COMMON?

ANSWER: They’re both fast-food restaurants.

Wait, what? How so? Well, both specialize in fast cooking
methods. That is, cooking methods designed simply to bring
cuts of meat to the desired serving temperature while
perhaps adding some nice browned flavor to the exterior.
Fast-cooking methods include pan-searing, grilling, broiling,
and sautéing, and they are reserved for tender cuts of meat
like prime rib, pork chops, chicken breasts, beef steaks,
lamb chops, and, yes, hamburgers. They differ from slow-
cooking methods, which are designed not only to heat
foods, but also to heat them gently enough and for long
enough to allow connective tissues to slowly break down.
Slow-cooking methods include true barbecuing (i.e.,
smoking) and braising. Some cooking methods, such as
roasting, steaming, or simmering, can be used for any cut of
meat, though the temperature and time period you apply
them for will vary depending on what you are cooking.
We’ll get to those slower methods in later chapters.
Steak houses, just like fast food restaurants, are all about
speed. Unlike other types of restaurants, where many dishes
and their components are prepared in advance and finished
to order, steak houses start pretty much solely with raw