Bobby Flay Tops Ribeye Steak With A Korean-Inspired Butter That 'Goes Great On Every Single Thing'

Although he recommends an easier cut of steak for beginners, ribeye is one of the celebrity chef Bobby Flay's favorite steaks for grilling. And he demonstrated one particularly flavor-packed preparation in a promotion for his Food Network show, "BBQ Brawl," posted to TikTok. In the clip, Flay showers the thick cut in a spice rub and drops it onto a screaming-hot wood-burning grill before getting to work on the recipe's pièce de résistance — gochujang butter.

In the video, Flay says, "I promise you, you want to make this butter. It goes great on every single thing, including this ribeye," referring to the gochujang butter. Gochujang is a hot, sweet, funky Korean paste typically made from the red chiles that give it its crimson hue plus glutinous rice and fermented soybeans. Its dynamic flavor profile is equally conducive to savory dishes like bibimbap as it is to sweet treats like sugar cookies. Those somewhat spicy, simultaneously confectionary qualities also make it great in Flay's compound butter-based beef enhancer, which he applies to the ribeye after it's acquired some caramelized color over the flames. And gochujang butter could barely be any easier to recreate in your own kitchen, with two store-bought ingredients alone or dressed up even more, as Flay does in his take.

All you really need to make a basic gochujang butter is a bit of each element and maybe a fork to mash them together. Unsalted butter is easier to adjust for more or less salinity, but you can use either. You can even eyeball the proportions, provided you make enough for whatever dish you wish to adorn. A few tablespoons would be a decent amount for a ribeye. Start with a one-to-one ratio of gochujang and butter and calibrate for your desired intensity from there. Some preparations also call for things like honey and garlic, which you can add to taste based on what's already in your ribeye rub or the other ingredients you plan to use in your compound butter.

Flay's version arcs more toward the elaborate end of the compound butter spectrum. He uses honey and garlic, both common compound butter ingredients, plus shallots, ginger, a splash of orange juice, soy sauce, sesame oil, salt, and pepper. The fresh aromatics sweat on the stovetop to soften for a bit before it's all whirled together in a food processor. Those small amounts of liquid add up to thin the texture into a sauce-like consistency rather than a traditional spread, which could just as easily be brushed onto chicken, fish, tofu, or whatever else could benefit from a kick from this versatile ingredient.