Butter-basted pan-seared ribeye with a bourbon-mustard pan sauce

Salt the steak heavily the night before, not 10 to 15 minutes before cooking, when the drawn-out juice sits wet on the surface.

Set the steak on skewers laid across a plate so it is elevated, and refrigerate uncovered; here it stays two days, which dries the surface for a better sear.

Heat a heavy pan over mild heat with a little olive oil and butter; when the butter sizzles add the steak.

Flip about every 15 seconds; with the heat moderate to low, the crust develops while the centre comes up, about 10 to 15 minutes for a steak this thick.

Check the temperature at the coolest part with the thermometer at an angle: 120F rare, 125 to 135 medium-rare to medium, 140 to 145 medium-well. Pull it five or 10 degrees early as it keeps rising while resting.

Baste: tilt the pan so the butter, juices and rendered fat pool, and spoon them over the top to brown the crevices evenly.

Add the rosemary, thyme, roughly chopped shallot and smashed garlic on top of the steak and keep basting; sear the edges and the spinalis too.

Take the steak off at about 105 degrees and rest it.

Pour the steak juices into a small pot to reserve. Deglaze the pan off the heat with bourbon, add the mustard and the stock, and finish off the heat with a knob of butter, letting it emulsify and thicken as it reduces.

Reheat the reserved fat until smoking hot, pour it over the rested steak so it sizzles and the crust crisps again.

Sauce the bottom of the plate, set the steak on top and cut into it.

It finished at about 130 to 135 degrees, medium-rare tending to medium.