Our wise, wise readers...
 
Yesterday, one of the reader's last meals requested their steak "Pittsburgh rare."  That was a new term for those of us by the Santa Monica Pier and we queried what that meant.  Well, ask and ye shall receive.  We woke up and had beau coup replies in our inbox.  Thanks to you all and now that we know what it means, we will never order it.
 
Pittsburgh Rare
 
A culinary term unique to the region, "Pittsburgh rare" is my favorite way to eat steak (and I didn't even grow up here!). Often referred to as "black and blue," meat that is ordered Pittsburgh rare comes charred on the outside and blood red rare on the inside. The term is believed to date back to the region's steelmaking days, when steelworkers would bring big slabs of steak to work and, when it was time for lunch, would slap their meat on a furnace or other piece of hot metal to sear the outside black. Even without a hot furnace, you can still cook your own authentic Pittsburgh steak at home.
 
Ummm, we'll pass.