I like well done steak

There's one thing that appears to be, at least my view, astonishingly common: People who consider it outright sacrilege if a steak is anything above "medium rare". I'm not even kidding: Tons and tons of people consider even "medium rare" a bit too cooked, but barely acceptable, and think that the only correct way is a full-on "rare" steak. Ask any "steak connoisseur", or any professional chef, and he will tell you that. Heck even celebrity chefs like Gordon Ramsay thinks that.

Well, I'm going to commit sacrilege here:

I hate rare steak. I hate medium rare steak. Medium well done is still on the more disgusting side, but bearable. I love well done steak. A rare steak is just disgusting. I don't like the taste at all.

I once went to a more expensive fancy steak restaurant and ordered a well done one, and it was literally the best steak I have eaten in my entire life, no exaggeration. If I had ordered it rare, it would have been disgusting.

Most of the rare steak advocates can't understand how someone can like a well done steak. They think it ruins it. Well, I don't understand how someone can like a rare steak, so here we are.

By the way, a very similar thing is the case with salmon.

Salmon connoisseurs, especially sushi connoisseurs, think that raw salmon is the only proper way to eat it. It might be salted, it might be lightly smoked, or it might just be fresh and raw, but frying it is sacrilege to them.

Well, for sushi I actually agree: Raw salmon is the only correct way to prepare sushi. No other form of salmon fits. Something about the sushi rice and the soy sauce makes raw salmon work (especially if there's not a whole lot of it) and, somehow, makes any other form of salmon (eg. fried) not work at all. It just doesn't fit flavorwise.

However, other than sushi, I absolutely do not like raw salmon. It's gelatinous, it's oily and slippery, and it just doesn't taste good. Even if it's eg. lightly smoked, it still doesn't taste good. That gelatinous oily slippery taste just overwhelms even the smoked flavor.

But quickly fry it in a pan, and my goodness, does it start tasting good. Frying it slightly really brings out all the deep flavors. It even smells really good. And if it's lightly smoked salmon, even more so! It really brings out that pleasant smoked fish smell, and the taste is a hundred times richer and better. A quick frying actually emphasizes and strengthens that smoked smell and taste, it doesn't destroy it.

I really think that people who don't do that are missing out.