What oil to use when cooking steak, and what difference does it make

Sure. Oil gets quite hot, and it'll cook areas that aren't in direct contact with the bottom of the pan, which will certainly speed cooking time. The technical term for cooking with a small amount of oil is Sautéing. Without oil, you might call it grilling or searing? With more oil, frying.

Answer: No oil.

I don't use oil. I use a non-stick pan or I grill it in oven.

I don't understand why people are using oil to do injustice to salmon. I want the salmon to be firm and not mushy. I already face the problem of having to take care of the juice/oil flowing out of the salmon. I don't want more fluid added which would further mushify the fish.

Pan-poaching:

• Place the slice of salmon on its skin, on the pan.
• Gradually turn the heat up to moderate.
• As the skin-side gradually becomes firm, turn the slice over.
• When the other side also becomes firm, turn the slice back to face the skin-side down to brown the skin on strong heat.

The problem I face is too much juice/oil exuding from the salmon.

Continually notice if salmon juice/oil is flowing out, to drain the juice/oil into a bowl. After cooking salmon is complete, place salmon into serving plate and the pour salmon juice back into pan. Add diced garlic, chopped cilantro and onions. Or use pre-fried onions bought from Vietnamese store. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes. Resultant is a nice gravy to be used as topping for the salmon. Sprinkle blue cheese bits.

Broiling (set the oven to broil):

• Place salmon skin facing up on oven pan.
• For soft steak: use a smaller pan so that the juice/oil that flows out would not spread out to be being burnt away by the heat. So that the juice/oil keeps the salmon moist and soft.
• For firm poach: Drain the pan frequently.
• Use various apparatus to elevate the pan so that the salmon is 1 inch away from the top heating element of the oven.
• Turn oven to 180 F for 30 minutes. This is to firm up the salmon and let its initial flow of juice/oil out of the salmon.
• Then turn the oven up to 240F till the fish is cooked.
• Gently separate the skin from the fish without injuring the flesh.
• Broil the skin at 350F till it becomes crispy.

Crispy salmon skin biscuit = heavens! The crispy salmon skin must be eaten within 30 minutes - otherwise, it would soon absorb moisture and becomes flaccid.

See, no oil involved (other than the oil exuding from the fish).