The Perfect Simple Steak

This is my favorite piece of meat: the beef steak. Nothing special but perfectly done. To succeed you need three very important things: the perfect piece of meat (not thiner as one centimeter : 1/2 to 3/4 inch) , high heat and the perfect grill pan. I think I've found the perfect grill pan from  Le Creuset

STEP 1: Get your grill pan hot. A simple way to judge if your grill is hot is to hold your hand over the grill.  If you can hold your hand over the grill for more than 10 seconds the grill heat is low, for 6-8 seconds the heat is medium, and for 2-4 seconds the heat is high.  Four seconds is about perfect.

STEP 2: Season the meat generously with good quality sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

STEP 3: Place the meat on the grill and flip after it is well seared on the first side; then again after it is well seared on the second side – about 3-4 minutes per side.

Searing is essential because it adds flavour.  One of the biggest culinary misconceptions of all time is that searing meat “traps juices”.  Today, thanks to food scientists like Harold McGee, we now know that searing does not seal the meat.  On the contrary, it has been proven that meat cooked at constant temperature actually loses less fluid.  What searing does accomplish, however, is a complex set of “browning reactions” that combine sugars and amino acids to produce literally hundreds of new by-products, each of which have a distinctive taste and aroma.

STEP 4: Remove the beef steaks and the most important part : don't serve it right away. Let the steak "rest" for about 5 to 10 minutes. This allows the juices to move back in to the meat.

And the "real" most important rule is to practice!

We have served this with pan fried vegetables and rosé wine.