Meat & BBQ

The short version

Meat work needs a few specialist knives that a chef's knife can't fully replace:

• Boning knife (5 to 6 inches): takes meat off bones and trims fat and silver skin. Flexible for poultry and fish, semi-stiff for pork, beef and game.
• Slicing knife (11 to 12 inches): long, thin and usually rounded at the tip, for brisket and boneless roasts in one clean stroke.
• Carving knife (8 to 10 inches): pointed, a bit stiffer, for working around the bones of turkey, ham and lamb.
• Fillet knife (6 to 9 inches): long, thin and very flexible, for fish.

Most home cooks only need one or two of these, depending on what they cook. This section explains each type, how to pick the right flex and length, and the techniques that make the job cleaner and safer. My workshop work involves a lot of cutting along curves and through tough material, and the lesson carries straight over to meat: the right blade shape matters more than force.

Which meat knife do you need?

Boning knives

A boning knife is narrow and pointed, usually 5 to 6 inches, made to slide between meat and bone. Victorinox describes boning knives as typically 12 to 15 cm on its boning knife guide.

Flex matters most. Flexible blades follow chicken bones and work under silver skin. Semi-stiff and stiff blades push through tough connective tissue and pry large muscles away from bone. If you only buy one, semi-stiff is the best all-rounder.

Curved or straight. Curved blades follow bones and joints in long strokes and suit most home tasks. Straight blades are good for trimming flat cuts.

My guide on what a boning knife is used for covers techniques like deboning a chicken thigh, and best boning knife for deer covers game processing step by step, with Victorinox's semi-stiff curved 6-inch knife as the main pick.

Brisket and slicing knives

Slicing a brisket you smoked for 12 hours deserves a long, sharp blade. A 12-inch slicer with a granton edge (oval dimples that reduce sticking) and a rounded tip slices a whole flat in one long stroke without tearing the bark.

The Victorinox Fibrox Pro 12-inch granton slicer is the one BBQ sites and forums recommend most. Mercer's Millennia 11-inch granton slicer is a cheaper option for smaller briskets and roasts; Mercer lists it at 53 to 54 HRC with a 15-degree edge.

Technique matters as much as the knife: rest the brisket, separate the point from the flat, find the grain, and slice across it in long strokes to about pencil thickness. My best brisket knife guide covers all of it.

Carving knives

A carving knife is shorter than a slicer, with a pointed tip for working around bones and into joints: turkey legs, ham bones, leg of lamb. The Wüsthof Classic 8-inch hollow edge carving knife is a forged option at 58 HRC per Wüsthof; the Victorinox Fibrox 8-inch carving knife is a light, inexpensive alternative listed as dishwasher safe by Victorinox.

My best carving knife guide explains carving vs. slicing knives and walks through carving a turkey, ham, chicken, leg of lamb and prime rib.

Fillet knives

Fish need a different kind of flex. A fillet knife is longer, thinner and very flexible, so it bends along the backbone and slides between flesh and skin. The Victorinox Fibrox Pro 8-inch fillet knife weighs just 3 oz according to Victorinox.

A flexible boning knife can fillet small fish, but for salmon and other large fish, a longer fillet knife is much easier. My fillet vs. boning knife guide compares them job by job.

Steel and sharpening for meat knives

Meat knives usually use softer stainless steel, around 53 to 56 HRC. That's deliberate: they hit bone and cartilage, and softer steel rolls instead of chipping and comes back quickly on a honing rod.

• Hone constantly during big jobs. Butchers hone every few cuts. At home, every few minutes during a long session.
• Sharpen at about 18 to 20 degrees for knives that touch bone; around 15 for slicers and fillet knives used on boneless meat and fish.
• Protect the edge. Long slicers don't fit most blocks, so use guards or a strip.

My sharpening angle guide and honing rod vs. sharpener explain both.

Safety with meat knives

Meat work is where many kitchen cuts happen, because hands and handles get slippery.

• Grippy handles. Textured plastic handles, like Victorinox's Fibrox, stay secure with fat on your hands.
• A cut-resistant glove on the hand holding the meat, especially for boning and game processing.
• A stable board with a damp towel underneath.
• Sharp knives. Dull knives slip.
• Cut away from yourself whenever possible.
• Never catch a falling knife.

My knife safety page has more.

Boards and setup

A big board matters for meat. For brisket and roasts, a wooden board with a juice groove gives room to work and keeps juices off the counter. For raw meat, many cooks prefer a plastic board they can sanitize easily. Either way, put a damp towel underneath so it doesn't slide.

Common mistakes

Using a chef's knife for everything. It works for boneless cuts but struggles around bones and is too short for one-stroke brisket slices.

Cutting through bone. Boning knives go around bones and through joints. Use a saw or cleaver for bone.

Slicing with the grain. Meat comes out stringy. Turn it and cut across the fibers.

Sawing. Long, single strokes keep slices clean.

Waiting to hone. By the time a knife feels dull, it's already slipping.

Storing slicers loose. Long blades bend and chip in drawers.

Meat knife specs at a glance

Cut by cut

A small meat kit

For most home cooks who cook a lot of meat, three tools cover everything:

1. A 6-inch semi-stiff curved boning knife for trimming, deboning and game.
2. A 12-inch granton slicer for brisket and roasts.
3. A honing rod used often.

Add a carving knife if you carve turkey and ham every year, and a fillet knife if you clean fish.

Grain direction, simply explained

Muscle is made of long fibers. Cut along them and each slice is a bundle of long, chewy strands. Cut across them and each slice is a short stack of tender fiber ends. Before you slice, look for the lines on the surface of the meat and turn it so your knife crosses them. On brisket, the point and flat have different grain directions, which is why pitmasters separate them first.

Why specialist knives make meat work easier

You can break down a chicken, trim a brisket and carve a turkey with a chef's knife. People do it every day. But the chef's knife is a compromise: too wide to follow a bone closely, too short to slice a wide roast in one stroke, and too valuable to risk on joints and cartilage if it's a hard Japanese blade.

Specialist meat knives are inexpensive, and they make each job faster, cleaner and safer. A boning knife wastes less meat on the bone. A long slicer keeps the bark on a brisket and the juice in each slice. A carving knife gets into turkey joints without a fight. If you cook meat often, one or two of these knives pay for themselves quickly in better results and less frustration.

Game processing season

For hunters, the processing table is where a good boning knife earns its keep. A 6-inch semi-stiff curved blade separates hindquarter muscles along their seams, removes backstraps and tenderloins, and trims silver skin. Keep a honing rod on the table and use it every few minutes, wear a cut-resistant glove on the holding hand, and keep the meat cold while you work. My deer boning knife guide walks through the whole process.

All meat & BBQ guides

• What is a boning knife used for?
• Fillet knife vs. boning knife
• The best boning knife for deer
• The best brisket slicing knife
• The best carving knife