Why Home Cooks Should Use Oil Instead Of Butter On Roasts – Exclusive

Choosing a roast for your weeknight dinner or celebration is the easy part. But cooking it to perfection? Now, that can be a tough feat, especially with how simple it is to overcook and underseason. Butter is widely used for enhancing flavor when searing roasts, as it can tenderize the meat and add saturated fat (which makes for a very delicious cut of meat). However, Omaha Steaks Executive Chef David Rose offers a better solution for searing in slabs of butter. 

"With olive oil or even grapeseed oil, [there is] a higher smoke temperature," Rose explained in an exclusive interview with Mashed. According to Rose, smoke temperature means "the temperature in which it'll get bitter and acrid and start to burn," which is what you don't want when making a roast. That's why he advises choosing something with a low smoke temperature in order to avoid burning and achieve maximum flavor.

If you are searing a roast with butter before or after cooking it, it is more likely to burn due to its low smoke point. Instead, David Rose recommends home cooks use olive oil or grapeseed oil to lessen any chance of the roast charring. "I make it with the grapeseed oil or olive oil, and then I make that compound butter, and when it's resting, I put that compound butter on there and let it rest, as well," he says.

Compound butter is butter mixed with herbs (such as smoked paprika, rosemary, thyme, parsley, black pepper, and salt) and minced garlic. When you allow the roast to rest, the butter melts into the "pores and crevices of the prime rib," resulting in an exceptional roast. Finally, If you need a roast recipe to complete your holiday meal, check out Mashed's standing rib roast recipe or Bobby Flay's prime rib recipe and apply Rose's advice.