>>93761414moisture is the enemy of good steak crust
if you want to crustmaxx, salt your steak with coarse grain/kosher salt and place it on a wire rack in a rimmed baking sheet in the fridge, uncovered for at least a few hours or overnight. this will salt the steak throughout and dry the exterior of the steak.
if you lack time, pat dry the steak with paper towels and season with salt only just before searing, for the salt will draw moisture to the surface if given time
there are two ways to proceed from here, sear and then finish in the oven or bring up to near-temp in the oven and then finish with the sear.
in either case, this requires heating the oven and heating a preferably cast iron skillet with oil until ripping hot and wisps of smoke start to come off the pan.
