Pan-cooked steak

Heat the pan on the high side of medium-high for a few minutes.

Take the steak straight from the fridge and blot it dry; season both sides with salt and pepper right before cooking; rub a little oil on the steak rather than the pan.

Lay the steak in the hot pan and pat it down so the whole surface makes contact; if there is a lot of smoke, take it off the heat for a moment.

When the first side has a good crust it releases easily; flip and crust the second side.

Poke the steak while it is still raw for a baseline, then cook until it feels bouncier rather than squishy and pink juice pushes to the surface; the strip took six minutes.

Rest on the cutting board a few minutes for carryover cooking, then slice.

Variation: season one side and the plate beside it, oil, and lift the steak onto the seasoned plate; in a hot pan flip every 30 seconds or so; the ribeye took less than five minutes.

Variation: if the fat between eye and cap is unwanted, cut the cap off and shave off the fat.

Variation: for a thick filet use medium heat, flipping every 30 seconds about four minutes, then turn the heat down, add a big knob of butter and baste about eight minutes, until bouncier; rest.

Variation: cook an under-seasoned prime ribeye flipping every 30 seconds; about a minute before done add crushed garlic, thyme and butter and keep flipping to coat; turn off the heat if anything threatens to burn.

Pull the steak, pour the flavored butter over, and finish with crunchy sea salt.