Knife for steaks, pork, chicken breasts and brisket

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DicedZombies
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Knife for steaks, pork, chicken breasts and brisket

Post by DicedZombies »

OK guys,

I currently use victorinox boning knives to trim steaks, pork, chicken breasts, brisket and ribs of fat and silver skin frequently in my home. I don't use my Makoto's or Takeda's for any of that work.

I find I need it to be fairly nimble and super sharp to be effective.

Is there a nice petty or hankotsu or other style I should consider? I'd like to spend as little as possible but an willing to spend up to $150.

Thank you!
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Jeff B
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Re: Knife for steaks, pork, chicken breasts and brisket

Post by Jeff B »

I use a Kono B#2 Fuji 150mm petty for that work.
If God wanted me to be a vegetarian he wouldn't have made animals taste so good.
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lsboogy
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Re: Knife for steaks, pork, chicken breasts and brisket

Post by lsboogy »

I might look into a honesuki for this stuff as well. For what you list (especially silver skin on ribs and tenderloins) I turn more and more to a Richmond (kurosaki now) Laser AS honesuki - I find them great little knives for poultry and doing lots of butchery. If you work around bones a lot, get a softer steel one like
https://www.chefknivestogo.com/todputkn15.html
But if you have good skills and can avoid bones (they are not boning knives - meant to separate meat from carcasses) get a hard steel one. I have not seen mine made for several years, but I love the thing. Super quick silver skin knife, and best thing ever for butchering poultry. The Kohetsu AS or HAP40 knives should be quite good for most trimming work, and you will also get the easiest to use chicken and duck taker aparter type knife I've ever used.
old onion
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Re: Knife for steaks, pork, chicken breasts and brisket

Post by old onion »

My vote is for honesuki also. They are great performers.
AlbuquerqueDan
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Re: Knife for steaks, pork, chicken breasts and brisket

Post by AlbuquerqueDan »

I'm a big fan of my Ashi Ginga 180 stainless petty for trimming meats. For breaking down whole chickens, I love my Hattori Forums honesuki (really such a great and under-appreciated knife).

So, in sum, a long laser petty and a good honesuki is a nice team to play with if you can swing buying two knives.
DicedZombies
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Re: Knife for steaks, pork, chicken breasts and brisket

Post by DicedZombies »

Hi guys - thanks for the info so far.

To add more info - I will not be breaking up chickens or using it to de-bone per se.

How does that affect your opinions? So far we have two votes for petty's and two for honesuki's.
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Kit Craft
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Re: Knife for steaks, pork, chicken breasts and brisket

Post by Kit Craft »

If I had to pick one pattern for this job then for me the ideal one would be the Sabatier Saigner in 5-7 inches. Masahiro makes a similar knife in 140 and 150mm. Basically a straight boning knife. Though nice isn't really a word I use to describe either. More like utilitarian. No reason a 150-180mm petty shouldn't work though. In such a case I like the 180 ginga suggestion above.
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lsboogy
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Re: Knife for steaks, pork, chicken breasts and brisket

Post by lsboogy »

I'd probably have gone with Kit's suggestion a few years ago, but if you want to try a blade that does silverskin easily get a sharp honesuki. I rarely use a petty and will be cutting up a few tenderloins for XMAS eve this year - my little honesuki will do all the duty on them
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Re: Knife for steaks, pork, chicken breasts and brisket

Post by AlbuquerqueDan »

DicedZombies wrote: Fri Dec 06, 2019 7:55 am Hi guys - thanks for the info so far.

To add more info - I will not be breaking up chickens or using it to de-bone per se.

How does that affect your opinions? So far we have two votes for petty's and two for honesuki's.
Long (180mm+) thin petty would be my choice.

You said you liked nimble. That describes my Ashi petty, which is light as air, but not any honesuki I've tried.
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Jeff B
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Re: Knife for steaks, pork, chicken breasts and brisket

Post by Jeff B »

I prefer petties around 30mm at the heel for trimming work and 150mm is plenty long for trimming fat and silver skin. Bigger is only better if you
want more size for portioning too.
If God wanted me to be a vegetarian he wouldn't have made animals taste so good.
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Re: Knife for steaks, pork, chicken breasts and brisket

Post by delmar »

Dont overlook the bessaku. Great deal on solid knife, can try a honkatsu with minimal investment. You'd be surprised.

For trimming, a terayasu fujiwara 150mm petty is my go to. I think I grabbed one straight from maker for 80 bucks or so. I wont go anywhere near bone with a knife at that high of a HRC, but for trimming up beef and pork, it is crazy good.
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lsboogy
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Re: Knife for steaks, pork, chicken breasts and brisket

Post by lsboogy »

I guess one of the things that need to be considered is what you really want. Honesuki knives are very nimble, but they tend to be quite stiff. Petty knives tend to be more flexible, but I find them less easy to steer and I really like a stiff knife for silver skin - my preference, but that's just it - what I like. I did a lot of trimming yesterday on ducks and chickens, and did some tenderloins - all with my honesuki. I like the thing because it takes and holds a great edge (AS steel) and is very controllable. It's just barely big enough to portion tenderloins, and makes silver skin removal quick. Use what cha like - that's one of the best things about knives - the differences can be subtle, but what I like for a particular job might be far different than others. Why so many of us have lots of knives and continue to buy more
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Re: Knife for steaks, pork, chicken breasts and brisket

Post by bruin »

After using a 150mm petty for this kind of task for years I just recently started a honesuki for the first time and I really like that it’s more stiff, I find it easier to control... good for precision. A longer petty or short sujihiki might be more versatile in that you could use it for cleaning and portioning, but it’s going to be worse for poultry and smaller cuts of meat, so I guess what it comes down to is how big you want your kit to be or how many different knives you want to use for one prep project. An average length petty to me feels like a jack of all trades but master of none but if your budget is $150 you’re probably looking for one knife so that would be the way to go.
DicedZombies
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Re: Knife for steaks, pork, chicken breasts and brisket

Post by DicedZombies »

Hi guys,

Thanks for all the great suggestions and feedback.

After talking with Mark in detail about exactly what I am looking for, and how I would use it, he recommend the Kanehide PS60 240 Sujihiki. I must admit it was not even on my radar, but Mark really felt the steel type and mono steel construction would be beneficial.

So I have one on order and I'll be sure to update the forum once I receive it!
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Jeff B
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Re: Knife for steaks, pork, chicken breasts and brisket

Post by Jeff B »

"knives to trim steaks, pork, chicken breasts, brisket and ribs of fat and silver skin frequently in my home."

I normally don't disagree with Mark but a 240mm knife is entirely too long in my opinion for those types of tasks. That knife is more for slicing than anything.
If God wanted me to be a vegetarian he wouldn't have made animals taste so good.
HectorFuego
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Re: Knife for steaks, pork, chicken breasts and brisket

Post by HectorFuego »

I use a 150 mm Tojiro Color Series honesuki for trimming fat off of chicken breasts, and silver skin from pork loin. The tip on an honesuki makes me a wizard. I liked it so much I gave one to my son as a housewarming gift when he moved into his new apartment. He agrees that the tip is magical. Unfortunately that series has apparently been discontinued, but they were great budget knives.

Hector
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Re: Knife for steaks, pork, chicken breasts and brisket

Post by Bob Z »

I have to agree with Jeff on this one that a 240 appears too long for work like removing silver-skin. I usually use my 150 petty (Yoshikane) but got one of the color series Tojiro Honesuki to play with and find i use it more now. They are still available but only from Japan and come in several colors.
DicedZombies
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Re: Knife for steaks, pork, chicken breasts and brisket

Post by DicedZombies »

You guys may be right. I won't be able to try it until next week. But if it's not the knife for me then I'll just have to put it up for sale and try something different. Hopefully it will work as interned and I won't have to sell at a loss. :)
DicedZombies
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Re: Knife for steaks, pork, chicken breasts and brisket

Post by DicedZombies »

So which one do you guys think would be best?

- Yamashin White #1 Honesuki 150mm
- Tojiro DP Honesuki 150mm
- Kanehide Bessaku Honesuki 150mm
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Re: Knife for steaks, pork, chicken breasts and brisket

Post by Ut_ron »

Kanehide hands down the best of these listed.
Home cook that enjoys sharp knives.
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