Butter is ideal for continually basting a steak and lends itself perfectly to some cuts and for those who like to be there tenderly managing the cooking. Being there and continually basting means the butter is less likely to burn and mar the flavour.
Because it adds proteins to the mix, butter is a better medium for adding deep brown color to your steak as well, which means that even if your steak is looking a little pale after its initial sear, once you add that butter, it'll rapidly take on color.
Adding butter to steak adds extra richness and can also soften the charred exterior, making a steak more tender.
The Easiest, Cleanest Way to Sear Steak
Don't add oil. Start in a cold pan (no need to preheat). Flip the steaks every 2 minutes. Start with high heat, and then after a few flips, turn it down to medium.
Pan-searing is hands-down the best way to cook a steak (it works wonders for salmon and scallops, too), and it also happens to be the easiest.
The First Step - Preparing to Grill
If you're planning to marinate your meat or vegetables first, using extra virgin olive oil helps pull fat-soluble flavors out of marinade ingredients like shallots and garlic and helps impart those flavors into the meat or veggies.
➎ Add 2 Tbsp of butter to hot pan and baste the steaks by scooping melted butter on top of the cooking steaks. Pro Tip: Gordon tells you to check tenderness by equating the tenderness of your palm to rare, top of the wrist as medium, and just below that as well done.
Butter on steak
Butter is ideal for continually basting a steak and lends itself perfectly to some cuts and for those who like to be there tenderly managing the cooking. Being there and continually basting means the butter is less likely to burn and mar the flavour.
Add you butter last to avoid burning.
Second, by the time your steak is ready the butter will have moved past browned and onto burnt, creating undesirable bitter flavors. Instead, start cooking your steak in the bare pan until it's about 20-30 degrees from your desired doneness, THEN add the butter.
What Type of Oil Should I use for Cooking My Steak? When cooking steak in cast iron skillets, you want to use a type of oil that has a high smoke point. For example, peanut oil, canola oil, grapeseed oil, and avocado oil are ideal options for cooking steak due to their high smoke points.
Grill Temp for Steaks
The best grill temperature to grill a steak is high heat (450-550 degrees F.).
However, every great steakhouse seasons the steaks they cook. Typically a steak is seasoned with coarse ground black pepper, sea or kosher salt, garlic, and some type of signature spice. In addition to the seasoning most steakhouse's use a marinade, butter, or some type of baste or finishing liquid.
Add 2 tbsp unsalted butter to the top of each steak during the last few minutes of cooking, spooning butter over steak as it melts.
Instead, it's a classic pan-searing technique called butter-basting that, for my money, often gives me the kinds of steaks, chops, and fish I crave.
Put the pan over high heat, and leave it until it is extremely hot. Add 1T butter and 2T olive or canola oil to the pan and watch for the butter starting to brown. Place the steak into the pan and reduce the heat to medium, cooking the first side for 4-6 minutes.
From Olive Oil Synergies
Rub all sides with olive oil and season well with salt. Heat a bit of olive oil in a cast-iron pan on a high-heat burner. You want it very hot. Lay the cold, seasoned steak in the hot pan and leave it for 2 minutes without touching or moving it.
If you're cooking steak on the grill, you most definitely should flip it about halfway through the cooking process. We typically recommend flipping your steak just once on the grill because it's not getting direct heat on one side like it would on a pan.
That might not seem like a huge gap, but it's the key to what makes French butter a favorite among chefs and bakers. They know that more fat means less water which leads to more flavor.
There's nothing better than to let the natural flavours of the meat sing. I keep it simple by first coating the meat with a bit of olive oil and then adding lots of coarse salt just before cooking so it doesn't dissolve, as this helps to create a nice surface texture.
Season the Steak: Steaks don't need much to make them great. Just before grilling, brush them lightly on both sides with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. If you want to get fancy, you can add spices like chili powder, paprika, or garlic powder to the rub.
While adding extra oil to a pan seems like a way to prevent the meat from sticking, it can backfire by resulting in greasy steaks that don't get the kind of brown crust you want.
The Chef's Way of Cooking A Steak
Just let it go. Once your steak is on your pan, let it sear and simmer down. It is very tempting to constantly check it and/or flip it – but don't. This is how a nice dark char is formed, and this is the correct pathway to your chef's steak.