I want to be able to prepare high quality steak
Steak is easiest to prepare. My method is fast.
Like Chanti said, best get a cast iron pan. Get it pre seasoned.
Get a nice thick Brazilian meat (miaow).
Take it out the fridge, wash and paper towel dry. Leave on counter.
Turn hob on high to very high heat, put pan on for 10-15min. Cast iron is a bit slow to heat up. Need to be hot hot hot before putting steak on.
Rub salt and pepper on both sides of steak. Rub with your hands. Be liberal with salt, more so if you get a nice thick steak. I like garlic salt for steak, or sea salt.
After 15min, put steak on pan, press it down with your hand. Cover pan with a lid so your house doesn't turn into a Benihana. Turn on extractor fan too.
Turn every 2-3min, press down with a utensil.
Should have a nice crust on both sides. If you run a knife over the side it should make a sound going over the crust. Thinner steaks will naturally tend to go well done, thicker steaks less well done.
For a thick steak, once you have a crust and press down in the middle, it should leave a slight indentation. That's a medium. More soft, more rare. Less soft, more well done.
Put on plate and let it rest for as long as you cooked it. If you cooked for 10min, rest for 10min. Put room temp butter on steak while it is resting.
Grind fresh pepper on steak before eating.
There you go, nice and easy, no preparation.
If you don't want to use cast iron because of the cleaning and oiling, get stainless steel. Steel will need the soft metal scouring pads to clean though.
Do not use non stick or tefal pans for steak. Too thin, they do not hold heat.
I like to cook broccoli in the beef fat, same pan, after the steak is done while it is resting as a side.