Cooked for too long, making food dry, tough, or less flavorful; figuratively, something that has been overdone or taken too far.
From over- (beyond or excessive) + cooked (past tense of cook). Cook itself comes from Old French cuire from Latin coquere. The 'over-' prefix dates back to Old English.
Ironically, the most overcooked foods in restaurants are often expensive steaks—cooking past medium-rare ruins them by destroying the proteins' texture. Professional chefs say overcooked food is more common than undercooked because of anxiety about food safety!
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