The Best Brisket Slicing Knife

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You can spend 12 hours on a brisket and ruin it in the last five minutes. A short or dull knife saws back and forth, tears the bark off, shreds the flat and squeezes out the juice you worked all night to keep. A long, sharp slicer goes through in one pull and leaves clean slices with the bark still on top.

Brisket knives are a crowded market, with a lot of black blades, dragon logos and wooden gift boxes. You don’t need any of that. The two knives below are plain, inexpensive and widely recommended by people who cook brisket often. I chose them from maker specs and from what pitmasters and BBQ sites report, not from a side-by-side test of my own.

The two picks

What makes a good brisket knife

Length: 12 inches is the sweet spot. A whole packer brisket’s flat can be wider than 10 inches. If the blade is shorter than the slice, you have to saw back and forth, and every extra stroke tears the meat. Smoked BBQ Source calls 12 inches the best size, with 14 inches for very large briskets. An 11-inch knife works for smaller briskets, half flats and roasts.

A granton edge. Those oval dimples along the side of the blade fill with juice and fat and break the suction between the blade and the meat. Slices fall away instead of sticking. It’s a small detail that makes a real difference on fatty, wet meat like the point.

A rounded tip. Slicing knives usually have a blunt, rounded tip instead of a point. You don’t need a point for slicing, and the rounded tip keeps the blade’s width all the way to the end.

A thin, slightly flexible blade. Thinner blades drag less. A little flex is fine. You’re slicing, not prying.

A grippy handle. Brisket is greasy. A smooth, polished handle slips. Textured plastic or rubbery handles stay put.

Victorinox Fibrox Pro 12-inch granton slicer: best overall

This is the slicer BBQ sites and forums recommend more than any other. It has a 12-inch granton-edge blade with a rounded tip and the standard Fibrox handle. The steel is Victorinox’s high-carbon stainless, which retailers list at about 55 to 56 HRC across the Fibrox Pro line.

Smoked BBQ Source names it as its runner-up and budget pick and says it holds its edge well for the price and is long enough for single-stroke slices. Their main complaint is the Fibrox handle, which they say feels cheap. That’s fair. It’s a plain plastic handle. But it’s also exactly what you want when your hands are covered in rendered fat.

The other downsides are practical. A 12-inch blade doesn’t fit in most knife blocks, so plan on a blade guard or a magnetic strip. And it’s a slicer, not a utility knife: it’s too long and flexible for trimming a raw brisket. For trimming, use a boning knife.

Get it if: you smoke full packer briskets and want the tool most pitmasters use.

Mercer Millennia 11-inch granton slicer: best budget

Mercer’s 11-inch granton slicer is a cheaper alternative. Mercer lists the steel as one-piece high-carbon Japanese steel at 53 to 54 HRC, with a 15-degree edge and a textured Santoprene handle with a finger guard. AmazingRibs reviewed it and says the 11-inch blade lets you slice a brisket or roast in one motion.

Two things to know. The steel is softer than the Victorinox, so it’ll need honing more often. And 11 inches is a little short for the biggest briskets. If you cook big packers, Mercer also makes a 14-inch version in the same line, which Smoked BBQ Source picked as its best extra-long slicer.

Mercer says its knives shouldn’t go in the dishwasher.

Get it if: you smoke smaller briskets, half flats or roasts, or want a second slicer for serving.

Slicing knife vs. carving knife vs. serrated slicer

People use all three on brisket. Here’s how they compare.

Carving knives are made for working around bones on a turkey or a ham. They’re stiffer and pointed, and usually too short for a whole brisket. Smoked BBQ Source also warns against carving sets that come with a fork, which they say tend to be cheap and dull quickly.

Serrated slicers are a real choice, not a mistake. The teeth cut through hard bark easily. Smoked BBQ Source notes that Aaron Franklin has recommended a serrated slicer, though the authors themselves avoid them because they say serrations can damage the bark. If your plain-edge slicer is dull, a serrated one will do better. If it’s sharp, a plain edge gives cleaner slices.

Electric knives work for big batches. They’re loud and a bit messy, but they’re fast.

How to slice brisket

Rest it first. A brisket that comes straight off the smoker loses a lot of juice when you cut it. Most pitmasters rest it wrapped for at least an hour, often much longer in a cooler or a low oven. The meat firms up slightly and holds its juice.

Separate the point from the flat. A whole brisket is two muscles: the lean flat and the fattier point. Their grains run in different directions. Find the seam of fat between them and cut along it to separate them. This is a job for a boning knife or your slicer’s tip, not brute force.

Find the grain. Look at the muscle fibers on the surface. You want to cut across them, not along them. A tip from a lot of pitmasters: before cooking, cut a small notch from the end of the flat across the grain, so you know which way to slice after the bark hides it.

Slice the flat across the grain. Use the full length of the blade in one long draw. Don’t saw. Aim for slices about the thickness of a pencil. Thinner and they fall apart, thicker and they get chewy.

Turn the point and slice it. Because the grain in the point runs differently, turn it about 90 degrees and slice across the grain. The point is fattier and more forgiving, so you can cut it a bit thicker. Many people cube it for burnt ends instead.

Keep the knife clean. Wipe the blade between slices if fat builds up. A clean blade slides better.

Which length for your brisket?

If you’re not sure, go with 12 inches. It handles everything except the biggest briskets, and it’s the most common size, so there are plenty of guards and cases for it.

Slicing mistakes that ruin a brisket

Slicing too early. Cutting straight off the smoker releases juice you’ll never get back. Rest it first.

Slicing the whole brisket at once. Sliced brisket dries out fast. Slice only what you’re about to serve and keep the rest whole and wrapped.

Sawing. If you need more than one or two strokes per slice, the knife is too short or too dull. Long, single draws keep the bark on and the slices intact.

Cutting with the grain. Slices cut along the grain are stringy and chewy, even on a perfectly cooked brisket. Check the grain before each section.

Pressing down. Pushing the knife squashes the flat and squeezes out juice. Let the blade’s length do the work.

Slicing on a small board. A full brisket needs room. A small board means the meat hangs off the edge and the knife runs out of space.

Keeping a slicer sharp

A long blade is easy to neglect. Here’s what works.

Hone before every brisket. A few strokes on a ceramic or steel rod straighten the edge. With a 12-inch knife you’ll want a long rod, like a 12-inch ceramic one.

Sharpen a couple of times a year. These are soft-steel knives that sharpen easily. A whetstone works if you’re comfortable sweeping a long blade, or a guided system. Most electric sharpeners handle 12-inch blades too, though it’s harder to keep the pull steady along the whole length. See my sharpener roundup for options.

Protect the edge. A 12-inch knife doesn’t fit most blocks. Use a blade guard or a magnetic strip. A loose slicer in a drawer is dangerous and gets dull fast.

Cut on wood. A big wooden board protects the edge and catches juice. Glass and stone boards dull a knife quickly.

What about expensive brisket knives?

There are plenty of $100 to $200 slicers with Damascus patterns and fancy handles. Some are very good. But a $50 knife that’s sharp will out-slice a $200 knife that’s dull every time, and the Victorinox has been a BBQ favorite for years for good reason. If you want to spend more, spend it on a good sharpener and a big end-grain board.

You’ll also want a trimming knife

Slicing is the last step. Before the cook, you’ll trim the hard fat cap and silver skin off a raw brisket, and a slicer is the wrong tool for that. A 6-inch boning knife gives you control around the curves. My guide on what a boning knife is used for explains how to choose one.

A quick word on boards

The board matters almost as much as the knife. For brisket, you want a big wooden or plastic board, at least 18 by 24 inches if you have room, with a juice groove around the edge. Wood is easier on the edge than plastic, and both are far better than glass or stone, which dull a blade in a few strokes. Put a damp towel under the board so it doesn’t slide while you slice.