A Sharp,Straight Edge Knife is a Mindful Meat Eater's Best Friend
Posted by Julia Smith on
Trust me on this. Our head butcher, Filipe Carballo had me cut two bites of one of our heritage pork neck steaks.... one with a serrated steak knife and one with my straight edge pocket knife. I tried each piece and my mind was blown. The piece cut with the straight edge knife was MUCH more tender than the one I had cut with the serrated steak knife. If I hadn't cut it with my own hands I wouldn't have believed that both pieces were from the same portion of meat.
It makes sense if you think about it. When you cut meat with a serrated knife you are tearing the muscle fibres rather than cutting them clean through. Cutting your meat across the grain with a nice sharp straight edge knife will produce the most tender results.
The down side to straight edge knives is that they are harder to keep sharp. Ceramic plates are a lot less forgiving than a cutting board. But with so many nifty knife sharpeners available these days, there's really no excuse for dull knives.
I must admit that I got some funny looks when I whipped out my own knife at a local restaurant the other night but I'm ruined for lousy steak knives now. Well-raised, good-quality meat costs a lot more. Why not give it every advantage? Try it and let me know what you think in the comments section below!