Saturday blogging: The perfectly cooked steak

The WSJ tells us how to cook a steak. Since the article is by subscription only on line, as a service to my readers I'm copying it:

• Preheat your oven to 450F degrees
• On the stove top, heat a large, dry skillet until it is very hot. Season the steak (a 4-5 lbs porterhouse or bone-in-ribeye steak, 1 1/2" to 2" thick) well with salt and pepper and sear for 2-3 minutes on each side, until it has a dark crust [Note If your smoke alarm is very sensitive, like mine is, make sure to run the hood fan or you'll get blasted]
• Place skillet in preheated oven for about 14 minutes for a 1 1/2" steak. Cook to between rare and medium rare, because residual heat will continue cooking the meat while it is resting. To test for doneness, press your finger to the meat: it should yield to the touch but not be soft. The chef says a thermometer will pierce the meat and allow the juices to run out.
• Rest steak for at least 5 minutes before slicing or serving

Tester's note: If you don't feel confident about judging the doneness of the meat the way professionals do, use an instant-read thermometer to be sure the meat has reached an internal temperature of 120F for rare or medium rare

And here's the steak:

Baked potato with sour cream and butter, a salad, and maybe some green beans with almonds.

The perfect meal.