You don't need a fancy grill to cook a steak as good as any restaurant, just a hot pan, a few minutes, and a bit of nerve. This is the method we use, and the same standard of meat we serve in our own steakhouse.
Start before the pan's even on
- Bring it to room temperature. Take your steak out of the fridge 30 to 45 minutes before cooking. A fridge-cold steak cooks unevenly, grey on the outside before the middle catches up.
- Dry it. Pat both sides with kitchen paper. A dry surface is what gives you that deep, browned crust.
- Season generously with salt just before it goes in.
Get the pan properly hot
Hotter than feels sensible. A heavy pan (cast iron is ideal) on a high heat until it's just starting to smoke. A splash of oil with a high smoke point, then lay the steak away from you.
The timings
For a steak around 2 to 3cm thick, cook each side for:
- Rare — about 1.5 minutes per side
- Medium-rare — about 2 minutes per side
- Medium — about 2.5 to 3 minutes per side
- Well done — about 4 minutes per side
Only flip once, and don't press it down, you're just squeezing the juices out.
Butter, garlic, thyme
For the last minute, drop in a knob of butter, a crushed garlic clove and a sprig of thyme, tilt the pan and spoon the foaming butter over the steak. That's the steakhouse trick, right there.
Rest it (yes, really)
Rest your steak for 5 minutes before cutting. It feels like forever when you're hungry, but it's the difference between juicy and dry. Cut against the grain.
Choose your steak
Ribeye for marbling and flavour, sirloin for a balance of both, fillet for pure tenderness. Have a look at our beef range, or the hand-selected Select Range for our best steakhouse-quality cuts. New to the cuts? Our steak buying guide breaks them down.