I noticed in a breakdown video while butchering a cow. Is it due to fibers being more stringy after being cooked? My other thought is the temperature of the meat.
In: Other
serrated blades leave more jagged and messy cuts than straight blades. if you’re trying to sell the product, you want the cleanest cuts possible to preserve the quality of the product.
additionally, a butcher’s knife is a purpose built commercial grade tool. it’s in continuous use for 8+ hours a day and has to be easy to sharpen, as it’s going to be sharpened daily. a straight blade is much easier to sharpen than a serrated blade.
finally, the method of butchering a cow is done with respect to the physiology of the animal. a skilled butcher cuts along the natural divisions between layers of tissue. the main thing they’re trying to cut through is connective tissue (and some blood vessels, etc.) rather than trying to cut through the bulk of a piece of big piece of muscle tissue. a straight blade cuts through this softer material easily, no sawing motion required.
Steak knives don’t necessarily have serrations. In fact steak knives without serrations cut steak better without tearing the meat. That a non serrated blade is better and faster at cutting meat is why a butcher uses that kind of knife, and why chef’s and home cooks use that kind of knife.
I bought a set of Wusthof knives, haven’t sharpened or even straightened them in 10 years and they still cut steak cleanly way better than anything else I’ve ever used. Also cleanly cut through tomatos without totally messing them up the way a serrated blade would.
TL;DR good straight steak knife >>> serrated
Your stake is mainly cut against the grain of the muscle, an easy direction for the cut. The serrated knife can tear against that without side-effects. Both type of knives will work equally well (at equal sharpness).
The regular knife is more predictable in my experience. If a butcher cuts in the direction of the grain (separating meat from bone or fat) then he doesn’t want to tear out a strip of the good muscle/meat but only wants to cut where he puts the knife.
At add onto what has already been mentioned, casual restaurants aren’t going to give guests different kinds of knifes. The serrated, rounded tip knife found in these places are going to double as your bread and butter knifes, served with sandwiches, given to the picky people that have to have a knife with their salad, ect.
Butchers sharpen their knives daily. Their knives are razor sharp, and are kept this way to reduce the movements needed to cut (no sawing through the product).
Butchers need to cut cleanly, to reduce amount of broken cell walls in the product, and need to have a razor edge to break sinew, silver skin, and other connective tissues.
Steak knives are meant to stay sharp for a LONG time. Not razor sharp, but tear a steak up by sawing through it sharp. If you used these knives to butcher, you would break a lot of cell walls and end up with “blood” (amino acid filled liquids that are contained within the cells of the flesh) everywhere. This would make the steak you’re about to cook less juicy, and probably prevent good searing. It would also reduce the usable product.
Restaurants often use steak knives with serrations because they are easier to maintain. They don’t have to sharpen them for the minimal use they get. They would have to sharpen a plain edge knife sooner or later but the serrated knife will likely stay sharp its entire service life.
Using a knife every day to make your living will cause a lot of wear on it (butcher). They’ll opt for a knife they can easily sharpen, as sharpening a serrated blade is much more difficult. The plain edge knife will also cut much smoother as serrations often tear meat.
Behind the scenes butchers use all kinds of serrated tool. Band saws and hack saws to cut the carcass into larger cuts known as primals such as for beef https://miamibeef.com/understanding-primal-cuts-american-beef-grading/
But you won’t want to buy a steak that has bits of bones and meat flecks on it. So for the final cuts they use a smooth blade knife that regularly gets sharpened and honed either by the butchers themselves or an outside sharpening contractor
Reddit regularly posts pictures of butcher and restaurant kitchen knives that have been worn down to a paring knife sized knife from frequent sharpening
Serrated knives destroy the fibers of the meat causing the meat to lose juices and dry out. A butchers knife makes a cleaner cut, without damaging the fibers of the meat as much.
I guess a serrated knife “opens” the cut borders of the meat, making it easier to chew it, but at the same time making it easier for it to spoil.
Latest Answers