00:00Hello, this is Chef John from Foodwishes.com with Diamond Cut Steak.
00:08That's right, I'm going to show you a very cool knife trick,
00:11which can help turn the toughest, cheapest cuts of steak into something more tender, more flavorful,
00:17and I think we can all agree, much cooler looking.
00:21And even though we're going to focus on the method,
00:23I am going to show you something very delicious later using a Diamond Cut Steak.
00:27And to get started, I bought some Top Round.
00:31And since this piece was about 10 ounces, I decided to cut it in half,
00:36which I think gives us two perfectly sized portions.
00:39And then after dividing that, I decided to grab some plastic so I could pound this out a little bit.
00:44Since from what I hear, this technique is intended to work on meat that's about a quarter inch thick,
00:49so I briefly worked those two pieces over with the meat pounder until they were just a little bit thinner.
00:55Oh, and the reason I chose Top Round Steak is because it's very cheap and has a nice beefy flavor,
01:02but it also tends to be pretty tough and kind of chewy.
01:05So I thought it was the ideal choice to give this technique a try.
01:10Oh, and since cold meat is always easier to cut,
01:13we will want to keep any pieces we're not working with in the fridge.
01:15And then as far as the actual diamond cutting technique goes,
01:19all we need to do is make some 45 degree angled cuts about halfway through the meat,
01:25spacing them every quarter inch or so.
01:28And while you can slice a little more than halfway through,
01:31the only way to mess this up would be to cut all the way through.
01:34So be careful not to do that.
01:37Otherwise, you'll just end up with strips of meat.
01:39And then you'll have to convince everyone you meant to do a stir fry in the first place.
01:44And then what we'll do once we finish cutting the first side is flip it over,
01:48and we will double check we know exactly which way those slices are going,
01:52because on the second side, we're going to make the exact same cuts,
01:56but we need to do that at an angle across those cuts on the other side.
01:59All right, if you make the slices on this side in the exact same direction,
02:03the technique will not work.
02:05But if you do it correctly as shown,
02:08when we are finished slicing both sides,
02:10we'll be able to sort of pull open the meat,
02:13and wherever those cuts from each side intersected,
02:16we're going to have a small, probably diamond-shaped hole.
02:19And that is how you diamond cut a steak.
02:22So I went ahead and did that to the second piece,
02:25at which point I transferred both pieces into a very simple marinade
02:29I made with some Korean chili paste,
02:31a little bit of freshly squeezed lemon juice,
02:34plus a little bit of avocado oil.
02:37And above and beyond that, it makes the steak look super cool,
02:40and is going to help tenderize a tougher cut.
02:42The other huge advantage of this
02:44is that we're creating a ton of extra surface area.
02:48And as I've said for many years,
02:50surface area equals flavor.
02:52So I think this method is perfect for helping meat soak in marinades.
02:56But anyway, after coating those on both sides,
02:59and seasoning both sides with salt,
03:01I popped those in the fridge for about 15 minutes.
03:04And then I placed a cast iron pan over high heat,
03:07and got it nice and hot.
03:09And then I placed one of my diamond-cut steaks in,
03:12to see what would happen.
03:14And I knew this was going to cook fast,
03:16but I had no idea it was going to cook this fast.
03:19Okay, in just like 45 seconds,
03:20it was already cooking through,
03:22which makes sense because of all the holes.
03:25So I went ahead and flipped it over.
03:27And yes, there are a lot of juices coming out,
03:30which is mostly due to the marinade.
03:32But I wasn't concerned,
03:33because the first time I ever saw this technique,
03:35it was done on a dome-shaped Korean cast iron grill.
03:39And the piece of meat was bubbling exactly the same way.
03:42But anyway, after less than a minute on both sides,
03:45I went ahead and pulled that out of the pan,
03:46and plaited it up.
03:48And then because of those juices that had caramelized in the pan,
03:51I deglazed with a couple tablespoons of water,
03:54and I poured that over the top,
03:56because I paid for those juices,
03:58and I didn't want to leave that flavor in the pan.
04:01And then I grabbed a fork and knife,
04:02so I could do the official test,
04:05which I thought was fascinating.
04:07Okay, the flavor was great,
04:08which was not surprising.
04:10But what was surprising,
04:12was just how tender this was.
04:14Right, there is no way I would have thought this was top round.
04:16This had more of the mouthfeel, like a New York strip.
04:20And yes, as you can see,
04:22this was pretty much cooked all the way through,
04:24which for a piece of meat this thin,
04:26cut with a diamond technique,
04:27is going to be very difficult not to do.
04:30But the great news is, that's fine.
04:33This was extremely moist and juicy,
04:35and there was nothing tough or dry about it.
04:38Oh, and then speaking of juices,
04:39I had so much of that on the plate,
04:41I had to grab a couple pieces of bread,
04:44and I sort of sopped that up,
04:46and then piled that meat up on one side,
04:49and then after soaking the other side of the bread,
04:51I made myself a nice little sandwich,
04:53which ended up giving me a great idea,
04:56which was to try this with another piece,
04:58which I decided not to pound.
05:01And I went ahead and did the same diamond cut
05:03to a thicker steak.
05:05Since I wanted to see how that would affect the texture,
05:07and I thought it would afford us
05:09a little more searing time in the pan,
05:12since what I decided to do
05:13was a diamond cut garlic steak toast.
05:16So once I had my steak cut,
05:18I rubbed it with some oil,
05:19and seasoned it very simply with salt and pepper,
05:22and I laid it in this searing hot,
05:24heavy duty saute pan.
05:26And yes, thankfully we have a professional hood fan
05:29over our stove.
05:31Oh, and the reason I switched to this pan
05:32and not the cast iron,
05:34is because I'm making a very simple garlic pan sauce,
05:36and that big cast iron pan
05:38is just too heavy to work with.
05:40But anyway, after violently searing that
05:42on both sides for about a minute,
05:44I turned off the heat
05:45and removed that from the pan,
05:48and I quickly tossed in a knob of butter,
05:50along with some minced up fresh garlic.
05:53And even though my pan was off,
05:54it was still super, super hot.
05:56So I only let that garlic go
05:58for about 10 or 15 seconds,
06:00at which point I deglazed with a splash of water.
06:03And after letting that heat dissipate
06:05for a few seconds,
06:06I stirred that with a spoon,
06:08making sure to scrape all that goodness off the bottom.
06:12And there's a reason simple pan sauces
06:13are one of my favorite things to teach,
06:16since it seems almost like a magic trick
06:18that we're taking a dirty pan
06:19with a bunch of burned-on stuff,
06:21plus a little bit of water or stock,
06:23and a chunk of butter,
06:25and somehow, someway,
06:26that can turn into an amazing sauce,
06:28which of course we need to season
06:30with a little bit of freshly ground black pepper and salt.
06:33Plus, maybe we'll toss in a little bit of freshly chopped Italian parsley,
06:37which could also be tarragon,
06:39or maybe some thyme.
06:40And that's it.
06:42I plated up my slightly thicker diamond-cut steak
06:44on a nice piece of toast.
06:46And then I spooned over that garlic butter sauce.
06:50And that, my friends,
06:51ended up being one of the most delicious garlic steak toasts I've ever had.
06:54I mean, I couldn't even be bothered to eat with a fork and knife.
06:59I just cut it in half and picked it up
07:01and ate like the savage that I truly am.
07:05And thanks to this piece of round steak being cut slightly thicker,
07:08I was actually able to keep it a little bit pink,
07:10which made it even more succulent and juicy than the first test.
07:14And even though I did give you a couple serving suggestions,
07:17I really want you to focus on the technique itself
07:19and try this on your own with some nice cheap cuts of meat.
07:24And then you can start your own experiments
07:25using this in different types of recipes.
07:28I mean, you guys are after all the Edward Scissorhands
07:31of what to do when your diamond-cut steak is in your pans.
07:35But no matter what you end up making,
07:37I absolutely love this diamond-cut technique.
07:40And I really do hope you give it a try soon.
07:44So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts,
07:47a printable written recipe, and much more info as usual.
07:51And as always, enjoy.
07:55Enjoy.
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