Tribal People Try Steak

Steak is a thick cut of beef cooked quickly over high heat and served pink in the middle. It is the centrepiece of American and Argentine eating and comes with its own vocabulary: ribeye, sirloin, medium-rare.

Pink meat is the whole conversation. Beef in Punjab is cooked until it falls apart in nihari or dry-fried in a karahi; a medium-rare steak looks raw to someone who has never seen one, and several people say it plainly before tasting it.

Beef is eaten here, but as slow-cooked curry, not as a slab. The idea that a piece of meat could be done in six minutes is as surprising as the colour.

If you cook it: Room-temperature meat, a pan hot enough to smoke, salt just before, and a proper rest afterwards.