Reverse Seared Butter Basted Steak

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Reverse Seared Butter Basted Steak

This is my favorite way to cook a high quality steak. It’s not fast, but it’s worth the time. Perfect this and you’ll be ruined for anything but the absolute best steak house.

I made this as an exercise in minimalist cooking with a fun technique. It can be easily enhanced with more aromatics in the baste, repurposing the butter for a veggie saute, using different lipid combos… million ways to cook a steak!

Notes

• For a deep dive on the reverse sear I highly recommend this article

• Any steak will work but this recipe really shines with a thick and fatty high quality cut

• Butter basting builds a beautiful mahogany crust with lots of flavor and it’s a dramatic show!

• The final butter shower adds a nice sizzle and flash cooks the herbs

Equipment

• Heavy steel or cast iron pan (not non-stick)

• Rimmed baking sheet with nesting cooling rack

• Oven probe thermometer (my favorite)

Ingredients

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• Steak

• Kosher Salt

• Butter, half stick

• Optionally, fresh oregano or thyme sprigs

Directions

• Prep

  • Liberally dust steak on all sides with kosher salt

  • Insert the thermometer probe into the thickest part of the steak

  • Nest the cooling rack in the cookie sheet

  • Place the steak on the cooling rack

• Warm

  • Set oven to 200℉ or as low as it’ll go

  • Put the steak in the oven, no need to wait for pre-heating

  • Set your thermometer to 114℉ (see the reverse sear article for other temperature options)

  • Remove steak from oven when it reaches 114℉, takes about an hour in my oven

• Baste

  • Heat saute pan over medium high heat

  • Melt butter in pan

  • Gently lay steak in pan

  • Constantly spoon butter over steak, flipping every 30 seconds

  • When steak is rich mahogany on all sides, ~2-4 minutes of basting, return steak to cooling rack in cookie sheet

  • Keep remaining butter in pan warm over low heat

• Sizzle

  • If using, pile herb sprigs on top of steak

  • Let rest for 4 minutes

  • Pour remaining hot butter in pan over herbs and steak (expect a super satisfying sizzle)

• Serve!