[Peter]

I’ve increased my uptake of steak in recent weeks as well.

Here is a practical tip…

The problem I sometimes have with thick cuts of steak is that there’s a tradeoff between them being too rare in the middle and too charred on the outside.

A good way to overcome this is to use a hot oven which tends to dissipate the heat more evenly throughout the meat.

For thick cuts my default way of cooking is to use a combination of hob and oven. This ensures the steak has a good amount of crispiness on the outside, but isn’t too rare on the inside.

The procedure is:

1. Pre-heat your oven to its maximum temperature (the hotter the better)

2. Turn up the hob on the top of the oven to high heat and place a baking tray on top of the hob until its piping hot.

3. Handling the baking tray with an oven glove, place the steak in the tray at the hottest point above the hob and sear it for a couple of minutes on both sides, handling with tongs. This gives the steak a crispiness that you tend to lack if you use the oven only. No need to add any oil or season, other than with salt. If the steak is very lean you may want to add a bit of tallow.

4. Place the steak on the baking tray in the piping hot oven and cook for 2-3 minutes. This dissipates the heat and gives the steak’s inside a nice pink (rather than red) colour.

5. Leave to stand for 5-10 minutes before serving.