Best Carving Knives For Keeping Sharp In The Kitchen posted by Taylor Munsell Pin Share Tweet Email SomethingSwanky is reader-supported. When you buy through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission at no extra cost to you. I firmly believe every household needs a good carving knife. After all, cooking up and serving a nice thick piece of meat like a roast or a whole turkey is an American tradition, and you just can’t do it properly without a heavy-duty cutting implement like a carving knife. In this post, I’ll go over the qualities that make a good carving knife a necessity and even recommend some of the best models I’ve seen. Carving Knife Basics First of all, let’s discuss what a carving knife is and what you should look for when shopping for the best carving knives. How is a Carving Knife Different? The best carving knives have longer, thinner blades than most kitchen knives, making them easier to drag through long pieces of meat. The blades are also usually heavy but well-balanced, meaning that the weight of the knife will help the user more effortlessly carve down through a thick slab of meat. The blades are also made of high-carbon steel to help them retain a sharp edge even after cutting through lots of harder surfaces. What Do You Use a Carving Knife For? A carving knife is perfect for cutting through bulkier, thicker foods that most knives are just too small for. Can you imagine trying to cut up a hulking 20 pound pot roast or a big, thick watermelon with a regular old kitchen knife? I tried to do both of those things back when I lived alone before I expanded my kitchen setup, and it was a messy and time-consuming experience that I’m lucky didn’t result in a severed finger. Because the blades are so thin, carving knives excel at making thin slices, kind of like those you would expect from a meat and cheese slicing machine at a deli. The most common foods that you’ll cut using a carving knife include: Large cuts of meat like turkey or pot roast. Thick pieces of produce like watermelons or cabbages. Incidentally, they’re good at peeling watermelons, too. Frozen foods. Large cakes (e.g. birthday cakes). Fish. Remember that the best carving knives excel at thin, even cuts, so they’re the best at fileting (cutting the skin off) fish cleanly. Note that, in most cases, you’ll need to use a long carving fork with a carving knife to keep the food in place while you cut. How to Choose a Carving Knife If you’d rather pick out your own carving knife than go with one of my recommendations in the next section, just be sure to review each of these important aspects before buying. Size A useful carving knife should be at least 8” long so that you won’t have to saw back and forth too much when cutting something thick. I’ve seen them range all the way up to 15”, although I’ve never needed to cut something an eight-incher couldn’t handle. Price The best carving knives are made from very high quality materials and are not cheap. In most cases, expect to pay $200 for a quality carving knife. If the price tag for a carving knife is $100 or less, it’s probably not going to do a great job and you should be very wary of buying it unless you have a ringing recommendation for the knife already. Material The blades of the best carving knives are made from carbon-rich steel that stands up to harder objects without being dulled. Make sure than the model you’re looking at has a blade with a stainless steel core plated with layers of microsteel and that the makers make a point of advertising the steel’s hardness or precision technology. The material of the handle should be comfortable in your hand, because a carving knife is meant to press down hard while sawing back and forth. Quality wood and polypropylene are good materials, and they should be ergonomically designed. Best Carving Knives I present to you my top six carving knife recommendations. I wanted to include one selection for every type of chef, so I’ve given each one a “best of…” label to make them easier to differentiate. Below the table with the recommendations, I’ve included a brief section about each pick to explain why it’s in the list. CategoryModelBlade LengthPrice RangeOverall[amazon link=”B002CZOSJU” link_icon=”none” title=”Classic Carving Set” /]8”$$$$$Budget[amazon link=”B0883TWZHG” link_icon=”none” title=”Gourmet Carving Knife” /]8”$Splurge[amazon link=”B000KGCMD2″ link_icon=”none” title=”8″ Carving Knife” /]8”$$$$Electric[amazon link=”B07H5T2T2S” link_icon=”none” title=”Electric Knife Set” /]10.5”$Professional9″ Chef Knife9.5”$$$$$SlicingPremier Slicing Knife9.5”$$$ 1. Overall: Classic Carving Set by [amazon link=”B002CZOSJU” link_icon=”none” title=”Wüsthof” /] [amazon fields=”B002CZOSJU” value=”thumb” image_size=”large” image_align=”center” image_alt=”WÜSTHOF Classic 2-Piece Carving Set”] This is my favorite carving knife set of all time because it has all the features you need and is the perfect size without looking pretentious and drawing people’s attention away from the presentation of the food. It even includes a 12.5” carving fork with the same no-frills design that you can use to spear the food and hold it in place while you’re carving it. The blade is supposedly sharper than any of its competitors thanks to the manufacturer’s proprietary precision sharpening technology. It has very shallow indents on either side of it to create air pockets between the plade and the food while carving, which really does make slicing easier and quicker. And, like all the best carving knives, the blade is forged from high-carbon steel. I also want to mention the handle. It is made from propylene, which is just slightly soft and form-fitting to provide probably the most comfortable carving knife grip I’ve encountered. 2. Budget: Gourmet Carving Knife by [amazon link=”B0883TWZHG” link_icon=”none” title=”Wüsthof” /] [amazon fields=”B0883TWZHG” value=”thumb” image_size=”large” image_align=”center” image_alt=”Wusthof 1025048820 Gourmet Carving Knife”] This option is less than half the price of most carving knives, but the performance is almost just as good. The blade is made from carbonized steel just like you want, and the edge is very, very sharp. Yes, the handle is made of hard plastic, but it has three steel rivets in it that make it feel very sturdy and dense in your hand and the actual design of the handle has a nice, ergonomic curvature. I think the main reason it costs so much less than other options is because the materials used are not as heavy, which means you will have to press down harder with your wrist while carving in order to slice through everything cleanly. It probably also makes the knife a bit less sturdy than other carving knives, though I have not had it long enough to tell. 3. Splurge: 8″ Carving Knife by [amazon link=”B000KGCMD2″ link_icon=”none” title=”Kasumi” /] [amazon fields=”B000KGCMD2″ value=”thumb” image_size=”large” image_align=”center” image_alt=”Kasumi – 8 inch Carving Knife”] If you’re okay with spending considerably more for one of the best carving knives I’ve ever used, this carving knife is for you. Made in Japan, the knife features 32 layers of high-carbon, high-cobalt VG-10 stainless steel built around a central core, resulting in a Rockwell hardness measure of 59-60 – which is really, really hard. The sharp edge of the knife is crafted in the Western style, which means it was ground to a point from two angles rather than one so it is sharper. The handle is very nice to hold as well. It’s made from a beautiful timberwood that’s laminated with a sleek material, and the tang runs all along the handle so it’s nice and sturdy. 4. Electric: Electric Knife Set by [amazon link=”B07H5T2T2S” link_icon=”none” title=”Cuisinart” /] [amazon fields=”B07H5T2T2S” value=”thumb” image_size=”large” image_align=”center” image_alt=”Electric Knife with Cutting Board”] For those who love gadgets, this model is the best electric carving knife I’ve seen. Electric carving knives saw back and forth automatically to make carving even easier, and since Cuisinart’s version is so sharp it really does cut through even tougher meats and produce like a knife through hot butter. The knife, which is 18.5” long including the lengthy handle portion, can be deconstructed into two pieces. It comes with an 11” carving fork and a rectangular cutting board. No electric knife will cut food quite as cleanly or thinly as the best manual carving knives. If you want the most effortless carving experience possible and don’t care so much about the details, though, you should definitely consider this model. 5. Professional: 9″ Chef Knife by Williams Sonoma This is the king of carving knives, the model used in top-rated restaurants all over the world. It’s the most expensive model you can get, but it’s also the highest quality. It was hand-crafted by the Sumikamas, a family in Japan that has been producing the best knives in the world for 27 generations. It has all the qualities of the other best carving knives on the market – a high-carbon steel blade, a Western-style bevel, a soft wooden handle – but it also has a bit of added length and a sturdy weight – 11.2 ounces – that makes clean, deep cuts a breeze. This really is the carving knife the pros use. 6. Slicing: Premier Slicing Knife by Williams Sonoma Having this knife is basically like having a manual deli slicing machine. The polished walnut handle, besides looking awesome, has a balanced two-position design that makes a pinch grip easier. That makes the knife more easily maneuverable in your hand, especially for precise movements like thin slicing. In addition, the hand-hammered surfaces of the razorlike blade (a technique that actually has a name, tsuchime, in Japanese) reduces drag when cutting and helps to quickly release food from the blade. $200 may seem like a lot for a knife, but the craftsmanship here is so special that I’d say this model is the best value for money on the list. Best Carving Knives FAQ Why do I need a carving or slicing knife, and which should I get? When you cook a big, thick slab or meat like a pot roast or a whole turkey, trying to cut it up with a regular-sized knife feels like trying to spread butter on a slice of bread using a toothpick. That is, you need a bigger tool with some heft and some weight that will take care of the job. Seriously, you could easily cut yourself or worse if you try using a regular-size kitchen knife to slice up a food that calls for a carving knife. A good carving knife also makes it easy to cut those “carving-friendly” foods into paper thin slices, like a meat and cheese slicing machine that you’d see at a deli.As for which you should get, my favorite is the Classic Straight Carving Set from Wusthof. The other five models in the recommendations section above are great options too. Are electric carving knives any good? Some electric carving knives work well, but it’s especially important to buy a highly recommended one because a lot of electric models work pretty terribly, tearing the meat instead of slicing it cleanly. Even the best electric carving knives won’t slice quite as cleanly or as thinly as manual carving knives, but they’re great for those who love tech and especially those who hate having to apply downward pressure to their knife when they’re cutting. Can I use a serrated bread knife in place of a carving or slicing knife? No, you should not use a bread knife in place of a carving knife. Bread knives may be long and serrated like carving knives, but their blades are not as hard because they are only designed to break through the thin crust of the bread before cutting through a much softer material – the inside of the loaf. If you use a bread knife to cut something that’s relatively tough all the way through, like a thick cut of meat, then it will get dull quickly. Which types of meat should be carved? The best meats to carve are thick, boneless cuts like pot roast, leg of lamb, pork tenderloin, and beef brisket. Carving knives are also great for fileting fish. Slicing Out A carving knife isn’t the sexiest kitchen implement, but it’s pretty important for meat-lovers and those who have large parties of people over often.
