That, my friend, is how you destroy a good piece of meat.

Preheat oven to 500, with cast iron skillet inside.

Coat steak lightly on both sides with oil and your choice of seasonings.

When oven and skillet are heated to 500, remove skillet to high heat on gas top stove, put steak in and sear on each side 30 seconds.

Place skillet back in 500 degree stove and cook 2 1/2 minutes on each side. 3-5 if you like it medium-well or well done.

Your steak dimensions are good, but the best is a 1 1/2 inch thick cut.

That, brutha, is how to cook a steak.

If you have an electic stove and oven, you're screwed. No sane person should have one anyway.

Important: Do not use lighter fluid on charcoal. Otherwise no matter what else you do to the meat, it is ruined.

My methods similar to yours, Robbo, although we do use a little Montreal peppercorn seasoning on the outside to add a little pop.

http://www.mccormick.com/productdetail.cfm?ID=6209

Mrs. C. is a charcoal Nazi, too, so I am usually preparing the fire like a stoker on the Titanic for about 45 minutes beforehand. No lighter fluid, we use an electric coal starter which works pretty good.

Mrs. C. gets the medium rare; I get the rare.

"Red meat! We crave sustenance!"

Isn't that from Withnail and I?

Anyway, Robbo has a good grasp of Steak Theory. Anyone who insists that their steak be "well done" doesn't even deserve a steak. Just give 'em a plateful of charcoal briquettes.

Actually, the quote is from Twister - I was a Philip Seymour Hoffman fan before it was cool.

I use a gas grill only because I inherited it and am too cheap/poor to buy a decent charcoal grill. What I really want is a Traeger, but that's even further off my cheap/poor radar at this point.

If you find yourself stuck with a gas grill for whatever reason, there are things you can do to mitigate the offense, including using wood chips. I prefer wood local to wherever you're cooking -- in the Northwest, that means alder, apple, and oak. I also use these when barbecueing (which is where I DO draw the line against anything but wood/charcoal).