Butterfly Cut: The Trick for Perfectly Grilled Meat
This simple technique used by professionals ensures faster, more even cooking and prevents drying out. Here are instructions for preparing steaks and chicken drumsticks.
This simple technique used by professionals ensures faster, more even cooking and prevents drying out. Here are instructions for preparing steaks and chicken drumsticks.
When preparing any type of meat, such as steak, pork, or poultry, a method called the butterfly cut allows for improved results and greater precision during cooking. This process, which involves opening and thinning the meat, contributes to more even cooking, reduces the risk of dryness, and significantly shortens grilling time. Although it may seem like a technique reserved for professional chefs, it is actually a simple procedure that simplifies cooking, as reported by Food & Wine and shared by Index.hr.
When meat is cut this way, it opens like a book. This increases the surface area in direct contact with heat, leading to more even cooking without raw centers or overcooked edges. Thinner, more uniform pieces also absorb marinades better. Typically, this method is used for chicken breasts, pork tenderloin, and leg of lamb.
The process is simple: place the meat on a cutting board, and with a sharp knife, make a horizontal cut through the thickest part, stopping about a centimeter before the opposite edge. Then, open and flatten the meat. This technique works equally well on more affordable cuts like chicken drumsticks, shrimp, or flank steak, also known as skirt steak.
Place the steak on a cutting board with the grain running vertically and the shorter side facing you. Position a sharp knife horizontally along the longer side of the steak, parallel to the board. Use your free hand to hold the meat from above. Guide the knife with a steady motion and stop about a centimeter before the opposite edge to keep the piece intact. Cover the opened steak with plastic wrap and pound it with a meat mallet until it reaches an even thickness of about half a centimeter.
An example use is steak rolls stuffed with pesto and cheese. For this dish, the steak is cut along the grain and opened. Then it is layered with provolone cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, and spinach, and rolled into a tight log. The thin layers of meat cook to a perfect medium-rare, while the filling melts and becomes tender during cooking.
Place the drumstick on a cutting board with the meatiest side facing down. Make a vertical cut along one side of the bone, being careful not to cut all the way through. Repeat the same process on the other side of the bone. Then, open the meat and flatten the drumstick.
The recipe for chicken drumsticks with Sonoran white barbecue sauce uses this very technique. The meat is cut on both sides of the bone and opened, resulting in a flat piece of chicken with the bone. The drumsticks are first cooked over indirect heat until tender, then brushed with a spicy white sauce and finished over higher heat until the skin is crispy.
