From time to time the animal inside of me wants to get fed, I mean: really to be fed, and then I take a walk to meet a great butcher in the Rue des Archives here in Paris who specializes in beef from the Fleur d’Aubrac race. You might think it snobbish or all-too-refined to make a difference between different cow breeds but that’s where you’re wrong.

A cow is not a cow and a breeder is not a breeder – they are all very different, the cows and their meat, and the breeders who know their job or, well, they don’t. The guys in Aubrac are experts in producing excellent, beautiful fare. Meat that doesn’t shrink in the pan, that keeps its flavors, its texture, its force. The slab pictured above was one of them.

There’s only one way to prepare such a steak which is as heavy as a roast, in fact. David Chang from New York’s Momofuku has described it in his great book. So I won’t repeat it here because I want you to get this book. Roughly, you have to sear it. Roast it. Baste it. And if you manage your timing correctly, the piece comes rare to the plate as it should. And you’ll make the people around the table very happy.

What to serve with it? Potatoes, to be sure. A salad. And red wine.