Chef John's Diamond Cut Steak with Garlic Butter Pan Sauce Recipe

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Chef John puts a bold new spin on steak night with his Diamond Cut Steak with Garlic Butter Pan Sauce. In this video, learn how to score your steak for maximum surface area and flavor, then pan-sear it to juicy, golden perfection. Finished with a rich garlic butter sauce, this method delivers steakhouse results with zero fuss.

Transcript

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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