For those of you who don’t necessarily want to mess with a grill, or an oven, or just want a very quick steak dinner, a simple stove-top butter-basting is a great solution to making a perfect steak. Throw in some herbs and shallots, and you will have a steak exploding with flavors. The best part about a butter-basted steak is that you get a deeply caramelized, dark bark. That’s where most of the flavor comes from in a steak – a richly caramelized bark. That’s why we sear steaks – to give them more flavor. Butter-basting gives a steak more flavor than with most other cooking methods. Try this porterhouse steak recipe, you’ll know what I am talking about. To get the best out of you porterhouse steak, start preparing it a few days in advance. Season it liberally with salt and pepper, place in an uncovered container and refrigerate for up to 3 days. The salt will penetrate the meat and tenderize it. The meat will be seasoned inside too. If you don’t have the luxury of starting three days in advance, even a day will make a difference. Can’t do that either? Do it one hour in advance of cooking, but keep the steak outside at room temperature.
To take your porterhouse steak to an even higher level, if that’s even needed, serve it with homemade chimichurri. Argentinians really hit the nail on the head when they decided to put this oil, vinegar and herb mixture on grilled meat – it adds complexity of flavor and balance. Once you try it with a steak it’s hard to not want to do it again and again.
Since butter-basting involves high and medium-high cooking throughout, this method work best with thick steaks. About 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 inches thick. Thinner steaks will dry out quickly, before getting a good bark. Sources: Brown butter-basted steak Butter-basted, pan-seated thick steaks
