Kevin's Watch

Here's a method I did the other day, really simple, that produced one of the best steaks I have ever eaten.

Good (and I mean really good) steak is essential. Like prime Aberdeen Angus, center cut from the fillet (not the tail end or the fat end with that extra useless bit stuck on the side).

Put it on a board and flatten it by hand. A good hard press on a 2 inch thick steak to reduce it to about 1 inch.

Salt it with fresh ground salt and press it in with your hand. Flip and do the other side. Now leave it for 2 hours minimum at room temperature.

Get a good heavy based frying pan and heat to smoking hot.

Rub a bit of corn oil over your steak, salt and pepper it (fresh ground in both cases) and put the steak into the pan. I cut my steak into two pieces before I put it into the pan because Mrs P and I haven't got terribly big appetites, but either way don't overcrowd the pan. One steak only. We're going for quality here, not shovel fulls of food.

Maybe use a spatula for one press on the steak (just to ensure good contact with the pan) but no more.

Now leave it the **** alone! Don't move the pan, or the steak, or anything. Just leave it.

3 minutes later or thereabouts flip the steak over (adjust according to thickness).

Now leave for another 2.5 minutes and just press it on the top surface with your finger. It should not be yielding to the point where your finger mark is still sitting in the meat, but neither should it be too resistant.

Now, with no need for buttering or herbing just transfer it to the plate. If it's properly done, a brown liquid will just form fairly quickly around the base of the meat on the plate. It'll be charred on the outside and full of crispy umami flavour. On cutting It'll be soft as butter and pink as salmon inside. Brown and you've killed it. Raw in the middle and you've done it too short. Learn for next time.

But if you hit it right (and you should) what you will have is a thing of beauty. Serve simply with some asparagus and sun-dried tomatoes, alongside your favourite mustard.

Gosh I envy you. You are in culinary heaven!

Sounds great. So when are you making me dinner?

Ever find yourself in Cornwall Sarge and it'd be my pleasure.

Just as a follow-up however, I followed my own recipe earlier on today and it was a disaster!

Hasten to add, it wasn't the technique rather than the quality of the steak. I compromised and paid the price.

Damn it - I could see it wasn't up to speed, but with 20 percent off I bought it anyway. I also didn't cook it quite enough and the low quality combined with this led to a complete meltdown.

Ah well - pride comes before a fall I guess!

If it was cheap enough, could you grind it? Or still to expensive,

My insides are trying to grind it as I speak Sarge!

By the time I realised the enormity of my (yes - very expensive) mistake I was eating it.

But I learned from it, and I won't make that mistake again. Old Chinese proverb; the bitterness of low quality remains long after the sweetness of (relatively speaking) low price has gone.

How true and harshly learned!

If we splurge , we'd rather go out and eat a steak.

But to be honest I really don't like steak all that much.

I'd rather have a meatloaf. I'm a simple man.