How I Realized I Didn’t Need a Carving Knife (and What I Use Instead)
If you’ve been shopping for knives, you’ve probably noticed that there are a lot of options available to you. When using boning knives, fillet knives, bread knives, and the like, it can feel like each ingredient needs its own special blade. I was recently wondering if I should add a carving knife to my toolbox, so I picked one up to try out. It was sharp, light, and beautiful to look at, but it turned out I didn’t need a carving knife at all.
I’ve been working with a lot of chicken lately— grilled poultry , butter chicken breasts , and boneless chicken thighs—and when you’re chopping a lot of meat, you start to wonder if there’s a “perfect” knife for the job. I was cutting meat, so I needed a carving knife. Right?
What is a carving knife?
The purpose of a carving knife is to make long cuts or cuts in one motion. The fewer times you have to pick up the knife and continue the same cut, the better. You may also want to use a carving knife to separate the roast, like chicken drumsticks, wings, and breast slices. It may help you there too.
Carving knives vary slightly depending on the manufacturer or brand of knife, but in general you will see more similarities between them: length (sometimes up to 12 inches), slightly curved and tapered blade. The sharp, thin blade ensures the meat doesn’t tear, and the length makes slicing large roasts easy.
A chef’s knife can help.
After trying my carving knife for a few months, I was pleased with its performance, but not in love. I wanted to go back to using a chef’s knife for carving. It was just as spicy, I liked the balance of its weight better, and the length wasn’t too different so I could still cook a big roast. Moreover, I didn’t really use the carving knife for anything else, so it was taking up valuable space on my mag strip.
Of course, if you always smoke brisket or entire roasts are part of your family diet, it may make sense for you to invest in a carving knife. If so, I suggest one with a hollow edge, like this one from Messermeister . The small indentations on the sides create a small air pocket between the metal and the meat to prevent suction.
For me and others who only carve a large roast a few times a season or once a year, a carving knife may not be a necessary expense if you have a chef’s knife that you already like. I’ve had a Wüsthof chef’s knife for years, and it’s often the only knife I need for cooking.
A good chef’s knife can cut, score , and slice food as long as you keep it sharp. If you don’t know how to do this, fear not: here’s a helpful guide on how to care for your knives.