Ingredients
Cowboy Butter
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into six 1-tablespoon pieces and softened, divided
1 tablespoon minced fresh chives
1 tablespoon minced fresh parsley
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon lemon juice
½ teaspoon paprika
¼ teaspoon cayenne pepper
¼ teaspoon pepper
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon water
Strip Steaks
2 (12- to 16-ounce) boneless strip steaks, 1 to 1½ inches thick, trimmed
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
Directions
1
You can use a nonstick skillet in place of cast iron; heat the oil in the nonstick skillet over medium-high heat until just smoking before adding the steaks. This recipe also works with boneless rib-eye steaks of a similar thickness.
2
FOR THE COWBOY BUTTER: Combine 5 tablespoons butter, chives, parsley, mustard, lemon juice, paprika, cayenne, pepper, and salt in small bowl and mash with fork. Set aside.
3
FOR THE STRIP STEAKS: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 275 degrees. Set wire rack in rimmed baking sheet. Pat steaks dry with paper towels, sprinkle all over with salt and pepper, and place on 1 side of prepared rack. Bake until steaks register 90 to 95 degrees, 20 to 30 minutes.
4
Heat 12-inch cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat for 5 minutes. Add oil to skillet and swirl to coat. Add steaks and cook until well browned and registering 125 degrees (for medium-rare), about 2 minutes per side. Return steaks to clean side of now-empty rack and let rest for 5 minutes.
5
Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in now-empty skillet over medium-low heat. Add garlic and water and cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Carefully pour garlic mixture into softened butter mixture and stir until smooth and butter has consistency of pancake batter. Slice steaks, transfer to individual plates, and spoon sauce over steaks. Serve.
Description
We were inspired to make a flavorful emulsified butter sauce to serve with steaks after hearing about a sauce called cowboy butter. We homed in on a version that was served at Mr. Donahue's, a now-closed restaurant in New York City. The cowboy butter there was a saucy compound butter made with other common household ingredients. To make our own, we combined fresh herbs, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, and seasonings. To get the sauce to the right consistency, we started by mashing all the ingredients into softened butter. Then, we melted an additional tablespoon of butter, added garlic and water, cooked the mixture until fragrant, and stirred the hot butter mixture into the softened butter mixture. For the steaks, we opted for thick-cut strip steaks and found that reverse searing yielded the best results. To do it, we simply brought the steaks up to about 30 degrees below their doneness temperature in a moderate oven to cook them gently and dry their exteriors and then seared them in a hot skillet to give them a nice crust. The bold cowboy butter paired perfectly with the steaks.