I’ve been seduced by the Lurpak butter ads in the mainland broadsheet papers. A full colour picture of an aged beef, rib-eye joint sports the caption ‘When it’s as good as it gets, add Lurpak’. Subliminally, I was in a state of permanent readiness; it took no encouragement to ask butcher Rob to cut a thick steak from the joint of yearling beef that looked so alluring (and so much like the advertisement) in his display cabinet.

Heeding the advertisement byline that a glorious piece of steak needs no more than butter I grabbed the best butter I could find – French Lescure (sorry Lurpak) – and made classic Maitre d’Hotel butter. This is the simplest of the cold, compound butter sauces and is one of the best because it enhances, rather than masks, the flavour of a good piece of steak.

Maitre d’Hotel butter is flavoured with parsley (generous), lemon, salt and pepper with a splash of vinegar to give it tang. Yes the Lescure butter was very lovely but any good butter, including the delicious Lurpak, will be fine. I like lemon so tiny, tiny dice of lemon rind went in the mix along with juice. If you have any butter leftover it is delicious spread on a piece of toast with smoked salmon or ham on top. This is so good that it is worth preparing extra butter to make the breakfast toast particularly memorable.

The beef, by the way, was the tenderest piece of steak, apart from eye fillet, that I’ve eaten in the last few years. It was a big piece of meat so needed only a fresh green salad on the side.

Rib eye beef steak with Maitre d'Hotel butter

4cm thick rib eye steak

olive oil

salt flakes

ground black pepper

Preheat oven to 180C.

Bring the steak to room temperature. Lightly oil the top side and season well with salt and pepper.

Place seasoned side in a moderately hot, non-stick fry pan. Oil and season the side now facing up. Cook each side for barely 3 minutes.

Place steak on a baking tray and cook in the moderate oven for 15-18 minutes for a 4cm thick piece of rib-eye. Medium rare will take 18 minutes, rare 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, cover with foil and rest for at least 5 minutes. Top with a disc of butter and serve accompanied by seeded mustard and a green salad with vinaigrette.

For the Maitre d’Hotel butter:

125g Lescure butter, softened

2-3 tbsp parsley

juice of half lemon

1 tsp sherry vinegar

1 strip lemon rind, very, very finely diced

salt & pepper to taste

Mix everything well together. Shape into a log and wrap well in cling film. Chill until firm. Cut into discs.