Make sure your steak is at room temperature and that your pan is red hot. Immediately before cooking, lightly oil your steak with rape seed oil (this has a higher flash point) and season well.
Place your steak flat on the pan and cook on full heat for 2 minutes (for a steak that is about ¾”). Do not move the steak about. After 2 minutes, remove the steak from the pan to give the pan time to get back to full heat, and then replace the steak with the uncooked side down for another 2 minutes. Remove the steak and leave to rest on a warm plate for at least 4 minutes while you make the sauce.
Deglaze your pan with brandy or whiskey then let it cool a little. Add a good knob of butter, cream and green pepper corns and warm through then stir in any juices from your resting steak. Pour a little of your sauce over the steak, serve with chunky homemade oven chips and a rocket salad with the best red wine you can find.
Your steak should be rare or, at the very most, medium rare- any better done than that and you will have ruined a good steak!
