Butterflying is a way of preparing meat, fish, or poultry for cooking by cutting it almost in two, but leaving the two parts connected; it is then often boned and flattened. [1] Spatchcocking is a specific method for butterflying poultry that involves removing the backbone, and spatchcock as a noun may refer to a bird prepared in that way. [1]
"Butterfly" comes from the resemblance of the cut to the wings of a butterfly.
In butchery, butterflying transforms a thick, compact piece of meat into a thinner, larger one. The meat is laid out on a cutting board and cut in half parallel to the board almost all the way to the other side, leaving a small "hinge", which is used to fold the meat out like a book. This technique is often used as an alternative to, or in conjunction with, pounding out the meat with a meat mallet to make it thinner.
For leg of lamb, it is generally followed by boning.
Common uses of this technique include creating thin cutlets from chicken breasts for dishes such as chicken piccata, or rendering lamb leg roasts suitable for making roulades. It can also be a first step to dicing chicken or slicing it into strips. Because the butterflying technique results in a thinner piece of meat or poultry, it allows for quicker cooking times and often more even cooking. [2]
Poultry is often butterflied. Butterflying makes poultry easier to grill [3] or pan-broil. [4]
The more specific term spatchcocking refers to a variation on butterflying that also removes the backbone and possibly the sternum, typically from a smaller bird. [5] [1] Removing the sternum allows the bird to be flattened more fully. This is popular for grilling, roasting, or cooking sous-vide. [6]
According to The Oxford Companion to Food by Alan Davidson, the word spatchcock could be found in cookbooks as far back as the 18th and 19th centuries. It was thought to be of Irish origin, possibly short for "dispatch cock," which referred to "grilling a bird after splitting it open down the back and spreading the two halves out flat." It may also derive from "spitchcock," a method of grilling eels. [1]
Spatchcock may also be used as a noun to refer to a small bird that has been prepared by spatchcocking. [1]
A butterfly fillet of fish is a double fillet, with the backbone and other bones removed by splitting the fish down the back or the belly. [7]
Butterflying shrimp or lobster tail involves cutting the hard top side, without cutting all the way down to the other, softer side.
Roasting is a cooking method that uses dry heat where hot air covers the food, cooking it evenly on all sides with temperatures of at least 150 °C (300 °F) from an open flame, oven, or other heat source. Roasting can enhance the flavor through caramelization and Maillard browning on the surface of the food. Roasting uses indirect, diffused heat, and is suitable for slower cooking of meat in a larger, whole piece. Meats and most root and bulb vegetables can be roasted. Any piece of meat, especially red meat, that has been cooked in this fashion is called a roast. Meats and vegetables prepared in this way are described as "roasted", e.g., roasted chicken or roasted squash.
Teriyaki is a cooking technique in which foods are broiled or grilled with a glaze of soy sauce, mirin, and sugar. Although commonly associated with Japanese cuisine, this cooking technique is also commonly used in other Asian cuisines such as Chinese cuisine, Indonesian cuisine and Thai cuisine.
Chateaubriand is a dish that traditionally consists of a large front cut fillet of tenderloin grilled between two lesser pieces of meat that are discarded after cooking. While the term originally referred to the preparation of the dish, Auguste Escoffier named the specific front cut of the tenderloin the Chateaubriand.
Asado is the technique and the social event of having or attending a barbecue in various South American countries: especially Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Peru, and Uruguay where it is also a traditional event. An asado usually consists of beef, pork, chicken, chorizo, and morcilla; all of which are cooked using an open fire or a grill, called a parrilla. Usually, red wine and side dishes such as salads accompany the main meats, which are prepared by a designated cook called the asador or parrillero.
A kitchen knife is any knife that is intended to be used in food preparation. While much of this work can be accomplished with a few general-purpose knives – notably a large chef's knife, a tough cleaver, a small paring knife and some sort of serrated blade – there are also many specialized knives that are designed for specific tasks. Kitchen knives can be made from several different materials.
Pork ribs are a cut of pork popular in Western and Asian cuisines. The ribcage of a domestic pig, meat and bones together, is cut into usable pieces, prepared by smoking, grilling, or baking – usually with a sauce, often barbecue – and then served.
Pasanda, also called Parche, is a popular dish from the Indian subcontinent, notably North India, Rampur, Hyderabadi and Pakistani, derived from a meal served in the court of the Mughal emperors. The word is a variation on the Hindi-Urdu word "pasande" meaning "favourite", which refers to the prime cuts of meat traditionally used in the dish.
Cutlet refers to:
Barbecue varies by the type of meat, sauce, rub, or other flavorings used, the point in barbecuing at which they are added, the role smoke plays, the equipment and fuel used, cooking temperature, and cooking time.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to the preparation of food:
A round steak is a beef steak from the "round", the rear leg of the cow. The round is divided into cuts including the eye (of) round, bottom round, and top round, with or without the "round" bone (femur), and may include the knuckle, depending on how the round is separated from the loin. This is a lean cut and it is moderately tough. Lack of fat and marbling makes round dry out when cooked with dry-heat cooking methods like roasting or grilling. Round steak is commonly prepared with slow moist-heat methods including braising, to tenderize the meat and maintain moisture. The cut is often sliced thin, then dried or smoked at low temperature to make jerky.
A fillet or filet is a boneless cut or slice of meat or fish. The fillet is often a prime ingredient in many cuisines, and many dishes call for a specific type of fillet as one of the ingredients.
Chicken is the most common type of poultry in the world. Owing to the relative ease and low cost of raising chickens—in comparison to mammals such as cattle or hogs—chicken meat and chicken eggs have become prevalent in numerous cuisines.
The term supreme used in cooking and culinary arts refers to the best part of the food. For poultry, game and fish dishes, supreme denotes a fillet.
A crépinette is a small, flattened sausage, sometimes referred to as a sausage parcel. It is similar in shape to a sausage patty, circular, and flattened.
A fish fillet, from the French word filet meaning a thread or strip, is the flesh of a fish which has been cut or sliced away from the bone by cutting lengthwise along one side of the fish parallel to the backbone. In preparation for filleting, any scales on the fish should be removed. The contents of the stomach also need careful detaching from the fillet. Because fish fillets do not contain the larger bones running along the vertebrae, they are often said to be "boneless". However, some species, such as the common carp, have smaller intramuscular bones called pins within the fillet. The skin present on one side may or may not be stripped from the fillet. Butterfly fillets can be produced by cutting the fillets on each side in such a way that they are held together by the flesh and skin of the belly.
Meat on the bone or bone-in meat is meat that is sold with some or all of the bones included in the cut or portion, i.e. meat that has not been filleted. The phrase "on the bone" can also be applied to specific types of meat, most commonly ham on the bone, and to fish. Meat or fish on the bone may be cooked and served with the bones still included or the bones may be removed at some stage in the preparation.
A fillet knife is a kitchen knife used for filleting. It gives good control and aids in filleting. It is a very flexible member of the boning knife family that is used to filet and prepare fish. Fillet knife blades are typically 15 to 28 cm long. This allows them to move easily along the backbone and under the skin of meat.
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