Breathe New Life Into Your Texas Roadhouse Steak With This Ordering Tip

People take their steaks in many different ways, from barely cooked at all to so well done it approaches hockey puck consistency. There's even a little-known way to get both extremes in the same bite, and the internet says Texas Roadhouse can be a reliable place to order it.

A black and blue steak, also known as Pittsburgh-style, is charred at ultra-high temperatures until dark all over. The intense heat burns the outside of the steak but leaves the inside rare, sometimes approaching raw. The Pittsburgh nomenclature allegedly comes from 19th-century steelworkers who would use screaming-hot plant equipment to flash-cook steaks in this manner.

You don't have to go to an active steel mill to get a Pittsburgh-style steak, though, because Texas Roadhouse will prepare the cut of your choice like this if requested. One Reddit user confirmed that they "asked for blue rare at Texas Roadhouse and, well, they delivered." Though they seemed pleased, the included photo of a porterhouse was arguably not dark enough to be a true Pittsburgh-style steak. Don't be afraid to specify that you want the outside black.  

Not just any cut of steak will do for this method, though. Try to avoid fattier steaks like New York strips or ribeyes. Since a Pittsburgh-style steak is seared so hot that the inside barely cooks, the fat in richer cuts like these is unlikely to render before the cook is finished, leaving unpleasant textures behind.

A black and blue steak is best done with leaner cuts of beef, which have hardly any fat to leave unrendered. Texas Roadhouse has many great cuts of steak, and the lean Dallas filet is an excellent choice for Pittsburgh-style. But it's also the menu's most expensive cut per ounce; the more affordable sirloin is still lean enough that a lack of rendering shouldn't be an issue.

Pittsburgh-style steak isn't for everyone. Rare beef is already something of a niche interest, and a properly cooked blue rare steak is what most diners might call burnt. But if you take your meat rare and enjoy the bitter flavor of seared black pepper on a steak, ask your local Texas Roadhouse for one Pittsburgh-style.