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You can use Ghee or any type of clarified butter. The milk solids are the part of the butter that burn, pure butter fat has a pretty high smoke point.

Also, don’t be afraid to add olive oil or butter to the steak after serving.

PS: Not to be TOO pedantic but searing doesn’t lock in flavors/juices, it’s just for the maillard reaction

Best of both worlds is to sear in a high smoke point oil like avocado or canola and then butter baste at the end until the butter is nicely browned. Add some whole aromatics on the steak (garlic, rosemary, thyme etc.) during the butter baste for some nice flavour too.

Ghee is also an option.

I like to use bacon fat.

When you cook it in butter, you’re gonna wanna actively continue to baste the butter over the meat and just keep it moving so it doesn’t burn, and you would first sear the steak at high heat, then cook the rest of the way at a lower temp while you’re applying the butter and herbs and stuff.

The simplest is to just lower the heat. Set the steak in there and let it get its crust by letting it… sit there.

Don’t keep flipping it. A good sear comes from good, even heating and the time+temperature. Lower the temperature and increase the time.

The caveat to that is it may come out slightly more well done. Especially particularly thin cuts. To solve that, instead start with canola and add butter after the sear. (Sear one side, reduce temp, add butter and cook the other side without flipping.)

Mix oil and butter to increase the smoke point. Or sear in oil and baste with butter at the end.

Thanks for all the advice. I wish I posted this before I cooked my steak.

I used to run a cooking blog, so I’ve watched dozens of world renown chefs prepare steak, and I’ve tested many different methods myself. The most popular and tasty method by far is to brush the steak with olive oil and sear it over high heat, finish cooking at lower heat, and then baste it with butter when it is finished. You can either baste it with butter in the pan, adding aromatics as desired, or just brush it down with butter and let it rest. There’s an internet trendy reverse sear method where you bake it at low heat first, and then finish it over high heat to obtain the sear, but the butter would still be applied after all of that, as the last step before resting.

I just let the steak’s own fat do the work, no additional fats necessary. Just be sure to allow the meat for rest for at least 5-10 minutes after cooking before you cut into it.

What about a mixture of butter and oil? There seems to be mixed information as to whether this actually yields a higher smoke point, but even if it doesn’t, it will effectively dilute the burnt flavors.

Sear it in oil. Once the crust is formed you can ease off the heat, add the butter (garlic and herbs too, if you want) once it’s safe, and baste. Basting might cause it to carry over cook a bit more, so be conservative with the core temp.

Use beef tallow instead of butter. I personally just trim the excess fat from the steak and render that down then pull out all the solid bits, crank the heat until it smokes, then drop the steak in.

Start with a tablespoon of olive oil, and melt 2tbsp butter into it

Two shows to watch:

Good Eats

America’s Test Kitchen (especially the old shows, they delve into the how’s and why’s of everything).

For anyone just learning to cook, the ATK show and especially their cookbook are fantastic. You can find the cookbook all over for about $20, and every recipe explains how and why it works.