food

a steak as a concept is meant to be a section of meat from a non-locomotive muscle (fewer fibers = more tender) that is roughly proportional to what someone hungry would eat in a single sitting. tougher muscle groups require longer cook times at lower temperatures (like several hours, sometimes after an overnight soak in a brine to accelerate the breakdown of tougher fibers/tissues) or other processing (ground meat is basically mechanically pre-chewed so you can bite through it). that pre-chewing creates a food safety issue, because it much of the cut has been exposed to the air, so "undercooked" hamburger (red in the middle) can have pathogens introduced during the grinding process from exposure to the ambient air and unsanitized surfaces.

so a traditional steak cut is a cut that can be seared on its outer surface but safely cooked only minimally, preventing it from drying out or becoming too tough. i.e. it can be prepared to the eater's desired texture and tastes easily and safely, which generally means it can be bitten through. there is a whole field of muscle biology dedicated to meat and objective measures of tenderness (sheer force test).

personally, i think steaks are kinda bullshit and something affluent people, especially affected-masculine types use to try and stunt on each other. "let's go get steaks" "ill grill us some steaks" "i grill a mean steak". as though it's hard to put a few cuts of meat on a grill for a few minutes on either side and take it off. a no frills hamburger requires more effort and attention to do well, and people make fun of burger flippers as lacking skill.

even within the world of flesh eating, steaks represent the most disengaged eater who wants a meal made from the easiest to prepare and easiest to consume cuts of an animal, which represents a very small minority by weight of the meat of any animal. because everything is so easy, steak cuts command the highest per pound price. and frankly, a steak as a meal is just a big hunk of meat and some garnish. like a child making a sundae that is 95% hot fudge with a little smear of ice cream. there's way too little plant fiber in that meal to be reasonable for anyone's digestion, so it's a decadent "celebratory" type of meal, i suppose. but it's wasteful and pricey, imo.

to understand how to prepare less expensive/desired, common ingredients to feed, comfort and delight many people takes real skill and talent. steaks are the opposite of that.