I want to put the steak onto a hot pan to get that sear on the outside and uh lock in the flavor or something. But butter burns at high heats and oil doesn't add flavor like butter.
Is there a way I can get the best of both? A nice sear but still cook in butter?
America's Test Kitchen (especially the old shows, they delve into the how's and why's of everything).
For anyone just learning to cook, the ATK show and especially their cookbook are fantastic. You can find the cookbook all over for about $20, and every recipe explains how and why it works.
I think Alton did a remake of the original steak recipe using a reverse sear method. So OP make sure you arent watching the 90s version, for this particular thong anyway. Most of the old advice from good eats holds up though.
I pretty much never do reverse sear, or even sear-then-oven as it's only needed for thick steaks (1" or more), and well, that's an expensive cut so I rarely have it.
I find for thinner cuts it'll cook through to medium-rare in the time it takes to sear.
Yeah thinner or cheaper cuts I go with Ramseys method. If I have time, even with the thinner cuts, I'll salt it and leave it in the fridge for like 8 hours though.
Altons new method for the sear involves leaving an iron pan on the oven for 10 minutes just to heat the pan, 600° if you have an infrared. 45 second sear each side, so that might fix the sear problem if you did want to give it a shot.