Pan-Seared Steak with Garlic Herb Butter

Juicy and delicious Claypot Cooker Garlic Herb Butter Steak sliced on a wooden plate.

Adapted by Kyle Libramonte

Prep Time: 35 Mins • Cook Time: 15 Mins

Serves 2

Ingredients:

  • 1 (12-16 oz) Ribeye or New York Strip Steak, 1 to 1 1/2 inches thick, fully thawed 
  • 1 TSP Kosher Salt, plus black pepper to taste
  • 1 TBSP Neutral High-Smoke-Point Oil
  • 2 TBSP Butter
  • 2 Sprigs Thyme
  • 2 Garlic Cloves, peeled and smashed 
  • 1 Sheet Foil and 1 Flat-Bottomed Weight — a small pot, a full can, anything that won't melt and sits flat
  • 1 Instant-Read Thermometer — the only honest way to call doneness, and pulling thirty seconds early beats cutting into it to check

Instructions:

  1. Salt It Dry and Leave It Out for 30 Minutes: Pat both sides completely dry with paper towels, salt it all over including the edges, and leave it on a plate at room temperature for 30 minutes. Salt pulls moisture to the surface first and then draws it back in seasoned, and thirty minutes is exactly long enough for the round trip.
  2. Preheat on Sear/Sauté High a Full 10 Minutes Before the Steak Is Ready: Set the empty claypot to sear/sauté on high and leave it alone for ten minutes while the steak finishes sitting.
  3. Oil the Pot, Not the Steak: Add the oil, give it about thirty seconds to thin out and shimmer, then lay the steak down away from you.Set it down and leave it — sliding it around in the first two minutes tears the crust off before it's had a chance to set.
  4. Foil and a Weight on Top, Both Sides: Lay a sheet of foil over the steak, set the weight on top, and sear 3-5 minutes; flip, re-cover, re-weight, and go 3-5 minutes on the second side. Steaks bow upward in the middle as the muscle contracts, which lifts the center off the surface and leaves you with browned edges and a pale stripe down the middle, and the weight is what keeps the whole face in contact. Press, don't poke — every fork hole is juice on the bottom of the pot instead of in the steak.
  5. Pull at Temperature, Not at Time, Then Shut the Unit Off: Read the center with the thermometer and move the steak to the waiting plate the moment it hits your number, then switch the claypot off completely. Carryover adds about five degrees after it leaves the pot and the butter baste at the end adds a few more on top of that, so 135 out of the pot lands you at a solid medium — pull at 125 to 128 if medium rare is what you're after. Switch it off rather than dropping to low and letting it idle, because clay coasts hot for a long time and an idling pot is still climbing.
  6. Tent It With Foil and Rest 10 to 15 Minutes, Butter With 5 Left: Lay a sheet of foil loosely over the steak, rest it ten to fifteen minutes, and when there are five minutes left switch the claypot to sear/sauté on low and add the butter, thyme, and smashed garlic. The rest is what lets the juices thicken and get reabsorbed instead of flooding the board on the first cut, and the foil holds the temperature up so the steak isn't lukewarm by the time it goes back in — a thick steak sheds a surprising amount of heat sitting bare for fifteen minutes. Keep the tent loose and open at the ends, because foil crimped down tight traps steam against the crust and softens the shell you spent ten minutes of preheat building. The butter goes in on low since on high it goes from melted to black in about the time it takes to find the tongs.
  7. Back In the Pot and Baste, Spoon It Rather Than Cook It: Return the steak to the pot and spoon the foaming butter over it continuously for about a minute, working the top, the edges, and the fat cap. You're coating it and picking up the garlic and thyme, not cooking it any further. The pot is on low and it's still plenty hot enough to add real degrees, so a minute means a minute.
  8. Slice Against the Grain and Pour the Rest Over: Find the direction the muscle fibers run, cut across them at a slight angle, and pour whatever butter is left in the pot over the sliced steak. Cutting with the grain leaves the fibers full length and the steak eats tough no matter how well you cooked it. Serve right away, because sliced steak goes cold far faster than a whole one.

 

Juicy and delicious Claypot Cooker Garlic Herb Butter Steak sliced on a wooden plate.

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