Baste steak with butter...then discard butter?

[BAPyessir6]

I've had a few friends who work in restaurants who say that after they baste a steak in butter they throw the butter out as it's unusable, and this is the only way to properly baste a steak. They say it's not much as it's only 1/4 to a half a stick of butter they baste each steak with (along with garlic, herbs, etc)., but I was wondering if there is any alternative to this as I hate food waste. I love the idea of butter with my steak, but most of the time I just make a sauce and finish it with butter to top my steak. Is it true that you toss the butter after you've basted a steak as the butter has "browned too much by this point"?

 

[dragnlaw]

If that is the reason they are tossing it "browned too much by this point" then I would say yes - it probably would develop a burnt taste. Unless of course they are using ghee, in which case I don't know why. Only other reason I can think of is that it has been in touch with meat and in a restaurant setting probably should be repurposed for sanitary reasons.

But for home cooks, if the butter can still be incorporated into the rest of the meal - then do it!

 

[Aunt Bea]

Top the steak with a piece of compound butter while the steak is resting.

 

[taxlady]

I've had a few friends who work in restaurants who say that after they baste a steak in butter they throw the butter out as it's unusable, and this is the only way to properly baste a steak. They say it's not much as it's only 1/4 to a half a stick of butter they baste each steak with (along with garlic, herbs, etc)., but I was wondering if there is any alternative to this as I hate food waste. I love the idea of butter with my steak, but most of the time I just make a sauce and finish it with butter to top my steak. Is it true that you toss the butter after you've basted a steak as the butter has "browned too much by this point"?

We were just discussing different ways to cook steak here, in a thread about searing beef, I believe. I think the resto chefs are cooking steak at a much higher temperature than is reasonable for a home cook. I don't think that cooking the steak at a reasonable temperature would cause excess browning of the basting butter. If it isn't excessively browned, I see no reason to get rid of it.

 

[Sir_Loin_of_Beef]

When I make Loco Moco I fry the hamburger in butter, then I make a pan gravy out of the drippings, part of which is the butter of course. you could do the same with a steak, and if you don't want gravy with it, then put it in a storage container and save it in the refrigerator for another meal.

Whisk 1½ cups beef stock, 4 tsp soy sauce, 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce, 2 drops sesame oil, 2 tsp ketchup, 2 tsp white sugar, and 4 tsp cornstarch together in a bowl. Pour mixture into the skillet with the butter and stir, scraping up browned bits from the bottom, until thickened, about 2 minutes. Reserve gravy until needed.

 

[jennyema]

Top the steak with a piece of compound butter while the steak is resting.

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You can’t make compound butter with cooked basting butter

 

[Aunt Bea]

You can’t make compound butter with cooked basting butter

Thank you!