Gravy's Cooking Thread

M Power said:

Why are you using olive oil for your steaks on the grill and not butter? It's one thing to use for a marinade but I don't see the reason to use regular olive oil for grilling a steak. I could see a quality evoo after it's done but butter is going to have a higher smoke point, more flavor, and achieve the same result you'd be using olive oil for.

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Actually, clarified butter has a higher smoking point, not regular butter because of the milk solids. That's why when you do a true blue blackening method in screaming hot cast iron you're supposed to use clarified. I use just melted butter with the milk solids because I like the char and the taste that it gives, because you get those brown butter nutty flavors. Also if you're going to blacken, rub the protein, melt your butter and then drizzle it all over the meat and then set it in the fridge so the butter solidifies, and then just take those pieces and cook. I find it to be a better method then putting the butter on then your seasoning.

You could just use ghee, and you can even brush it with mayonnaise. I've done the Mayo brushing a couple of times and it gets pretty damn great results, and all of it cooks off, and you're not left with any sort of mayonnaise taste.

Olive oil is perfectly fine though to brush on meat before you grill. The problem is if you go to use butter it's just going to burn off, where if you're growing you would typically make a compound butter and then top the resting meat with it as a finish.

I like butter on the steak after you cook it. I have my doubts that you can tell much difference from what oil you use before you cook.

moonarchia said:

You do get different flavors in the carbonized bits depending on what you use. The inside of the steak will be the same no matter what.

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That's why a blackening is such a tasty method, it's all about using that chard butter flavor and combination with a robust spice mix to get a crispy at least season crust. Whether it be steak, pork chops, or a fish fillet, there's nothing that quite taste like that method when you cook whatever piece of meat or protein.

You just have to make certain a dude outdoors unless you've got a hell of a ventilation system over your range.