Whether your preference is a butter-soft fillet steak, flavour-packed sirloin or a thriftier cut like bavette, rump or onglet, quick cooking and constant attention should be paid when doing your beef. With only a few minutes’ leeway between rare and well-done, timing is key. Thursday Food has put together some tips to help you from start to finish.

Choose your steak

The cut of steak you use is down to personal preference and budget. Different cuts will deliver different levels of tenderness and flavour.

Sirloin: Considered to be a prime steak, like fillet, but with more flavour. Best served medium-rare.

T-bone: To make sure everything cooks evenly, it’s best finished in the oven. Great for sharing.

Bavette and flank steak: Cheap cut that’s best served no more than medium, and is great for barbecuing.

Fillet: Prized as the most tender cut, it’s also the most expensive. It has little fat, and is best served as rare as you like.

Rib-eye and tomahawk: There are two cuts to note: rib-eye, boneless and usually serves one, and rib on the bone, also known as côte de boeuf.

Flat-iron: This steak is cut from the shoulder blade, and is great value and neatly shaped, but it needs to be cooked no more than medium or it will be tough.

Onglet: Also called hanger steak, this rope-shaped piece of meat has lots of flavour but will be tough if cooked beyond rare.

Rump steak: The least expensive of prime steaks, it will be tough if cooked anything beyond medium.

How to cook perfect steak

Season the steak with salt up to 2 hrs before, then with pepper just before cooking.

Heat a heavy-based frying pan until very hot but not smoking.

Drizzle some oil into the pan and leave for a moment.

Add the steak, a knob of butter, some garlic and robust herbs, if you want.

Sear evenly on each side for our recommended time, turning every minute for the best caramelised crust.

Leave to rest on a board or warm plate for about 5 mins.

Serve the steak whole or carved into slices with the resting juices poured over.

How to check if steak is cooked

Use your fingers to prod the cooked steak — when rare it will feel soft, medium-rare will be lightly bouncy, and well-done will be much firmer.

Blue: 54C

Rare: 57C

Medium-rare: 63C

Medium: 71C

Well-done: 75C

How to rest a steak

A cooked steak should rest at room temperature for at least five minutes and ideally around half the cooking time – it will stay warm for anything up to 10 minutes. Here, pure science comes into play – the fibres of the meat will reabsorb the free-running juices, resulting in a moist and tender steak. Any resting juices should be poured over the steak before serving.

Grilled T-Bone Steaks

Ingredients:

2 1 1/2 lb each T-bone steaks

Salt and black pepper to taste

Optional:

2 tbsp butter, melted

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 tsp crushed red pepper

1/2 tbsp parsley, chopped

Method:

Remove steaks from the fridge 30 minutes before grilling.

Season with salt and black pepper (to taste).

Preheat a gas grill to 450°F. Clean the grates.

Place steaks on the grill and grill for 6-7 minutes per side, until the internal temperature reaches 150°F for medium. The meat close to the bone will be more pink than the meat on the outer corners.

Let the steak rest for 5 minutes, then cut perpendicular to the grain.

You can serve with butter, mixed with garlic, red pepper flakes and parsley.

Information from: www.bbcgoodfood.com & www.cookinglsl.com