"Restaurant" Steak at Home

The problem with steaks at home is that they are never as good as they are at a steakhouse.  Part of that is the quality of the meat, which you can only remedy by making friends with your butcher, but if  you are stuck with standard grocery store steaks you can still do a pretty respectable job of it.

Start with the steaks.  Choose nice thick ones if you like your steak anything other them medium well/well.  You want to be able to get a good sear without cooking it all the way through.  Bone-in steaks are often more flavorful then boneless, and some fat is actually a good thing.

Season your steak simply, salt, pepper, maybe a little garlic powder.  Don't go nuts with rubs and marinades.  Letting the steak sit in the fridge for a day pre-seasoned is ideal, but even seasoning it 20 mins or so before you cook it is good.

Don't put a cold steak into a pan.  Let your steaks come to room temperature before cooking them.

You don't want your pan to be cold, either!  Let your pan (preferably a cast iron skillet) get smoking hot before you put your steak in.  Don't use a ton of fat, just use a tiny bit of olive oil or cooking spray.

Cook your steak 3 to 3.5 mins per side for rare (scale up 1 min for medium rare, etc) and do NOT poke it.  Let it just cook.  Flip it when the timer says so.  Just leave it be.

The most important step: let it rest before serving.  Don't cut into the steak for at least 5 mins so that the juices have time to settle and your steak doesn't just bleed out when you cut it.  You can dress up the steak with some compound butter or a bearnaise sauce if you like that kind of thing.