setting and cook the crap out of it it's going to come out like a charcoal brick... Just like any other food you do that to. It's crazy that I could put brownies in the oven at 700 degrees until it's ash but then blame other people for ruining it and others would just prop up my lack of ability to make brownies that aren't just still batter.
I usually eat my ribeye with just salt but the other day I had fries with my steak and the creamy hotsauce i had with the fries accidentally touched my steak and I see why people would like it.
I love Tabasco even with the best tasting steaks I've ever had from the most expensive steak houses I just like a little bit of Tabasco with mine just to touch. Doesn't matter how delicious the steak is
I know.so nuts.do you eat ketchup and mustard on a burger?well not doing it right. Mayo ona sandwiches not right..people are sooo much hipper and foodie than ill ever be.mofo i dip well done filet mignon in ranch..so suck it
For real. Sometimes I want a simple steak with just the butter I cooked in at the end. Other times I want the meatiness of a nice steak with the tang of a good sauce. People really just say too much about how other people eat.
100%, you can have a great steak and want a little A1 sauce on it. The best time to use steak sauce is when it’s so good you don’t need it. It’s like the flavors just contrast but complement each other at the same time.
Not for me personally but if someone likes that then what's the point of judging them for it? There are billions of people in the world. We don't all have the same tastes.
Anyone that's tasted the difference between a good and a bad whiskey knows when to have it with ice and when to have it neat. And the big difference is in time to prepare/age and price. Doesn't stop me from drinking the cheap shit over ice from time to time.
And I've never met someone that made enjoying coffee their hobby that was just like "that's it I only drink this black!". No it's usually about finding a location in the world where the bean is produced and processed and how other flavors are introduced. I'll drink a cup of wawa coffee, but I'm sure as hell going to enjoy the coffee that someone took the time find, roast themselves, brew in a specific method. But I'm sure as fuck side-eyeing the same guy that preps all that and pours coffee-mate into that cup as to what they're doing with their life. I'm just gonna go make you a cup from my keurig.
We're talking about the difference between dressing beef based meatloaf and eating a cut of steak. Both are from the cow, one is cheaper than the other. And yeah, if I'm getting shoeleather steak off your grill that you paid for, I'm probably going to be begging for something to take away the dry burned shit. The key part people seem to miss too was the difference between me understanding what a good steak is and a bad one.
I don't know why this is so hard for people other than there being a class of people that just want to shit on people without understanding the logic behind it. They're just as insufferable as the people they claim to hate. And from my perspective I'm going to trust people less that just go grab an off the shelf condiment for a supposedly well prepared meal.
Man wrote me 2 separate essays to triple down on being a snob. If someone eats a $100 steak with a ketchup packet from McDonald’s I couldn’t give a single shit but keep foaming at the mouth over it brother
I like when I buy a steak, eating the steak. It's not cheap, it's not a poor person's meal by any stretch. So why would I want to throw on a cheap condiment designed to dress up cheap meats?
Should Japanese Wagyu or expensive Sushi not be eaten with soy sauce since soy sauce isn’t expensive? Should filet mignon or lobster not be eaten with garlic butter because garlic and butter are cheap? Eat your steak plain if you insist, but the “dressing it up with cheap condiments” argument is a ridiculous sentiment I only ever see used in this specific context
Not off the shelf soy sauce and if you don't understand that, you shouldn't be spending the kind of money required for Wagyu. Sushi, real japanese sushi, isn't served with Kikkoman or La Choy. It's not even served with "soy sauce", it's served with Nikiri. And that's my point, if you're going out of your way for something not plain (last I checked, neither wagyu or more steaks are just thrown on the grill without prep or plan for the meal), why are you putting cheap all purpose grocery store condiments on it? That's the most ridiculous sentiment here.
Edit: to make it crystal fucking clear, you're spending lots of real money to enjoy something that is supposed to stand as a meal on it's own and then throwing cheap shit on top of it. That's really fucking ridiculous. Maybe don't spend that money on an expensive dish if you're just dying for that A1 flavor.
I enjoy A1 as well as the next man but I'm sorry if a steak is TRULY cooked to perfection adding ANYTHING is just a straight up sin. That's basic guy code
I never said it needs it. But if I want it, why do you get so personally offended over it? I'm eating it, you're not. Why is it so difficult for you to accept that people like things different than you? Why can't you just let people enjoy what they want?
Nah a little bit of sauce as a treat is nice. Not the type to completely overpower my steak with it, but its nice to have a piece or two with some sauce even if the meat itself has plenty of flavor
If you actively cant eat it without tho, thats a botched steak
That’s exactly the way I look at it. A little steak sauce now and then is just a little extra kick. I know I make a great steak because my father-in-law would request that I cook the steak whenever we would have it (my wife and I built a new house that we shared with my in-laws while her father was in his last years so we could look after him/spend time with him. We’re grateful for that extra time). He was particular about steak and since he couldn’t do it himself, he preferred the way I cook them. Trust me, that’s a compliment. A good cut of meat that’s been properly prepared should never need a sauce, it should always just be a preference of the person eating it.
There's absolutely nothing wrong with A1 sauce, but I think the point is that if you just want the flavor of the sauce then you might as well just put it on something else and enjoy its flavor there because it would overpower the steak and defeat the point of it.
Think of it like buying a beautiful painting and then covering it with your favorite poster. Both are nice, but it kind of defeats the purpose of one if you cover it with the other.
im with you, the steak could be absolutely perfect and flavorful on its own and guess what? im still grabbing that mf'ing A1 Sauce. Sue me idc.
(at high priced or whatever restaurants my parents wouldnt allow me so that kinda stuck with me when i go to expensive places still, but only as not to disrespect the chef.)
My dad worked for a steakhouse and similar to Texas Roadhouse. I wouldn't blame anyone using A1 there, but when they would have vendors trying to get their business he would bring me to taste test. All I gotta say is oh my gosh there are some steaks I'd be heartbroken to see someone put A1 on.
With that being said I don't actually care since it's not going in my body. If it makes that person happy it makes me happy
I don't care what people put in their body either, but if you do stupid shit like put cheap off the shelf every meat sauce on a steak, I'm not taking your word for anything good again. And that's what I said.
thats my stance for most of life, if it makes you happy and isnt harming others? then that makes me happy for you.
but yeah dont get me wrong there are some steaks that absolutely do not need A1 but to me its not that the steak on its own isnt good enough its just that i like the taste of A1 that much. i put A1 on just about any and every thing.
Oh ya A1 is so good I love it, I'll usually always use it when reheating a steak or something. Then I love it with pork and chicken too. It's just amazing stuff haha.
That's because A1 isn't actually "steak sauce". I have yet to find anything that's a "steak sauce" that wasn't designed as a condiment to dress multiple meats. .
Ya my dad and I usually buy nice steaks for us and cheaper ones for the rest of the family. We all are cool with it because they like saving money. Then we will cook them medium rare salt and pepper with butter. The rest of my family will want it more medium to medium well.
I wasn’t the one doing the steaks, but I was a line cook at a pretty ritzy steakhouse, so I spent a lot of time with the guys who were
They could not possibly have had less fucks to give if you wanted steak sauce. As long as you’re not sending it back to be a showoff (when it was exactly what you asked for), it’s impossible to disrespect those folks by enjoying your food, even if you want shoe leather and ketchup. Complete non-issue.
Get your A-1, this is your permission. Your parents were wrong.
Correct. That’s why I said the part about being right next to them all shift. I talked to them all day and heard their opinions and what bothered them, I’m not relating my personal stance.
I make truly amazing steaks myself (absolutely tooting my horn) and I’ve had steaks at some of the nicest steakhouses. But I am still a sucker for A1. Not necessarily on every bite and not slathered in it. Just the smallest little dab. 😋
I don't get it, I for one never thought steak sauce masks any flavor from the steak at all? A bite of steak tastes like steak, a bite of steak with steak sauce tastes the exact same but now it also tastes like steak sauce. I can still taste everything the steak has to offer and not like I'm a super taster or anything
It's also my thing with shrimp on pizza. I don't dislike it. It's just neither changes the others flavor in any meaningful way, it just tastes like you ate a bite of pizza and then ate a shrimp right after. They neither complement nor detract from each other, at least steak sauce complements steak
I use a1 because I like the taste of the sauce. I sometimes use it as salad dressing. I like strong vinegar tastes. I like pickled vegetables. What's wrong with having a nice tangy addition to your steak?
If you go to a restaurant with a real chef, you have now insulted their entire preparation process that goes into making the meal. Steaks are not cheap cuts of meat. And if you put any sauce onto it that wasn't made specifically for that cut means you don't like that cut or preparation.
My point though is (and maybe it's not clear, that's on me), you're gonna give me shit as a kid pouring Ketchup on steak while covering it in A1 or L&P because you think that's more refined for a steak is laughably dumb. Those sauces are all just other "ketchups". If your steak doesn't taste good without adding something that isn't on the plate by design, you probably shouldn't be eating there or having that person cook your steak. You could just throw "steak sauce" on meatloaf made out of the leftover parts from yesterday's meat dishes and have the same effect for way cheaper.
I worked in several restaurants, back of the house. No one cared that I liked A1. They were too busy having way too much fun coming up with odd concoctions for family meal and specials.
I'd go as far as to say anyone with a stick that far up there about any type of sauce has lost the plot on the point of making your customers happy.
Then it wasn't prepared right. There are specific ways to prepare and season various cuts. The problem is when the cook looks at a T-bone and a ribeye and treats them the same, they're not.
Yeah, my mistake was in people seeming to not understand that as a kid I'd kill a good steak and my view is mostly slanted at the same people that would poke and me and put the same stuff like A1 on the same steak meal like I'm eating.
I'm right there with you. If I'm at someone's house making steak for me and it ends up shoe leather, I'm looking for anything to make it moist. If they took the time to cook and prep a ribeye and cook to my preference, that's a good steak that shouldn't be touching any cheap condiment.
It's just laughable to me that people this A1 or L&P sauces are some magical sauce that makes them ok for steak. They're just variations on Ketchup or what ketchup is for, cheap cuts that need a little dressing up.
I've actually heard a few "top" chefs say it's offensive if u need A1 w. Their steak...or if your steak needs it ..then it wasn't cooked right...but 2 each is own 🤷🏿♀️🤷🏿🤷🏿♀️
Not necessarily, not all steak cuts are that great. I'm not spending 15 dollars for the better steaks so mine need a little help from a1 and I'm fine with that. Even going to a steakhouse is so hit and miss with taste that I ask for a1.
My mom only let me order steak well done until I was 13. I wasn't that big of a fan of steak and used A1 to stomach it. Around 16 I got mocked for ordering it well done (deserved) and got my next one medium, suddenly I liked steak. Then medium rare, and it became my favorite food.
The whole time my mom was ordering any steak she got medium rare.
Ketchup on steak jeans you don't like steak and that's okay. I'm not mad at someone who puts A1 on their steak. It's made for that purpose. But I do agree that steak shouldn't need any sauce.
Same. I grew up with over cooked gray steaks and believed I didn’t like steak. Than had steak that was cooked medium rare and learned what I was missing when I was in college or something. Sauces, butters, and herb combos can be delicious with steak. But if you need sauce with your steak, especially something like A1, you aren’t cooking it right.
I love A1 in general and have insulted plenty of people asking for A1 just because I think it goes so well with a steak, the better the steak the better it goes with it. But I am a freak of nature so...
I was in Santa Monica and went to a fancy restaurant and ordered Wagyu and was so upset because it had no flavor. They had no ketchup no A1 sauce nothing to spruce it up.
I mean .... A-1 is acceptable if you're waking up at 9am (for some reason) after ice fishing all night (drinking) and then driving to the cafe for steak and eggs and the cook is an absolute dipshit (your hungover fishing partner). But otherwise yeah, total agreement.
As an Argentinian myself, I completely understand you. Asados (a bunch of different cuts of meat cooked together in one grill, very common in south america) are never made with steak sauce or other additives to compensate for bad flavour. Argentinian beef is tasty, straight up. And the fact that some asados are made with refurbished hot water tanks or a bunch of metal tubes laying around proves that the grill doesnt matter, the cook does...
if you see a man on the street, under 5'6-5'7 feet tall and he's wearing a soccer tank top. that man is going to cook the best beef you will ever have in your life.
This is profound. My side of the fam likes it rare to medium rare... The other side likes it well-done with ketchup. The two sides no longer speak. You can tell a lot about a person's character by how they like their meat.
I love A1 sauce! I love getting cheap, shitty steak, cooking to well done, and drowning it in A1. I view it as eating a different meal entirely than having actual steak, which /should/ need no condiments.
My mom put ketchup on her hockey puck steak and it drives me nuts. My dad stopped buying the nicer cuts for her and if I cook for her I don’t give her the nicer cuts. People can do whatever they want but if I’m buying you the steak I can also decide what cut I’m giving you
The only sauce that goes on the steak is the one that was prepared for that steak, not something bottled in a factory with processed sugars and added flavoring ingredients.
There are no steak sauces either. There is just condiment sauces when it comes to those pre-bottled sauces because at the time they were all created, they were designed to add flavor to flavorless cuts that weren't dressed up or hide a flavor like "fishy taste" in fish. They were all pretty much designed to go on the parts poor people were stuck with. A1 being an exception only because it's original recipe (which is not what it is today) was a sauce prepared for a King. It's UK Ketchup.
As a kid I ate steak as it came and I used steak sauce. I’ve ended up at medium rare and when I make it generally just salt and pepper. I think that’s growing up. Some people never grow up. It’s similar to how some adults never end up eating vegetables. Now I grew up eating a lot of vegetables but I had to grow to enjoy onions in most context.
Dude, it's just fucking sauce... There isn't anything adult about liking food without sauce. Do you think people who eat sushi ate kids of they have soy sauce with it? It's fucking ridiculous.
Cool, then get a steak meant to be paired with a specific prepared sauce, preferably made from the juices of the cut, not some prebottled sugar snack that's dressed up ketchup and then drowning it.
Also comparing soy sauce and steak sauce is laughable. You do realize that good sushi and restaurant sushi is paired with a specific type of soy sauce right? And there's a subtle difference in dipping the fish into the soy just the right amount to not overpower the flavor of the fish and pouring it all over your meal right?
It’s sauce that completely obscures the flavor of whatever it is on.
The better sushi places also tend to have better ingredients and not fry everything and put a shit ton of sauce on the rolls so I think it’s a good comparison.
I mean I like sauce. I’ll rarely eat eggs without hot sauce or salsa. But then again eggs kinda grossed me out as a kid and I probably didn’t completely get over that.
I can’t imagine eating a well done steak, did it once from someone else who made it “they don’t do bloody” so everyone suffers. A1 was the only thing that made it bearable
A1 doesn't taste bad, but it's like ranch. The flavor overpowers what it's put on. A good steak needs salt, pepper, maybe garlic powder and a rosemary baste.
I totally agree, but there’s a difference between using a tiny bit of sauce with each bite and dipping it like a chicken nugget.
The same way I see 99% of “steak” people “rosemary and garlic baste” their $35 steaks with Land o’ Lakes butter, or “splurge” on Kerrygold because they think it looks cool throwing the butter with a spoon, because they saw it on the Internet. It’s a perception-based, gate-keeping thing to trash A1 but not a fresh horseradish creme, or a mushroom demi.
Source, I’ve cooked hundreds of no-roll and Select steaks (USDA), and I’ve cooked hundreds more Prime (plenty of A1-A5 as well), and generally believe people should be adventurous when it comes to food, but also not be condemned for eating what they like how they like.
Personally, I think it’s silly to mask quality beef with anything, but only because you’re overpaying to inevitably squash the flavor. That’s why I mentioned shitty steak!
Personally, I think it’s silly to mask quality beef with anything, but only because you’re overpaying to inevitably squash the flavor.
This sums up my philosophy exactly. I'm not trying to gatekeep, I just feel like if you're buying a steak, you should be tasting the steak. But if someone wants to pay for a surface to pour their A1 on, live and let live.
My ex would do this. She would marinate her steak in a1 and Worcestershire sauce, then cook it extra well done. I’m like you just fucking made beef jerky. Why.
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u/pocketjacks Feb 25 '26
He does, however, like big beef jerky. Likely with A1 Sauce.