Butterfly Your Meat for Faster and More Even Cooking
Meat is muscle. Because of this, they are not perfectly symmetrical bricks. The various incisions may be teardrop, conical, or otherwise asymmetrical with a thick side and a thin side. But, alas, uneven shapes lead to uneven cooking. The thinner end of a chicken breast can heat up relatively quickly compared to the bulbous end, which can be nearly two inches thicker. Do away with the partially overcooked, dried out, rubbery parts of the meat and try the butterfly technique.
Butterfly is a simple method of modifying a piece of meat by cutting it in half horizontally. You can cut it completely this way and end up with two thin pieces, or try not to cut through the other side and open it like a book. This serves to flatten the piece of meat and increase the surface area. Keep in mind that butterfly slicing does not turn the meat into a perfect rectangle, but changes the extremely asymmetrical cut, giving it a more even thickness. Butterfly flight provides a more uniform effect of heat, but the increase in surface area serves other functions. It provides easier chopping or softening, full absorption of marinating flavors, more flexible and thinner roll material and shorter cooking times.
How to “grease” a piece of meat
It takes a little getting used to butchering meat at first, but once you’ve done it a few times, the process becomes easy, fast, and deliciously rewarding. Make sure you have a sharp knife and a stable cutting board. Lay the meat out on a cutting board. For an elongated piece of meat, such as a chicken breast, I usually place it with the thickest side on the right and the point of the breast pointing towards me. The goal is to cut through the thicker side first, so if you’re left-handed, flip it over. I’m right handed so the thick side will be on the right.
Place the knife halfway down the thick side of the chicken, parallel to the cutting board, and slowly begin to cut through. This helps to use your non-dominant hand to hold the chicken and also to lift the top as you make the butterfly. This stabilizes the meat and also creates some tension in the flesh, making it easier to cut. Again, take it slow, watch your fingers, and periodically check where your knife is pointing. One of the easiest mistakes you can make is cutting quickly without checking and end up with one tiny piece and one big odd piece. One of the worst mistakes you can make is not checking the path of the knife and accidentally cutting yourself.
If you want two thin cuts, continue the cut on the other side. If you want one thin cut with a wide surface area, stop the cut about half an inch from the other side and open it fully like a book (the looped side will look like a book binding). The idea is to make the tie about the same thickness as the rest of the already exposed chicken breast, so gauge if you should stop more or less than half an inch from the thin side. Once you feel more comfortable, you can even try cutting the butterfly meat into thirds or folding it.
Butterfly is a useful technique that you can apply to most boneless cuts of meat if you have reasonably accurate knife skills. Try butterfly steak, chicken thighs, pork or shrimp. Enjoy quick cooking as well as marinating, making rolls or tenderizing to suit your stomach.