I read this on Leisureguy’s blog today and tried it with a nice rib steak for dinner. Very moist and tasty result…worth investing in a cast iron grill-pan if you don’t already have one. I have several Gastrolux pans which are non-stick and the handle can go in the oven up to 500 degrees F. They are terrific, if obscenely expensive. Supposed to last a lifetime though, and totally non-stick but without using a Teflon coating (which tends to peel off). Twenty year warranty too. Very heavy, like a cast iron pan, but with all the modern bells-and-whistles.

I made my own smoked salt to rub on the steaks. Very simple. I took some pure liquid hickory smoke and added a few drops to very coarsely ground sea salt. Mixed it up into a wet paste which smeared very easily on both sides of the steaks before being put onto the searing-hot pan. Mmmmmmm.

Wonderful meat too, from our friend’s organic beef farm. We buy a quarter steer at a time cut up to our specs by the farmer’s butcher.