Ribeye with Garlic Compound Butter

nicholas — Thu, 06 Aug 2009 00:41:45 +0000

Last night I had to back at claim that I made. The claim was rooted in honesty; I stated to a friend that I’d much rather eat a steak at home than a restaurant. Eventually (after a few beers I’m sure) that evolved into something outrageous. The exact quote is lost to the night. But, it was something along the lines of “I would rather have a steak at home because I can cook a steak better than I can get at any restaurant.”

Of course this isn’t true. But I had to defend, and cook a set of steaks to let my buddy judge.

Roasted Garlic & Chive Compound Butter

roasted garlic

chives

Plugrá salted butter

The compound butter is an easy prep. Roast the garlic out on the grill or in the oven by lathering it with olive oil, salting it with kosher salt, and cooking it until the cloves are tasty and soft. Mix it with the butter (at room temperature) and chives and refrigerate.

There was no magic to the ribeyes. I let them come to temperature by taking them out of the fridge 20 minutes before they hit the grill, salted them, and ground on some fresh black pepper. When the grill was rocket hot, I seared the steaks and when I achieved some good grill marks and carmelization, I took them off direct heat until the desired internal temperature (rare) was achieved.

I was satisfied with the results, and the butter is always a hit.

When to Season Meat

nicholas — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 01:59:52 +0000

Any cooking enthusiast will eventually tackle the question of when to season meat. Generally, an opinion is formed soon after that lasts indefinitely. This is certainly true of me, and of the friends that openly disagree with my methods.

In the July issue of Food & Wine, an article caught my eye. It aimed to tackle the question and I was surprised to see it was authored by a name I’ve certainly seen before. Oliver Schwaner-Albright hosted some experienced friends and put together a nice little experiment by salting meats and allowing the group to decide which was better: 24 hours before, or just before cooking. The results were interesting:

Salting does not cause meats to lose water weight
Chicken was more succulent when salted the day before
Rib eye steak was a matter of taste
Pork seasoned the day before was dry
Lamb seasoned the day before was “exquisite”

Surely, this won’t end the debate, but the article – The Juicy Secret to Seasoning Meat – is definitely worth a read. What do you think?

[Header image credit - Nick Dawson]

Perfect Sear » ribeye

Ribeye with Garlic Compound Butter

When to Season Meat