Chef and restaurant owner Michael Mina explains his butter bathing technique to create the perfect juicy steak.
There’s a difference between cooking steaks in butter and butter bathing your meat. A big difference, actually.
It’s a technique that Chef Michael Mina has been using for almost 20 years to create the perfect steak. And there’s good reason to listen to him — he leads the San Francisco-based restaurant management company MINA Group, he’s a repeated James Beard Award winner, and he was named Bon Appétit’s Chef of the Year in 2005. Oh, and he’s cooked for three presidents (and not TFG). No big deal.
MINA Group runs 30 restaurants, including seven (soon to be nine) locations of Bourbon Steak, STRIPSTEAK in Las Vegas and Hawaii, and steak-focused International Smoke in San Francisco, which he co-owns with Ayesha Curry.
Here’s our quick Q&A with Chef Mina about his butter bathing technique for cooking steaks, including a step-by-step guide to trying it yourself!
Food Fanatic: What exactly is butter bathing?
“Essentially, butter bathing is a warm marinade in butter that begins the cooking process. I developed the technique about 17 years ago. The technique involves placing a cold steak in warm, clarified butter and seasoning it with the fatty, buttery deliciousness, resulting in a mouthwatering flavor. It took about 3 months to perfect the technique. This method infuses flavor into the meat and ensures steadier, more even cooking, especially when wood-firing.”
When do you recommend using this technique?
“I always recommend bone-in cuts of steak for butter poaching for the best flavor results. When using a thinner cut of steak, I recommend brushing butter on the meat, rather than using the poaching technique.”
Why use butter instead of olive oil or another fat?
“I love to use olive oil when it comes to cooking fish and other types of meat, such as salmon and lamb. Steak pairs best with butter poaching, resulting in the most flavorful and tender steak.”
Butter Bathing a Steak Instructions
Here are the simple steps to the butter bathing process:
- Heat the butter bath to 115°F, allowing the flavors to meld and intensify.
- Season your steaks to your liking and immerse them in the butter bath for 15-20 minutes.
- Remove the steaks, let them drain, and re-season lightly before grilling to your desired level of doneness.
“The result? Each bite reveals a buttery tenderness that locks in the steak’s natural juiciness, enhancing its inherent flavors,” Mina says.
Related: How to cook a Tomahawk steak.
Sounds pretty good to us!
More Steak Ideas
If you love steak, be sure to check out some of our related recipes, tips, and advice! You could try using butter bathing on most of these, if you wish.