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The authors of The New Cooks' Catalogue certainly know what to look for when choosing cooking equipment. These
leading culinary experts have been evaluating cooking equipment for over 25 years. The following information is what they
consider important when selecting carving knives and forks.
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- Carving knives are meant for slicing cooked meats, poultry or fish. A blade that is at least 8 inches long is the most versatile.
- Knives with rigid blades are used to slice hot juicy roasted meats. More flexible blades are for poultry. The most flexible blades are for slicing smoked and cured fish and ham.
- Knives with a pointed tip are designed to free meat from the bone. Round-tipped knives are best for boned meats and fish.
- Carving knife blades should have smooth or beveled edges.
- Carving forks are designed to hold food steady for slicing. The prongs may be curved or straight, depending on the intended use.
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Introduction
Carving knives are designed to slice through cooked meats, poultry and fish: a rib roast of beef, a stuffed loin of pork, a leg of lamb, roasted chicken or turkey, cured ham or salmon, to name a few. The blades are usually 8- to 12-inches long because they must be able to carve across large cuts in one sweep, to produce an attractive slice for serving. Shorter slicing knives are terrific for smaller filet roasts, tenderloins and grilled meats such as hanger steaks.
Blade
Carving knife blades vary in their width, shape of the tip, flexibility and edge, depending on the food to be carved. You might select a rigid blade with a rounded tip for large boneless roasts, a moderately flexible, pointed blade for poultry and a narrow, flexible blade with a beveled edge for a side of smoked fish.
Generally speaking, wider blades are used for large, hot roasts, because it takes a heftier blade to cut through the meat. Narrower blades are more suited to drier, compactly textured smoked hams or cured salmon.
Tip
Knives with sharp, pointed tips are meant for cutting bone-in meats like grilled T-bone steaks and roasted pork shoulder. The tip is used to penetrate and free the meat surrounding the bone. Round-tipped knife blades are designed to slice large boneless meats and fish: a cured, boneless ham or side of smoked salmon.
Flexibility
Rigid blades cut across hot, moist meats -- a flexible blade might slip and ruin the slice, or even worse, cause injury. The ability to bend slightly is essential when slicing drier flesh like turkey or chicken; the knives with the most flexible blades are meant for the dense, dry tissue of cured or smoked foods like smoked salmon or prosciutto ham.
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Edge
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Knife blades may have smooth, serrated or beveled edges. In general, deeply serrated blades are not appropriate for carving because they tend to rip rather than cut the meat. A sharp, smooth edge will yield cleaner slices. A beveled blade, called a Granton edge, features a series of ovals ground into one or both sides of the blade to produce the thinnest possible edge. This configuration creates air pockets during slicing and prevents the meat from sticking to the blade producing paper-thin slices of richly flavored meats and fish.
Carving Forks
Carving forks are designed to hold meat steady for carving or slicing. They also keep the carver’s hand a safe distance from the knife and the hot food. The sharp tines should not pierce the roast being carved. Puncturing the meat will let the natural fluids escape. The fork should press down on the meat, not into it.
Typically, carving forks have two tines or prongs. The prongs may be straight or curved. Thinner cuts of meat such as flank steak, butterflied leg of lamb or barbecued ribs are better held with the longer surface area of unbent prongs.
But large roasts like turkey or a loin with a naturally rounded shape require curved prongs. The curved shape is useful for other tasks besides carving: it provides the leverage to lift a pot roast from the pot. Consider whether you will be carving a Thanksgiving turkey or a flat steak before you make a purchase.
Material and Construction
As with all good cutlery, look for carving knives and forks made from high-carbon stainless steel. Best-quality slicing knives and forks are forged, but many acceptable knives are stamped. Stamped blades are more flexible than forged blades. The handle should be constructed from a durable and sanitary material like plastic, rubber, stainless steel or impregnated wood. The measurement given by the manufacturer indicates the length of the tines or the length of the blade.
Carving Sets
Many carving sets feature an 8" slicing knife paired with a straight-pronged carving fork. These are all-purpose tools that can carve a roast chicken and slice a large steak, but they may not be ideal for every carving task.
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