Is there a food more delicious, more enjoyable than grilled steak?  One of the joys of steak is that the complex, robust flavors are the result of a cooking method so primal, so simple.

To say that something is simple is not to say that it is easy.  So it is with steak.  There is nothing complicated about cooking a perfect steak, but it isn’t easy.  At least it isn’t easy to find one.  In the last few years, I have had what I considered perfectly cooked steaks in three places: Canlis Restaurant (Seattle), the Buenos Aires Grill (Seattle), my house.

Why has such a simple thing become so difficult?

I have eaten steaks at national chains and local chains, neighborhood restaurants and downtown restaurants.  The results are always disappointing, except for the places I mentioned.

One national chain puts so much pepper on their steaks, you taste nothing but pepper.  Many classically trained chefs do the same.  I cannot think why they do it.  You can’t taste the meat, you can’t taste the wine, you might as well be eating chili.  Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, naturally, but my opinion is that the flavor of black pepper and the flavor of grilled rare beef do not combine to the advantage of either.

I have been served steak at a heavily advertised, locally well-known chain.  The poor innocent steak had an exterior that had become carbon.  This is a place where the waiter comes by to shine a flashlight on the nice dark pink interior of the steak, but it’s the charred exterior that renders the steak inedible.

I went to a grilling class south of Seattle where the instructors, supposedly famous for their art, showed us how to grill four different types of steak, none of which would have been worthy of an Applebee’s.

I have eaten too many ruined steaks and most of the ones that were ruined suffered from over-complication.

I eat a steak perhaps once a month, maybe every six weeks.  I want the experience to be memorable.  I no longer take my chances on a steakhouse or a restaurant, outside of the two I mentioned.  Here’s what I do.

First, I buy only U.S. prime beef.  You can get prime tenderloin steaks at Costco for the price of supermarket choice steaks.  If you find the price is too high, buy the package anyway and just eat the steaks less often, every two months, say, instead of every month.  They come in a pack of four.  Grill one now and freeze the rest.

Another option, buy Costco prime sirloin steaks.  They also come in a package of four and are an outrageously good value for money.

Second, I bring the steaks to nearly room temperature.  If your steak is frozen, transfer it to the refrigerator at least 36 hours before meal time.  48 would be better.  Two hours before meal time, take the steak out of the refrigerator.  Take out a dinner plate and put a cooling rack on it.  Pat the steak dry with paper towels.  Put the steak on the rack.  Sprinkle it with Kosher salt.  Don’t use any other kind of salt.  The salt should mostly cover the surface of the steak, like snow that is just beginning to stick to pavement.  Rub it in gently so it adheres.  Turn the steak over and do the same on the other side.

Now leave the steak alone.  Don’t touch it again until you put it on the grill.  Notice, please, no marinades, no rubs, no pepper, no seasoning or spice of any kind.  Just a generous sprinkling of Kosher salt.

I use a gas grill.  If you are a charcoal purist, you probably have not read this far anyway.  I turn the grill on to high about 25 to 30 minutes before cooking starts.  I want the grill to be as hot as I can get it.  After perhaps 15 minutes, I lubricate the grill with oil.  I use peanut oil, but I doubt that the type of oil matters.  Before Christmas 2014, I put the oil in a bowl, folded two paper towels up to form a wad, and used tongs to dip the wad into the oil.  Then I gently rubbed the grill.  The problem is, if you rub too hard, the paper towel will shred, which does not advance our cause.  For Christmas, my daughter Amy gave me a little grill mop that can be dipped in a bowl of oil so that the grill can be lubricated without bothering with paper towels.  This is a great idea.

A tenderloin steak, 1-3/4 inches thick that has been treated this way can be put on the grill for 3-1/2 minutes a side for very rare, 4-1/2 minutes a side for medium rare.  If you want pretty grill marks (and who doesn’t) put the steak on the grill at a 45 degree angle, with the ends pointing northeast and southwest.  Divide the cooking time for the first side of the steak in half.  At the half-way point, turn the steak 90 degrees so the ends are pointing northwest and southeast.  You’ll get lovely diamond shaped grill marks.  No need to repeat this for the second side, because no one is going to see that side.

When the steak comes off the grill, put it on a cutting board and leave it alone for five minutes.  Do not touch it, do not cut into it.  After five minutes, admire the steak, make sure your fellow diners admire the steak, then slice it.  Cut against the grain, at about a 30 degree angle to the cutting board, cutting slices perhaps 3/8 of an inch thick.  The slices make a better presentation on the plate than one big slab of meat, no matter how perfectly it has been cooked.

What about accompaniments, you ask?  I have two ideas involving mushrooms.  The first is very simple.  Roughly dice an onion and cook it in some olive oil on low heat until the onions are very brown, perhaps 45 minutes.  Then add a tablespoon or more of butter and a half pound of sliced mushrooms.  Increase the heat slightly and cook until the mushrooms are fully softened, perhaps ten minutes more.  This can be held over very low heat until the steak is ready, as long as you stir it now and again.

A second idea requires that you have beef stock available.  Sauté one-half pound of sliced mushrooms in 1-1/2 tablespoons of olive oil and 1-1/2 tablespoons of butter over medium heat.  You want to get these guys fairly brown.  Julia Child’s technique works perfectly.  Set aside.  In a separate saucepan, melt 1Tb of butter.  After it is done foaming, add 1 Tb of flour (I often add 1tsp more).  Make a nice dark roux.  Add a cup of stock, but have more available to keep thinning the sauce as it cooks.  You want to end up with a moderately thick sauce.  Five minutes before serving time (while the steak is resting) add the mushrooms and stir the whole lovely thing together.

Either of these would make a nice side dish.  I have not gone into timing, but I’ll note that if you are going to make one of these mushroom side dishes, you need to start while the steak is coming to room temperature.

Also, in the produce area of the supermarket, I have seen stalks, stems, roots, leaves and the like in various colors.  I understand that the people who eat them call them vegetables.  I suppose you could try one of those.