Use your senses to find a good piece of meat – a good, fresh piece of steak should have a nice red bloom (dark red is fine, but if it’s heading towards brown then the meat is old and starting to oxidise). Some butchers (and chefs) will dry-age their steaks too, essentially leaving them to dehydrate in a controlled environment over a period of days or weeks – dry-aged steaks have an added depth of flavour and look darker in appearance. The fat should be a white, creamy colour, and good marbling through the centre of the steak will give you lots of extra flavour. Also, beware of thin steaks! No matter how hot your pan is, if the steak is too thin, the centre is going to cook through before you can get a nice colour on the outside.

Lastly, don’t be afraid to ask your butcher for advice – not only will they be able to help with availability and quantities, a good butcher can also help you work out the best way to cook the specific cut you’re buying. You can check out our complete collection of steak recipes for tons more inspiration, but the eight listed here are our absolute favourites. Read on and enjoy!

Chef Henry Harris has been cooking filet au poivre for nigh on thirty years now, and he inherited the dish from the great Simon Hopkinson when the two were at Bibendum together. The key is to get a good black pepper crust formed on each side of the fillet, give the steak a good basting in beurre noisette, and use a really good quality gelatinous veal stock. Get those things right, and you’ll be treated to one of the greatest steak dishes in history.

Martin Morales’ escabeche steak takes cues from Nikkei cuisine (Japanese-Peruvian fusion) to create something utterly delicious, and it’s actually quite simple to make. He marinates his fillet steaks in a mixture of tamari, garlic, red wine vinegar, oregano and cumin, then sears them on a fierce grill, serving alongside Peruvian creamed corn and a tangy, acidic escabeche sauce.

The picanha is also known as the rump cap – a relatively lean cut popular in South America that has a thick cap of fat on top which renders down and bastes the meat as it cooks. Paul uses a brine, a dry rub and a glaze to add layers of beer and barley flavour to his steak, which helps to bolster the natural flavour of the meat. Whip up a smooth, creamy celeriac purée and char your baby leeks and you’re ready to plate, finishing with a bit of puffed pearl barley for texture.

Another rich, decadent steak dish with French roots, Tournedos Rossini was specially created for the legendary Italian composer and gourmet Gioachino Antonio Rossini in the nineteenth century. Richard Turner packs extra umami into the dish by using shiitake and porcini mushrooms as well as soy sauce to flavour his beef stock, which is then used to make the Madeira sauce that finishes the dish. After that, it’s just a case of cooking your steak, searing your foie gras and assembling everything together. Toast topped with fillet steak, foie gras and truffles, all brought together with a rich Madeira sauce. It’s a great example of how luxurious and decadent French food can be.

Fillet steak might be the ultimate luxury, but if you’re cooking for a crowd, you can’t go wrong with a côte de boeuf – a big, bold, flavourful cut that comes from the rib. Chef Andy McLeish has lots of great tips for cooking the côte de boeuf in this video, but the basis of his technique isn’t complicated at all: get the pan searing hot, cook the steak until a dark crust develops, baste with butter, garlic and herbs and then finish in the oven. Such a decadent cut of beef requires an equally decadent side – his potato gratin with Parmesan and fresh truffle fits the bill perfectly.

Rib-eye has become the steak of choice in recent years amongst those who champion taste above all else. It’s not the most tender cut out there, but the rich marbling of fat throughout the meat gives it bags of flavour. Dominic Chapman marinates his rib-eye in mustard, herbs, white wine and chilli for twenty-four hours before searing in a smoking hot pan – it’s a simple but effective way to get extra flavour into any steak, and the crispy potatoes roasted in duck fat on the side are an equally rich and tasty counterpart.

Onglet is one of our favourite steaks, but because it can be easy to overcook it doesn’t get the attention it deserves. When you cook it over a ferociously high heat so a crust can form before the centre cooks, it’s absolutely delicious. Nud Dudhia’s vibrant marinade uses a huge range of Mexican flavours – think spring onion, chipotle, jalapenos, lime, grapefruit and coriander – to pack as much flavour into the steak as he can. From there, it’s just a case of flash-frying the onglet before slicing it against the grain and bringing it to the table, to be loaded into a stack of warm corn tacos. If you’re after a steak dish that’s a little more exciting than a hunk of meat on the plate, we guarantee this one will bowl you over.

Another luxurious steak dish, Adam Byatt bolsters the intense beefiness of a T-bone by shredding slow-cooked oxtail through macaroni cheese and serving it on the side. What makes this recipe such a hit is the devilled butter, which contains anchovy, tarragon, paprika, brandy and chilli. As the steak rests, the butter gently melts over the meat to add a huge punch of umami flavour to an already sensational dish.