T-Bone Steaks with Black-Pepper Butter
Skip the steak sauce—a pat of plain or compound butter, like the black-pepper butter featured here, is the perfect finish to a grilled steak.
Ingredients
For the black-pepper butter:
- 8 Tbs. (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 2 Tbs. chopped shallots
- 1 Tbs. freshly cracked pepper
- 1 tsp. steak sauce
- Kosher salt, to taste
- 6 T-bone steaks, each about 10 oz. and 1 1/2 inches thick
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste
- 6 Tbs. olive oil
Directions
To make the black-pepper butter, place the butter in a small bowl. Using a fork, work in the shallots, pepper and steak sauce, distributing them evenly. Season with salt. Transfer to an airtight container and refrigerate to harden. Alternatively, spoon the seasoned butter into a rough log shape near one long edge of a 12-by-6-inch sheet of waxed paper. Roll the paper over the butter and press the butter into a solid, uniform log. Continue rolling the waxed paper around the butter and twist both ends to seal securely, then refrigerate. (The butter will keep refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 1 month.)
About 30 minutes before you are ready to begin grilling, remove the steaks from the refrigerator. Season the steaks generously on both sides with salt and pepper.
Prepare a hot fire in a grill. Brush and oil the grill grate.
Brush the steaks on both sides with the olive oil. Place the steaks on the grill directly over the heat and cook for about 3 minutes. Using tongs or a wide spatula, rotate each steak a quarter turn (90 degrees) to create crisscrossed grill marks. Cook for 2 to 3 minutes more, then turn the steaks over. Cook until well grill-marked and cooked to your liking, 5 minutes more for medium-rare, or until an instant-read thermometer inserted horizontally into the center of a steak, away from bone, registers 130ºF.
Transfer the steaks to warmed plates. Put a generous pat of the butter on each steak and let the steaks rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Serves 6.
Adapted from Williams-Sonoma Grill Master, by Fred Thompson (Weldon Owen, 2011).
