Use This 5-Minute Step For Better Pan-Seared Ribeye Steak

There are hundreds of ways to upgrade a ribeye, but Nyitre Rogers, Chef de Cuisine at The Edge Steakhouse, believes that butter basting is both one of the easiest and the most delicious. With just a simple knob of butter, you can impart more flavor, moisture, and better texture to your already rich cut in just five minutes.

"When I spend five intentional minutes basting that steak with butter, I am having a full on conversation with it," explained Rogers. "As the butter foams and kisses the surface, it carries those nutty, caramelized notes straight into every crevice of the steak." Since butter typically cooks so quickly, bathing your steak in it to impart all that extra fat is an easy, quick way to really make your meal's flavor pop. You already get plenty of roasted, savory flavor from the Maillard crust of a seared steak, but by hitting it with butter, you get an extra layer of that same taste.

"My biggest tip is to control the temperature," Rogers continues. "Start with a hot pan to build your crust, then lower the heat before the butter ever goes in." If you've ever burnt butter before, you know it's hard to come back from. Lowering the heat is also a great help for your aromatics, giving your butter a chance to soak up and distribute their flavors.

There's nothing wrong with a butter and salt steak, but since butter is so great at carrying other flavors, it's a wasted opportunity to not include them. The flavor of many aromatics are fat-soluble, meaning they only get more delicious and pronounced when introduced to butter and oil.

"Garlic is my anchor," says Nyitre Rogers. "I lightly crush it so it perfumes the butter without becoming bitter." While diced garlic may have a larger surface area, causing it to swiftly leak out its flavor, it also tends to burn when cooked longer than a couple minutes. Crushing garlic, however, still releases tons of taste while keeping each piece's size large enough to not burn right away. Plus, you can always use your deeply browned crushed garlic as a garnish for your steak once it's ready!

"Rosemary brings a bold, piney warmth that pairs beautifully with the richness of a ribeye, while thyme adds a softer, earthy note that rounds everything out," Rogers finishes. The two together compromise both ends of the herbal spectrum; delicate floweriness and woody earthiness. Combined with butter and red meat fat, they add a complexity to your dish that costs you nothing more than just tossing in a couple sprigs once you've added the butter. To guarantee they release their full flavors, give them a couple good whacks with the flat of a chef's knife to break up their leaves and force them to release their oils right away.