The Unique Butter The Pioneer Woman Uses For Perfect Steak

As anyone who's at all familiar with The Pioneer Woman knows, she and Marlboro Man live on one honking huge cattle ranch that compromises approximately half the state of Oklahoma. Okay, so it's only a measly 433,000 acres, but still, that's enough room to run more than a few head of cattle. While we can't say for sure whether Ree Drummond actually has the National Cattlemen's Beef Association slogan "Beef. It's what's for dinner" cross-stitched on samplers throughout the house, we know that meat is a prominent part of the Drummond family menu. If there's any celebrity chef who's qualified to teach us how to cook the perfect steak, The Pioneer Woman would have to be a leading candidate.

So how, then, does TPW cook the perfect steak? According to her Food Network recipe for ribeye, a cut many consider to be the most flavorful of steaks, she finishes them off with a little something she likes to call cowboy butter. This savory compound butter isn't exactly a Pioneer Woman creation, but rather, a more rugged renaming of the classic condiment known as Beurre Maître d'Hôtel (via Naples Daily News).

According to the recipe published on Food Network's website, cowboy butter consists of seven different ingredients. Butter, of course (two sticks of it); minced fresh parsley (1/3 cup); a lemon; a clove of garlic, finely minced; and red pepper flakes (¼ teaspoon), along with coarse ground black pepper and salt to taste. Using a stand mixer with the paddle attachment, she whips the butter until it's nice and fluffy, then adds the lemon juice, zest, and the rest of the ingredients. After beating everything all together, she adds more lemon juice, parsley, pepper, or salt as needed. Once it's combined, she forms the cowboy butter into a log, then refrigerates or freezes it until it solidifies.

Once you've got your cowboy butter, what do you do with it? Ree Drummond says she tops her ribeye steaks with thick slices of the butter as they cook, not only seasoning them but making them extra juicy. If that's not enough cowboy-liciousness for you, you can also use this flavored butter to top chicken or fish, stir it into mashed potatoes or rice, or spread it on bread. Yee-haw! Now that's some good eating, pardner.