The Melted Butter Hack That Will Take Your Steak Up A Notch
What if we told you that one of the best ways to cook a steak is in a bath of melted butter? Yes, a bath. This cooking method, demonstrated by Cook With Meat on YouTube, is basically a butter braise followed by a brief sear, and it consumes an immense amount of the rich spread. In fact, for this technique to be successful, the butter needs to cover the steak entirely.
The butter steak hack is the definition of over-the-top. Not only is the dish relatively expensive to make (using more than 2 pounds of butter), but the process is also time-consuming. Cooking with butter can be tricky because it burns when heated past 350 degrees Fahrenheit, but in this case, the butter is only heated to a typical sous vide temperature of around 120 degrees, cooking the steak slowly for a little under an hour. Moreover, the recipe calls for clarified butter, or ghee, which lacks milk solids and has a high smoke point of 450 degrees, per Serious Eats.
Why would you want to cook your steak in butter?
Why would you want to cook your steak in butter? The short answer is: It makes it taste better. While the Cook With Meat method would imbue a delicious fattiness, you can also add garlic, herbs, and other seasonings to your clarified butter to imbue the meat with other tastes and aromas. YouTuber BBGrillShack tried this out and said that not only did the butter-cooked steak end up more tender than his grilled steak, but it also soaked up the flavors of the garlic and rosemary he'd added.
The end result of the butter steak is a cooked piece of beef that is tasty, but still lacks finishing. That's why the final step includes a seasoning and searing session — done in a very hot pan or oven — for a crispy crust. Before doing this, you will need to pat the meat dry when it comes out of its buttery bath so it can sear properly. Curious yet? If you plan on giving your meat so much love, you might as well go all-out and pick a fine cut to regale with butter, like ribeye or filet.