Meat cleavers in the home kitchen

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dan

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Hey KKF, long time no see! I've had my nose in the books over the last year or so and haven't stopped by much. Hope you're all surviving this brutal 2020...

I wanted to get your opinion on the subject of a meat cleaver in the home kitchen. By 'meat cleaver' I mean a large, heavy cleaver that can chop bone - larger than a Chinese cleaver and much, much heavier. I purchased an old rusted meat cleaver over a year ago with the intent to restore it, but it has recently occurred to me I'm not really sure when I'd use it.

Do you keep a large meat cleaver? What do you use it for? Does it have a place in home kitchens?
 
I think they're mostly useless. How often do you cut through bone? Even on chickens, whose bones can be cut with a softer steeled western chef's knife, it's not something that happens often in my kitchen. Maybe your needs are different. I also generally prefer to use a western deba to a heavy cleaver.

And not to hijack the thread, but I'd be interested in hearing if heavy cleavers have much of a place professional kitchens and butchery operations. Cutting through bone is a job for saws, not a knife. I have a couple books on butchery, and have watched countless tutorials, and I've never seen a cleaver used. Maybe to hack up chicken backs for stock or to portion out bone-in roast duck like a Chinese street food vendor (though that's obviously a somewhat niche task). Maybe breaking down oxtail?
 
I would guess that for home usage a smaller meat cleaver (let me mention Munetoshi for a size reference) would be enough. I must admit though, that I have not really needed one yet.
 
I have a CCK meat cleaver. I use it once or twice a year. Last time I used it to hack through frozen brisket.
I definitely can go without one, but this can be said about many other knives.
 
I have a large and heavy munetoshi cleaver that I use a couple times a week for a variety of things. So far I think the purchase was worth it.

It can be used to open coconuts, cut through the cartilage in pork ribs, breaking down chicken backs for freezer storage, chopping and serving chicken, cutting larger fish into chunks. Having a heavy and robust cleaver for these tasks is quite nice.
 
I found I don't like a cleaver as it is hard on your cutting board and you need a stout cutting board so it will not move while you are chopping. I find I like my heavy Henckels 290mm chef's knife. I can cut through chicken backs and chop cabbage with not a lot of damage to the cutting board. Plus, I cut stuff using it as a chef's knife cutting whole watermelon's and right through a big cabbage.

I am a home cook so I am talking at home.
 
I found myself wishing I had one over Thanksgiving when I needed to break down the back of a spatchcocked turkey for stock. I used a vnox instead, it did the job with some persistence. A once/year task doesn't yet warrant its own knife in my collection.
 
I found a nice old heavy carbon meat cleaver in a thrift store once for like 2 bucks... but as nice as it looks I have to admit I rarely use it. Used it mostly when taking apart chicken; cut off the ends of the legs to make those cute drumsticks... cut the backbone out... cut through the wishbone... simple stuff that could honestly have been done with a simple softer steel chef knife, but if you have the cleaver you might as well use it even if only to save your edges. I wouldn't miss it for a second though if I didn't have it. YMMV.
 
I use mine occasionally for various bony tasks such as qartering chooks and trimming spare ribsribs. It also gets a workout on frozen food from time to time.

I guess I see it as cheap insurance for my proper knives.
 
I have a giant one that I originally bought for chopping through chicken bones. I soon realized that I am too scared to swing it as hard as I need to in order to cleanly cut through bones. It's now used for opening coconuts.
 
How hard is it to chip or break the edge of a cleaver on a coconut or beef ribs?
"I don't know, 'cause I won't try."
 
I use it every now and then actually. I come from a Chinese family in Singapore,and many of our dishes call for bone in cuts of chicken thigh,like sesame oil chicken or chopped pork ribs like in steamed dimsum pork ribs.

My cleaver isn't that much bigger than a usual Chinese cleaver,just thicker and much heavier. The Chinese typically have 2 kinds of cleavers,the slicing one for 90% of the tasks and a thicker one for going through bones.
 
We had one for a while, never used it, and regifted it to a family member. But as Btbyrd stated it's based on your own needs.
 
I think they're mostly useless. How often do you cut through bone? Even on chickens, whose bones can be cut with a softer steeled western chef's knife, it's not something that happens often in my kitchen. Maybe your needs are different. I also generally prefer to use a western deba to a heavy cleaver.

And not to hijack the thread, but I'd be interested in hearing if heavy cleavers have much of a place professional kitchens and butchery operations. Cutting through bone is a job for saws, not a knife. I have a couple books on butchery, and have watched countless tutorials, and I've never seen a cleaver used. Maybe to hack up chicken backs for stock or to portion out bone-in roast duck like a Chinese street food vendor (though that's obviously a somewhat niche task). Maybe breaking down oxtail?
I have a vintage carbon wustof meat cleaver, family heirloom, I’ve never found a situ to use it. Breaking down oxtail I’ll just use a gyuto, cutting through joints.
 
I would say, its probably pretty silly to own anything better then a dexter cleaver. Its not a precision instrument. I dont use mine often but it definitely gets used.
 
I have a collection of vintage cleavers of which only one sees any use at all. I do have one 8" that I have spent quite a bit of time thinning the edge so it can be used for hard cutting tasks such as splitting acorn squashes.
 
Hi, the question isn’t wether you need one, but wether you want to start purchasing product for one. I personally don’t have time to be breaking down bones. But the real question you should be asking is how more time you are willing to invest? If you have the time, then by all means. I have a Yanagiba that I try to use but I do so by purchasing product that allows the use of it. Therefore I use it a lot more. But, if you really want one, check these out:
F Dick
 
Meat cleavers are great for certain tasks. I have a selection of them.
2 are cheap kiwis and very sharp, not suitable for bones but great for melons & vegetables.
20201203_120420.jpg
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The bottom cleaver with black handle is an F Dick. I don't use that one much. Its a bit short most of the time when I'm wanting a cleaver. Solid though. But I use the heavy Chinese cleaver (2nd from the bottom) almost daily for pulverising chicken necks, chicken frames etc for my furry friends. Also great for pumpkin and other hard vegetables. I wish I knew the brand. I bought it at least 35 - 40 years ago. Maybe a Kkf member is familiar with the manufacturer's mark.

20201203_120451.jpg

Cleavers are very under-rated imo.
 
Aren't there basically 3 weights of cleavers, vegy slicers, meat, and bone?
I'm pretty sure those are 3 weights of Chinese-style chef's knives, not cleavers.
 
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This is the F. Dick I have at home: F. Dick 7" Cleaver It's actually a bit scary using it, it's one badazz MF.. :)

Fit and finish is excellent, the whole feel of this knife does not reflect its low price tag. For home use a good size, I wouldn't go bigger.
 
Got one, never used it so far. But it was basically free, and I dig that it’s some vintage German steel.

the idea was to break down more chicken as I really don’t have any soft steel knives that I could use to abuse.
But we moved since and whole chicken is sooooo much more expensive here, I kind of never went for it so far.

40026710io.jpeg
 
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