Elevate Your Next Steak Dinner With This Butter Hack

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When you've already mastered flavor and texture, it can be hard to find a new way to serve steak and impress your guests. However, mastering the basics means it's time to turn to tricks, and there are few better and easier than some delightfully shaped butters.

Using a simple silicone chocolate mold (like this cowboy-themed mold), just smear softened butter over the surface, filling the molds, then let it sit in your freezer for a few hours to firm up. While you could always replicate this hack with an ice cube tray, the goal here is to improve your steak's presentation. Fun molds, whether they match an upcoming holiday, season, or special event, are that little something extra that shows how much care you've put into someone's meal. Everything from the table cleanliness to plate color can affect the presentation of your food, so turning to little details like the shape of your butter is a simple way to show off.

The best part about this hack is that it doesn't just have to be for show. While a simple pat of butter can improve the moisture, mouthfeel, and flavor of just about any steak, working with softened butter is an opportunity for new flavor. Whether you mix in herbs, garlic, spices, or even blend two butters together, you can improve both the appearance and taste of your hacked butter quite easily.

Compound butter is one of the greatest tricks in cooking. Butter itself already is a luxurious and rich addition, but improving it with seasonings that complement your steak is a surefire way to guarantee a dinner's success.

Nine times out of ten, you'll want to use unsalted butter to have maximum control over your end product's flavor. This is especially important if you take the easy route and just want to blend in some seasoning salt or other premade mixtures. Once your butter softens, toss it in a bowl and add in your seasonings, stirring until thoroughly incorporated. Using a rubber spatula, scoop and spread the softened butter over your silicone molds until they're all full, taking care not to waste too much on the material in between the molds.

The variations are practically endless, whether you're making a boozy compound butter or a simple garlic and salt concoction. However, all recipes must start with room temperature, soft butter to ensure it's mixed correctly, and end with some time in the fridge or freezer to set into your silicone molds. To guarantee your butter keeps its shape but isn't too hard, try filling your molds the night before and letting them set up in the fridge until it's time to eat.