Author Topic: Smoker Essentials: Victorinox 7.5" Restaurant Cleaver  (Read 3153 times)

UWFSAE

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Smoker Essentials: Victorinox 7.5" Restaurant Cleaver
« on: July 09, 2013, 04:11:01 PM »
I could regale you with tales of how I used a cleaver to effortlessly debone chickens or to break down a full rack of spareribs into a more eater-friendly rack of St. Louis spares ... but that couldn't convey how cool it is to wield a meat cleaver like a maniac hopped up on ten espressos.  Veggies diced?  Crazy fast.  Chopped pork or brisket?  A breeze.  Deboning a duck, turkey or chicken?  Like buttah!

Jokes aside, the Victorinox 7.5" Restaurant Cleaver gets a workout on the front end of my smoking sessions rather than throughout the process.  Most of us know we can save a ton on racks of ribs by butchering them ourselves and this cleaver is the fastest tool I know for this process.  It's got a solid heft that makes taking apart a whole chicken a snap and does so with precision.  Would I use this for slicing meat?  No.  But just because it doesn't have universal application doesn't diminish the value of having this knife in your drawer.

PROS:
1.  Just like the previously reviewed Victorinox 12" Slicer, this cleaver has a high carbon stainless steel blade and keeps a sharp edge even though it will hack through bone.
2.  The solidity of the knife, with nearly a full pound of weight, helps you gain muscle memory as you start to break down your own birds and racks of ribs.
3.  There is no more efficient way to break down a whole hog smoke (a bit too ambitious for our electric smokers, sadly) that by using a good cleaver.
4.  The Fibrox handle is NSF-approved and allows for maintaining a good grip even when your hands are wet or greasy.
5.  It sharpens quickly on a decent sharpening steel.

CONS: 
1.  Learning to use a cleaver effectively takes a bit of practice.  Most Chinese chef use this type of knife for all their prep, not just breaking down meat.  That being said, I tend to use this as a tool for less precise needs like chopping or deboning rather than something more delicate like dicing veggies or garlic.
2.  Like any good knife, this will need to be handwashed rather than put into a dishwasher.
3.  It's stamped rather than forged, like the 12" slicing knife I reviewed.  Honestly, for a specialty knife I need utility and durability rather than perfection so I think this more than fits the bill.

FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS:
I didn't think I'd use a cleaver as much as I do.  I've found that I actually enjoy butchering my own racks of ribs and being able to use the top portion of a rack of ribs in other preparations is a nice way to culinarily reduce, reuse and recycle.

A cleaver is a secondary purchase for most of us and many of the tasks for chopping could be handled by other knives we may already own.  That being said, this Victorinox cleaver definitely does the job better than those other options and will save you time and effort when dealing with larger cuts of meat or poultry.

VENDOR RECOMMENDATION:
http://www.katom.com/037-40590.html
« Last Edit: July 10, 2013, 02:43:44 PM by UWFSAE »
Joe from Houston, TX
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DivotMaker

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Re: Smoker Essentials: Victorinox 7.5" Restaurant Cleaver
« Reply #1 on: July 09, 2013, 09:02:53 PM »
To quote Dirty Harry (Clint Eastwood), "A man's got to know his limitations!"  I'd probably lose a digit or two with that bad boy!  :o
Tony from NW Arkansas
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