porterhouse steak, baked potato

Old standard. Nothing special. Grocery store steak. 

I look back at all those steaks I saw cooked wrongly before other people allowed me to do this myself and I wonder how we ever got by.  

I recall the steaks taking achingly long to cook and requiring so much unnecessary attention. 

The oven is started first. So might as well bake the potato in there. The potato peel becomes irresistible to eat when it's baked in the oven. It's one of my favorite parts. That does not happen when cooked in the microwave. 

The stove burner is turned to high and the pan preheated to its most extreme. The steak is cooked on one side for only two minutes thereabout give or take a few seconds. Then flipped and finished in the oven. Harsh surface heat then gentler air heat. The second side seared in the oven by residual heat then removed and covered with foil for eight or ten minutes. 

Only a few minutes stovetop. That's it. The stovetop is turned to extreme high then shut off two minutes later. It's an odd way to go for a home cook by emulating restaurant chefs.

That rest period out of the oven prevents the steak from bleeding all over the plate when it is cut open. The steak actually continues to cook. Apparently moisture inside the steak self-distributes throughout. 

That's the hardest part. Letting the steak sit there. Because the impulse is to dig right in. Resist that. It does make an appreciable difference. Make everyone wait.

Now that right there is some mad cheffery skills. 

And maturity. Eh?