When cooking steak, the stakes (sorry!) are high. Often expensive, this prime piece of meat is usually saved for a special occasion and it takes some skill and confidence to cook it well. The approach to how you should do this will vary depending on the style of cut and its thickness. This collection of our most popular steak recipes shows you how to achieve a restaurant-style finish for deluxe, on-the-bone tomahawk and porterhouse, as well as ideas for more affordable flank, hanger and skirt steak. And, we even have a recipe for ostrich steak if you’re looking for something a bit different.

Ostrich is high in protein and lean, with a taste a little like grass-fed beef. It can be cooked in a similar way to beef steaks – just fried in a pan and then rested. In this recipe, Rosana McPhee then makes a simple pan sauce with the delicious leftover fond in the skillet.

Steak doesn’t get much more show-off than a tomahawk – essentially a rib-eye on the bone, it makes an impressive centrepiece, serving about four people. Here it’s treated with a miso glaze and cooked until charred on the barbecue, with burnt tomatoes and a homemade garlic bread which absorbs those delicious meaty juices.

If you have a sous vide, you can try this Michelin-style blackened steak at home. Chef Paul Welburn from W1 restaurant explains how to brine then caramelise the outside of the beef in a pan. With fine dining accompaniments, such as parsley root purée and salted caramel onions, this makes a real special occasion dish.

It may not be one of the big ticket cuts, but affordable skirt steak – if treated well – can offer something delicious and a bit special. Food writer Naimh Shields shows us how with this flavour-packed recipe for Korean spiced, marinated skirt cooked over a high heat.

Two British classics, steak and bone marrow, are paired in this recipe for a richly flavoured and special, but relatively budget-friendly dish. Chef Mark Hix gives us his method for getting the best out of both ingredients in just a few steps.

Steak, mushrooms, tomatoes and chips is a gastropub classic. This version, from chef Josh Eggleton, gives the method for a simple, perfectly cooked rib-eye as well as the best crispy on the outside, fluffy in the middle, chunky chips.

A great sharing steak, the porterhouse steak is made up of two cuts, top sirloin and tenderloin, with a bone between them. This recipe makes the most of this impressive cut with a rich milk stout and bone marrow sauce.

Overnight marination in lime juice, fish sauce and soy sauce tenderises cheaper flank steak so that it can be cooked quickly on the barbecue, with delicious results. It’s great with a simple slaw or some veg in summer, but also pairs well with mustardy lentils or sweet potatoes in winter.

‘Escabeche’ is an acidic sauce that is used to marinate fish or meat. In this Peruvian version, it is used as the basis for a tangy sauce served on the side of steak along with homemade creamed corn.