Sirloin steak cooked ten ways

Smoked: mix Cholula hot sauce with squeezed garlic; season the steak all round with kosher salt, granulated garlic and coarse black pepper, and coat with the sauce.

Smoke to 'about a hundred and quarter, a hundred and thirty', close to an hour.

Variation: oil poached: set the unseasoned steak in a small dish with extra virgin olive oil, insert a probe thermometer to the middle, submerge completely in oil and cook in the oven until it reads 120.

Variation: reverse sear in a toaster oven: rub with oil, season with the salt, garlic and pepper including the edges, and cook in a 275 toaster oven to about 125 for even doneness.

Variation: cooler sous vide: oil and season the steak, put it in a zippered bag and lower it into a cooler of 130 water so displacement seals the bag around it; hang the edge out, close the lid, and keep the water between about 125 and 130 by adding very hot water from a kettle; a couple of hours.

Variation: on the chimney: set a heat-rated cooking rack on a chimney of white-hot coals and cook the steak, turning often, until done by an instant read thermometer, about five minutes; rest, then cut.

Finish the oil-poached steak: blot on paper towels, season, and sear on the grill with a little oil for a few seconds for color.

Finish the smoked steak: sear, brush with more Cholula-garlic sauce and torch both sides so the sauce burns in a little.

Finish the reverse-seared steak: a little oil, then sear on the flat top presentation side down first, about a minute, flip, about 30 seconds more.

Variation: directly on the coals: flatten the hot coals, lay the steak right on them, turn often and pull at 125 to 130 by an instant read thermometer; ash comes off.

Variation: air fryer: spray, add the steak and cook at 400 for 5 minutes, flip, then 4 minutes and 4 more, about six minutes a side for a thick steak.

Paint the charcoal steak lightly with soy paste and torch to caramelize it in.

Variation: flat top: cook a seasoned steak, turning about every minute and a half.

Take it to 'a hundred and a quarter and a hundred and thirty'; rest, cut, and top with a little steak sauce and blue cheese dressing.

Variation: mayo grilled: mix an all-purpose rub of smoked paprika, garlic powder, a little cayenne, salt and pepper with mayo, spread a healthy glob on an unseasoned steak, grill on a hot grill, add more seasoned mayo to the top and flip regularly.

Variation: pan seared and butter basted: sear in oil in a hot cast iron pan 30 seconds to a minute, add about half a stick of butter, rosemary and lightly squished garlic cloves, and spoon the butter over repeatedly.

Keep basting until 'somewhere around one and a quarter' (the cook's shorthand, used earlier as 'a hundred and quarter').

Slide the pan to the cool side of a two-zone grill, close the lid and finish about five minutes; baste once more before serving.

Finish the sous vide steak: drizzle with a little oil and torch until colored.