[FTC Disclaimer] I have an informal relationship with Knob Creek and received a care package from them, including the pictured bourbon. We are sponsored by Certified Angus Beef® Brand. However, this post is not a sponsored post.
If you have been around Nibble Me This for long, you know that I love pairing bourbon with beef and pork. The sweet caramel notes complement pork. For beef, the smoky and peppery flavors in bourbon enhance a grilled steak like nobody's business.
As a general rule, I don't pair sweet with beef. My photography instructor once told me that it is essential to know the rules, not so you follow them blindly, but so you know WHEN and WHY to break them. This Ribeye with Bourbon and Sorghum Butter is my exception to the "no sweet with beef" rule. The smoky sweet steak just works.
Sorghum syrup comes from a grain crop that was grown heavily in the South. It has a sweet flavor that then turns dark and sultry, sort of like molasses but not exactly. Ronni Lundy refers to the taste as "Appalachian Umami." I decided to tie that flavor tantalizer with a good bourbon in a compound butter for steak.
I chose the Single Barrel Reserve because Breaking Bourbon's review said it has a "rich and creamy sweetness" and "packs a good amount of spice".
I knew the butter tasted great, but I was curious about how it would match up with the steak. It turned out fantastic, sweet and smoky but it didn't overpower the steak. Alexis particularly enjoyed this one.
Bourbon and Sorghum Ribeye Steaks
Ingredients
2 Certified Angus Beef® Brand ribeye steaks
2 teaspoons peanut, avocado, canola, or other high-temperature cooking oil
Prepare your steaks. Pat the steaks dry. Apply a light amount of peanut oil to the steaks and season with the NMT Umami Steak Seasoning. Allow the steaks to rest at room temperature for at least 1 hour.
Make the compound butter. Mix the butter, sorghum syrup, bourbon, and black pepper together. Taste and add salt as needed.
Grill your steaks. Preheat your grill to 450-500°f. Grill the steaks until they reach an internal temperature of 125°f, about 4 minutes per side, for medium rare.
Rest the steaks. Remove the steaks to a resting rack and immediately top with some of the butter.
The butter will be a bit loose at first until the liquid is fully mixed in. Just keep whipping it with a fork until it is all combined.
I grilled the steaks on a Big Green Egg Mini-Max kamado grill set up with GrillGrates. The ribeyes are in the back. The two steaks up front are chuck eye steaks.
I've been doing something a little different with my GrillGrates for steaks lately. I do 3 minutes a side to get the classic grill marks...
...Then I flip the GrillGrates and sear them for about 30 seconds a side to fill in the color between the grill marks just a touch.
Having the butter left out at room temperature for an hour helps ensure that it melts and gets it's flavoring all over the steak.
For the asparagus, I cooked it without any seasoning.
But as soon as the asparagus came off, I put them on a tray with a room temp compound butter made of garlic salt, black pepper, and dried shallot.
Grilled steak and asparagus is a classic for a reason - it's just damn delicious.
Tender as you can imagine. The best part is dragging each bite through the sweet and smoky butter.