Step 1

Heat a cast-iron skillet, or, if you are doing this on the barbecue make it ripping hot.

Step 2

Make sure your steak is not fridge-cold, around 15C is good and patted dry with a paper towel. Moisture and ice-cold steak is the enemy of the perfect sear and doneness.

Step 3

Rub the steak with oil and season the side you are going to sear first. Only with salt. Pepper burns so we will add that later. Wack it into the hot pan a or onto the grill if you're doing it on fire.

Step 4

Move the steak around just a bit in the pan to make sure there are no moisture spots and the caramelisation happens evenly and everywhere. This should take about 2 minutes.

Step 5

Once that's done, flip it, seasoning the unseasoned part and repeat the little moving about business until you got good caramelisation. Depending on the thickness of your steak sear the sides too and make sure you are doing this in a ripping hot pan. Cold pans or coals won't get the caramelisation going and you will just end up boiling the steak. Tears will follow and in extreme situations, you might even blame me. So let's avoid all that and do it right.

Step 6

Measure the internal temperature of the steak as you cook it and make sure that it does not exceed 45°C(113°F). I only go to 42°C(107°F) but there are a few degrees room for error.

Step 7

Once you hit that temperature. Remove the bavette from the heat and let it rest on a wire rack or a plate flipping every 30 seconds to make sure it rests evenly too. The internal temperature will still rise by about 5 degrees and settle during this period. That's what we want.

Step 8

If you are making a virgin steak without the bbq sauce then you are ready to slice thinly against the grain, season with a bit more salt and freshly cracked black pepper.

Step 9

Otherwise, get the pan back on the stove or get your grill brush ready. Because it's barbecue sauce time! Put 2 tablespoons of barbecue sauce in the pan and bring it to a simmer. Add the steaks back into the pan with the sauce and make sure it's all covered with sauce. Take the pan off the heat, remove your steak and slice thinly against the grain. If you are doing this on the barbecue then brush the steak with bbq sauce and carefully and quickly grill it on al sides for about a minute, and you're done.