What Is A Meat Cleaver?

A chef must be as proficient with knives as a samurai must be with his or her katana. May it be using a terribly honed chef’s knife to dice an onion into confetti in a matter of seconds, or to carve a rising dragon from a radish using a paring knife with great finesse, knives are always essential in the kitchen. For a novice in the kitchen, the meat cleaver is the most versatile knife that we can use.

Meat cleavers date way back to ancient China where the basic design has not changed much or even at all. This is because this design is already optimal for its use, just seeing some minor differences among geographies. Aside from the obvious appearance, compared to cutting knives, the meat cleaver’s blade is thicker and made of softer metal. The edge of the meat cleaver is blunt compared to slicing or cutting knives. In fact, a honed edge would be detrimental to a meat cleaver as it degrades faster because of the nature of its use. If you intend to cut or chop light bone and sinew, it should have a thicker blade made of softer metal to absorb the force of the impact. A blunt edge compared to a cutting edge will degrade slower since the cross sectional area is bigger. And a heavier blade for a meat cleaver is another secret of its cutting power.

Most meat cleavers have a blade that is slightly arced which is very ideal for chopping vegetables just by using a rocking motion of the blade. This reduces strain on your wrist as you do not need to lift the heavy blade all the time. Contrary to popular belief, meat cleavers are not supposed to be used for cutting through bone like legs. They are meant to only cut soft bones like that of chickens and ligaments. There is a trick to carving meat on a bone. You should not cut through the bone but around and between it. This is easily seen when carving ribs, where you do not cut through the ribs, but in between them, cutting through the ligaments.

By following proper cutting procedure, you are able to prolong the life of your meat cleaver.

Other uses include crude cutting of vegetables, chopping meat with no or small bones, crushing spices with the side of the blade, and using it as a spatula to transfer your ingredients to the pot. For basic kitchen needs, a meat cleaver can serve all your purposes.