This may sound like heresy, but since I’ve gotten more into barbecue, I’m thinking of getting an electric knife.
Contrary to my nature, I’m thinking cordless, but open to all reasonable advice based on experience. I only want to buy once.
Who likes what?
A plus if the knife also excels at other things, e.g., cutting foam rubber.
Thanks.
I cannot speak to the performance of electric knives, but they seem to offer fairly short blades, like 7". My son in law and several friends smoke a lot of meats, and our fair town and surrounding area have a lot of excellent BBQ joints. They all seem to use long slicers, usually 14". My slicer is only 10", but when I smoke a brisket or a pork shoulder, I wish it were a 14".
Good point on blade length. I see one Black & Decker has 9" blades, but that’s still kinda short for brisket.
OK found a 12", but it’s a fillet and >$200. https://www.amazon.com/BUBBA-Lithium-Ion-Ti-Nitride-Non-Stick-Reciprocating/dp/B08N6923NB/ref=asc_df_B08N6923NB/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=693769151198&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=4578462942580355397&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9033392&hvtargid=pla-1246908118996&psc=1&mcid=51355fb87753320ab6bb5b6e842f81cb
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I’ve used them for brisket. These were extremely old hand-me-downs but did a fairly good job of going through the meat without breaking it up too much.
Then the motor burned out and I haven’t gotten any more.
I will say, this is something I see at thrift quite frequently, so you might step into your first use dirt cheap if there are any at thrift around you.
Good idea.
I gather that they don’t tear up finished Q as much because the two blades reciprocate. Was that your experience?
Yes. You can go through a brisket or pastrami etc. with very little downward pressure using reciprocating electric blades, and they just glide right through without separating the meat fibres (assumes they’re still fairly sharp, which my in-law’s were given how infrequently they used them over the 30 years they had the thing).
OTOH, I’ve since gotten the Wusthof 10-inch “super slicer” (at about $80 on sale, not for $170 as currently listed) which goes through brisket, corned beef, pastrami, round roasts for roast beef sandwiches, etc. “like buttah”, so I no longer miss the electric knife.
I don’t use that slicer very often, it’s like my Billy Baroo, but for anything I don’t want to have broken up, it’s very useful.
FWIW, even though this knife has a scalloped edge, it readily improves after a few uses with a very light honing. I’ve seen people here say that you can’t hone serrated knives or scalloped edges, but I’ve had hella success honing both.
This is the only thing I’ve used an electric knife for! Great for foam rubber and lightweight styrofoam. My daughter killed one cutting through heavy-duty structural/insulation foam board. Also, the foam bits (rubber or styro) get lodged into the nooks and crannies of the knife, so you might want two job-specific knives.
Interesting. I’ve had a super slicer for a couple of decades. Maybe it’s an early one - I don’t love it.
I have been to whole lotta barbecue pits. I ain’t never seen an electric knife in a one of 'em. With the prices of 'cue these days, I imagine they can afford whatever they want. Dang. Now I want to drive out to Opie’s.
We’ve had the same corded serrated edge electric knife for maybe 25 years. I only use it on things that will fall apart if cut with a standard knife, when I don’t want it to. I use it maybe once a month. Oh…… and I’ll use it on our turkey at Thanksgiving to cut large slices of breast meat. Because it’s corded, it does take a bit more effort to use than if it weren’t. I could see using it on a long-cooked brisket or tri-tip too I suppose. Otherwise it sits in a high cupboard.
Yeah, that’s my intended use, too. I can’t describe how much I hate the idea of an electric knife, but my understanding is that competition barbecue people line the neatness of the slices they produce.
