Cooking steak can be daunting – everybody has their own personal preferences.

This handy guide will give you some important tips on cooking the perfect steak.

1. Picking your steak
Get your steak in the butchers if you can, or the butchers in your local supermarket can also be a great place.

Next you need to choose your cut.

• Striploin – a popular choice of steak with a layer of fat surrounding it for added flavour
• Fillet – a luxury cut, the fillet has little or no fat and is generally thicker meaning it may need more cooking time
• Rib-Eye – marbled with fat this cut is popular as it has lots of flavour
• T-Bone – as this cut is on the bone it is considered tastier

2. Bring steak to room temperature before cooking

3. Right before cooking, season the steak with salt, pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

4. Heat some oil in a pan and get it very hot, to smoking point.

5. Choose how you would like your steak cooked and adjust your timer accordingly.

• Blue : 1 min each side
• Rare: 1 1/2 min each side
• Medium-rare: 2 min each side
• Medium: 2 1/4 min each side
• Medium-well: 2 1/2 min each side
• Well-done: 3 min each side

Cooking times depend on the thickness of your meat. The above guidelines are for a popular striploin steak of approx. 2cm so adjust accordingly.

6. Let the steak rest for about 5-6 mins after cooking.