Use instead of butter for Jamie Oliver’s steak recipe

buttergrillingsteaksubstitutions

Jamie Oliver had a steak recipe that was fairly simple:

  • Season (salt/pepper/olive oil)
  • Dry pan (no oil in the pan) on heat
  • Fry a minute+ on each side, flip several times
  • When browned, rub the outside with a clove of garlic, some rosemary, and a bit of butter and keep grilling on the pan
  • Rest, collect the juices, and use as sauce over the steak.

If I don't want to use the butter (or any dairy product) for the above step, what else can I use in that rubbing step instead of the butter? What exactly does the butter rubbing do, what effect would there be if I skip that alltogether, and what can I do to preserve the effect?

He mentioned that you can add butter to the resting juices to sweeten them, but didn't explain what rubbing when grilling does.

Best Answer

The butter is there for flavor, mouth feel, and to add some body to the sauce you make. I'd replace the butter with.... nothing at all. Many of the flavor compounds in garlic and rosemary are fat soluble and fat is not exactly in short supply when it comes to steak, so you should be able to run those on directly and still get some flavor. Alternatively you could steep some olive oil with the garlic and rosemary and brush a bit on, but I would just simmer them in the juices for a minute instead and then spoon them on the cooked steak.

I have a few comment's on Jamie's recipe:

  1. Do not use olive oil when frying steak, it has too low a smoke point and may turn bitter. Use vegetable oil (canola/rapeseed, corn, peanut, sunflower, safflower, or blend) instead.
  2. Do not pepper the steak before frying as pepper will burn and turn bitter. Add fresh pepper just after you remove it from the pan to rest. If you want a pepper flavor inside the steak use a marinade. Salting before is fine
  3. The oil is not a seasoning, that's the salt and pepper. The oil's purpose is to help conduct the heat from the pan to the steak until the steak's juices come out
  4. There flip repeatedly method works but it isn't the only way to do it, I prefer to flip once after about 65% of the cooking time has elapsed. Doing a 65-35 rather than a 50-50 flip will make your steak evenly pink in the middle and means you can turn your attention to other things. I also think you get a better sear when using a pan. I use the 1 minute flip over charcoal though as it keeps the steak from getting too crispy
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