Butterfly
To butterfly is to slice a thick piece of meat, fish or shrimp almost in half and open it like a book, so it is thinner and cooks fast and evenly.
Also called Butterflied, Butterflying.
To butterfly means to cut a thick piece of food almost all the way through and open it out flat, like the wings of a butterfly or the pages of a book. The result is a piece that is half as thick and twice as wide. Cooks butterfly chicken breasts, pork chops, legs of lamb, whole fish and shrimp.
How to do it
For a chicken breast:
- Lay the breast flat with the thicker side facing your knife hand.
- Put your other hand flat on top to hold it steady.
- With a sharp knife held parallel to the board, cut into the thick side, through the middle of the breast.
- Stop about 1 cm (1/2 inch) before the far edge, so the two halves stay joined.
- Open the breast out flat. If one side is still thicker, press it down or tenderize it gently with a meat mallet.
For shrimp (prawns in the UK), cut along the back, deeper than you would to devein it, then press it open. Butterflying a whole bird by removing the backbone is called spatchcocking.
Why it works
Heat moves from the outside of food to the center. A thinner piece lets the center reach a safe temperature before the outside dries out. An even thickness means the whole piece is done at the same time. The larger, flat surface also browns well on a grill or in a pan, and it takes a filling or a marinade easily.
Common mistakes
- Cutting all the way through. You end up with two thin cutlets. That is fine to cook, but it is not butterflied and will not hold a filling.
- Cutting off-center, so one side is much thicker than the other.
- Holding the meat with your fingers in the path of the blade. Keep your hand flat on top.
- Cooking it as long as the whole piece. A butterflied breast often needs only a few minutes per side.
In recipes
"Butterfly the chicken breasts", "a butterflied leg of lamb" and "butterflied shrimp" all mean this cut. A butterflied leg of lamb has also had its bone removed, so you may need to debone it first.
Recipes that use this technique
4 recipes from the sites we collect.
Related terms
- SpatchcockTo spatchcock a bird is to cut out its backbone and press it flat, so a whole chicken or turkey roasts or grills faster and more evenly, with crisp skin.
- DeveinTo devein shrimp is to cut along the back and pull out the dark intestinal tract, which can be gritty and looks unappealing in the cooked dish.
- TenderizeTo tenderize meat is to make it less tough before cooking, by pounding it thin, scoring it, salting it or marinating it in acid or fruit enzymes.
- DeboneTo debone is to remove the bones from meat, poultry or fish before cooking, which makes it faster to cook, easier to stuff and simpler to carve and eat.
- ShrimpPrawns and shrimp are small shellfish that cook in two to three minutes. Americans say shrimp for almost all of them, Britons and Australians say prawn.