How to Butterfly a Roast (and Why You Should!)

Next to the Thanksgiving turkey, the holiday roast might be the most daunting dish home cooks make all year, with good reason. It’s a pricey cut of meat and the centerpiece of the entire meal. Our new favorite preparation? Stuffing a boneless rib eye roast with aromatics and fresh herbs and rolling the whole thing up. It allows you to flavor the roast inside and out, and the spiral you get when carving the meat makes for a beautiful presentation. All you have to do is butterfly the roast, which isn’t as complicated as it sounds. It just means you’re cutting the meat and spreading it open, making it the perfect canvas for all those flavors!

1. Follow steps 1 and 2 of recipe. Arrange roast on a large cutting board, fat-side down, with short end toward you.

2. Holding a long, sharp knife parallel to (and about 1 inch above) cutting board, make a shallow cut along length of roast, stopping about 1 inch from edge.

3. Open roast to the side.

4. Continue slicing until about 1 inch from next edge.

5. Open to same side again, and continue slicing until roast is completely flat.

6. Season meat all over with salt and pepper.

7. Spread all but 2 tablespoons of garlic-herb mixture over meat.

8. Roll meat up, starting from left side.

Fat cap should end up on top of roast.

9. Rub outside with remaining garlic-herb mixture.

10. Tie at 2-inch intervals with kitchen twine.

11. Let stand at room temperature 1 hour (or refrigerate, covered with plastic, overnight; bring to room temperature before cooking). Proceed with recipe.