Electric knives: Do you use them? And if so, for what?
My grandfather loved to carve the Christmas ham with an electric knife, but always had carving knife on hand for times when something a little more dexterous was required. My mom always pulls hers out to carve roasts, turkeys, and ham. She also uses it for crusty Italian bread. A few years back, she gave me one for Christmas. I've used it once or twice on some nice crusty bread when she's been around and asked if I've used the knife at all. Otherwise it's been in its box in the cabinet over the fridge that's a pain in the rear to get to. I'm surprized my husband hasn't hijacked it for some weird task in his workshop--he loves power tools of any kind. So do you use an electric knife or do you prefer your regular knives? If you do use one, for what tasks?
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16 Comments:
I like to use mine for cutting angel food cake. Whenever I use my long serrated knife instead of the electric knife, the cake slices get a little squished. I get perfect slices with the electric knife. Vroom vroom. :)
holdthemayo at 7:52PM on 12/23/08
I was thinking of getting one to slice my breadmaker bread. I can never cut even slices, they are either like doorsteps or nice at the top and whittle down to nothing at the bottom. Also, I thought it might be handy to slice up the whole loaf at the same time. What do you think, shall I shell out the money?
bareneed at 8:09PM on 12/23/08
I use mine for roast turkey.....makes slices out of a whole turkey in just a few minutes.
Hint: For easier carving, remove the wishbone and disjoint the thigh bone from the back of the turkey before roasting. An old hint I learned from one of old Julia Child's shows.
lochaven at 8:17PM on 12/23/08
I use mine to cut slabs of marshmallow. And I've seen them used on cooking shows for cutting things that have several different textures, for example an ice cream cake or a filled cake like a Boston Cream Pie, or for pates.
kjgibson at 8:21PM on 12/23/08
yes, we resurrect ours for the big jobs.... it's vintage 1970's.... remember that color "orange"?
pooch at 8:32PM on 12/23/08
You know, we got one for a wedding gift, and I thought I would never use the thing. A couple of years later, and I began to see how handy it really is. I use it for almost all of my roasted meats and occasionally bread.
yankeesgal at 8:49PM on 12/23/08
I always wanted one but never got around to buying one.
pjracz10 at 9:45PM on 12/23/08
I would never have bought one but my best friend passed it on, saying "Maybe you can use this." I do about once a year. My long serrated knife is fine for angelfood and bread - it's technically a "ham slicer" knife, with big scallops instead of the little teeth. But when I want a pork loin cut nicely for company, or the ham that I'm doing for Friday - then I use the electric. When a neighbor called Thanksgiving Day and asked if I had one, I gladly loaned it, but I made sure I got it back. It's pretty much one of those one-jse appliances, but there are times when it's just what I need.
lemons at 9:55PM on 12/23/08
I still remember the utter disgust my father had for my uncle when the electric knife came out to carve the turkey.
That said, Alton Brown used one for something on one of his shows and delared it the best tool for the job. But really, it's just so easy to reach for a regular knife. Or maybe it's visions of my father, being all offended by the need for such a gadget.
dbcurrie at 1:27AM on 12/24/08
Breadmaker bread that is too fresh to cut with a regular bread knife...you do have always to guide the knife with a finger on the side so that you don't have a doorstop to a whisper, but if you take care, you should be safe. I haven't had any injuries, though I have flash daydreams about them. Those things move fast.
tennesue at 1:34AM on 12/24/08
I love it for carving a "boneless" roast something like a pork loin or other cuts with no bones, I dont have the skill to go around bones with it. But it does make wonderful thin slices, prefered in our house, with little to no effort. I'm fixing a standing rib for Christmas and it will come out for that too since I remove the bones before carving. hmmm never tried it for bread but now that ya'll mention it I'm slapping myself for not thinking of that. *limps away kicking her own butt*
huneybumper at 7:43AM on 12/24/08
I have a black n decker electric which MAXIM magazine said was good but tore the meat.... I beg to differ, as I love mine and use it for all but fine thin cutting which is when I bring out the slicing knife.
Pavlov at 1:15PM on 12/24/08
when i was a therapist working at a head injury center, i used an electric knife to cut temper foam for wheelchair cushions.
cybercita at 1:24PM on 12/24/08
@bareneed- Presto used to have a bread slicing guide that worked with an electic knife. The bread sits in a cradle like devise, and there are guides to cut through. It's pretty need, may still be available, check Presto's web site.
dmcavanagh at 3:26PM on 12/24/08
The first and last time I saw one used was when I was at a birthday party in the 6th grade (nearly 30 years ago). The birthday girl's mother bought an ice cream cake that could NOT be cut. We gathered around the cake waiting for it to be cut. It was frozen solid that she still butchered the cake with the electric knife and didn't cut through. That's one of two birthday parties I clearly remember of all the parties I've attended for others, as well as mine.
The other memorable bday party was 3 years previous when I sliced the bottom of my foot deeply with coral and couldn't walk normally on it for over a month. I kept hitting the birthday girl's father, a doctor, because he said it was ok to do so when it hurt, as he took the coral and each grain of sand out of the wound with tweezers and stitched it shut w/o anything to kill the pain.
Cassaendra at 4:51PM on 12/24/08
LOL @cybercita--that's exactly what I want an electric knife for. All these years I've been slaving away, cutting up Geomats with a regular serrated knife, and I've never gotten around to buying an electric one!!
buffy at 1:27PM on 12/25/08