I talked to a friend today who was buying steaks for dinner, and planning on grilling them on his George Foreman Grill.

About which, I must admit, I went slightly apoplectic.

Because, it turns out, cooking steaks (or, really, pretty much anything outside of a burger or a panini) on a George Foreman is a terrible, terrible idea. Those little machines just don’t get hot enough to do real cooking, yielding steaks, for example, that are burned along the top and bottom, and a dull grey most of the way through.

In fact, cooking steaks, and cooking them well, is exceedingly easy to do. Observe:

1. Take the steak out of the refrigerator, and rub it down with some olive oil, kosher salt, and pepper.

2. Put a skillet or saute pan in the oven, and heat the oven to 450 degrees.

3. Take the skillet out of the oven (don’t forget the towel or oven mitt, rocket-boy; the skillet will be searingly hot) and place it on the stove, over high heat.

4. Put the steak in the middle of the skillet for four minutes.

5. Turn the steak over, and put the skillet back into the oven for five minutes.

6. Check for doneness – you can make a small incision (the rookie choice), use an instant-read thermometer (the techie choice – 130 degrees for medium rare), or poke it with your finger (the pro choice – learn how). Depending on your preferences, either leave the meat in for another minute or two, or pull it out.

7. Plate the steak, let it rest for 5-10 minutes so the juices redistribute evenly, then serve.

Voila. No harder than the Foreman, far easier to clean (the only mess is the skillet, which doesn’t develop inter-ridge crust), and an order of magnitude more delicious.

Try it tonight. Thank me tomorrow.