By Dylan Clay
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In my opinion most of the “sets” for barbecue knives are lackluster – and in most cases you’ll find that you don’t even use half the knives they provide you with.
Rather, I’d suggest building your own set.
If you are quite literally just starting out, I’d opt to buy cheaper knives like Kiwi or KOM KOM. Just to get a feel for what you like without wasting tons of money.
Before making an investment into certain types or styles of knives, I’d suggest looking for the brand “Kiwi” or “KOM KOM” and seeing if they have the style of knife you’re after.
“Kiwi” knives are a Thai brand and they’re known for being affordable and of decent quality.
While their blade is thin and they do tend to dull quick, putting an edge back on them is as simple as a few passes on a honing rod (which you’ll also benefit from learning) or even on the bottom of a ceramic cup.
The reason for my suggestion above is because you may find you prefer a certain length of knife or even a certain handle material more than others.
Kiwi knives will have two handle materials:
Knife styles:
You get the gist.
Kiwi knives range in price from around ~$6-12 each – which is incredible.
Where-as from other brands you’ll pay $50 minimum, per knife.
The above is how I got started and what I can tell you is that I prefer plastic handles and certain brands over others in terms of steel (I quite like Victorinox, Dexter Russell, and I own a few Mercer knives).
From the Kiwi knives above, the deba-style knife I don’t care for – I didn’t even bother to take the sticker off. The bottom knife I use so much, I bought tons, here’s four in their package still:
I also feel like I’d be doing a disservice to the “Chef Knife” community as a whole if I didn’t mention the Reddit Board /r/chefknives.
If you aren’t sure of a certain brand, search their board, there is a really good chance you’ll find Users with personal experiences using them.
To reiterate, the knives I list here are my preference and what I find works for me. What may satisfy my barbecue knife requirements may differ from yours.
Also while I’m not married to any of the brands I’m about to mention, they’re affordable, made from quality materials, and will likely last you a lifetime.
If there’s one knife that I reach for most, it’s my Chef knife.
A Chef knife is essentially your all-purpose, everyday carry with regards to barbecue knives.
A good chef knife can be used to:
A good chef knife is essentially your daily driver and could very well accomplish all the tasks of any of the specialized knives listed below – especially if you’re skilled enough.
Personally, I use a Victorinox 8″ Fibrox Chef knife.
A knife that I know I will pretty much use without fail is a slicing knife – specifically, I use a Dexter-Russell 12″ Scalloped Slicer.
When it comes to barbecue, presentation is half the battle. People will always eat with their eyes first and having clean-lines with your slices helps to achieve that.
Whether you’re carving a turkey, slicing between pork rib bones, slicing brisket, or slicing a holiday ham – a slicer will create clean lines and improve your presentation.
Some people will even use these types of knives for trimming something like brisket.
While I’d personally rather use my boning knife, a chef knife, or a paring knife, a slicing knife can definitely work for brisket.
I think it’s worth noting that most Barbecue restaurants will use this same Dexter Russell slicing knife.
When/if you go to order at a barbecue restaurant and they’re slicing meats and weighing them out in front of you, pay attention to the knife they’re using, there’s a very good chance it’s a Dexter Russell.
This list that Kevin curated from some of the top BBQ joints helps elicit this fact.
It should also be noted that while this slicer looks like a “bread knife” it is not – granted it could be used as one.
Specifically, the Dexter Russell has a “scalloped” edge, where-as a traditional bread knife has a true “serrated” edge.
Simply put – the serrated edge is designed to have sharp, aggressive teeth that make cutting into something like the crust of bread easy.
Similarly, it’s also not a traditional slicing knife with a straight edge. Straight edge slicers are better suited for creating thin slices – like you’d see for carving a turkey.
Scalloped slicers work well for cuts of meat that are fibrous – like for slicing brisket.
I know LOTs of people prefer straight-edge slicers, even for the tasks I listed above (slicing ribs, brisket, etc.), however if you watch enough of their videos you’ll notice when they go to “slice” they’re actually using a “see-sawing” motion that ruins their slices.
Say you have a thicker bark on brisket or ribs, they won’t be able to cleanly slice with the straight edge – even tearing the bark in some cases. Rather, if they used a scalloped slicer they’d pull cleaner slices.
Boning knives are – as you might expect – used to separate meat from bones.
Traditionally, a boning knife will have a prop tip point and a narrow, stiff blade.
With that said, there are a number of styles to choose from with regards to the blade, namely:
All of these boning knives have specific use cases and again, it really boils down to your personal preference.
Wide blades are used for cutting into hearty cuts of meat where-as a narrow blade is better suited for precision cutting both through and around bone and cartilage.
Curved edges and/or flexible boning knives work really well for creating optimal angles for cutting close to bone, where-as a stiff blade might otherwise suffer.
Personally, I use a 6″ boning knife by Mercer Culinary – it’s narrow, curved, and semi-stiff; Perfect for precise cutting close to bone, curved to filet a fish, and it even works well for trimming brisket.
Personally, I don’t break down whole cows, let alone whole sides of beef. If I did, I’d likely invest in a more flexible boning knife.
Of the times I’ve had to break down a primal like say a whole sirloin, an 8″ breaking knife (below) and my 6″ boning knife make quick work of hard fat, gristle, silverskin, and separating musculature.
If you’re someone who likes to cut their own meat, a breaking knife is quite useful.
Breaking knives are just as they sound too – they are designed to “break” through skin, small bones, fat, and cartilage.
This knife has qualities that make is especially useful for butchers. Similar to a boning knife it’s flexible with a curved tip – this allows it to pass through large pieces of meat with ease. All the while being able to contort the knife and maneuver it through muscles and bones.
If you’re someone who is buying and only working with retail cuts (steaks, roasts, chops, etc.) – you likely don’t have a need for a breaking knife.
However, if you’re working with either whole primals or sub-primal cuts of beef, an 8″ breaking knife is more than enough. For instance, if you’re buying an entire strip loin to cut into NY Strip Steaks.
If you’re unsure of what a primal and subprimal cut are – be sure to read my article.
If you’re someone who is butchering a whole cow or a side of beef, then a larger 10″ breaking knife might be more appropriate.
Personally, I use an 8″ Victorinox Fibrox breaking knife.
The intended use for a paring knife is for paring or peeling as well as coring things like fruit.
While some people might argue with me – i.e. some culinary professionals – I honestly find the paring knife to be my go-to after the chef knife.
Some other folks might prefer a smaller 6″ utility knife, but to each their own.
There’s several instances where an 8 or 10 inch Chef knife is just too much knife.
For me, paring knives are better suited for tasks that require precision and more controlled cutting.
Just to name several instances off the top of my head as I’m writing this article:
Essentially, these are all tasks that you can perform with a regular Chefs knife but with a paring knife you’ll likely feel more in control.
Personally, I use a 4″ Victorinox Fibrox paring knife.
As someone who loves knives, I think an honorable mention is a pocket knife.
While my pocket knife doesn’t interact with my cooked food, I definitely use it for a variety of barbecue related tasks.
For instance, in my article that goes over how to open a bag of charcoal via the string, I mention that I will basically use my pocket knife as apposed to using the string, every single time.
To name a number of other tasks I’ve used my pocket knife for when barbecuing:
You get the gist.
The humble pocket knife is an underappreciated instrument – even for barbecue.
If you are looking for a pocket knife, ensure you check your State requirements as everywhere you go is different – especially in terms of length and visibility.
For instance, in New York your pocket knife cannot exceed 4″ and must not be visible to the public view.
Where-as in New Hampshire (where I’m from) there is no limit on length.
While my current EDC pocket knife is my Grandfather’s, some of my favorite brands for pocket knives include:
Any of the above would make great gifts and most won’t break the bank (especially the Opinel). If you’re looking for a “first” time pocket knife, go with Opinel No. 6, 7, or 8.
Here’s my Opinel No.6:
Honestly, there’s tons of reasons:
I could likely keep going but it’s like I said above, I’m not big into gimmicks at all when it comes to barbecue. I just want tools that are affordable, reliable, and are long lasting and Victorinox Fibrox knives satisfy these requirements for me.
In terms of other Cutlery brands though, good examples to research are:
Any of these brands I’d feel comfortable recommending to Family, Friends, and Readers.
While prices change often, the knives listed above (aside from a pocket knife) will likely run you ~$150-175 or ~$30-$35 a knife; Not bad considering the price of most knives.
Again though, always buy what YOU need to barbecue – what I need may be entirely different from what you need.
Dylan,
Thank you for this. I have been, “Seriously” cooking, grilling, smoking and working with different proteins for a couple of years now, although the first time mI fired up and worked a grill was over 35 years ago.
I just came across your site and am grateful for everything I have seen so far. I do tons of research proteins, cuts, recipes, time, temp, equipment, flavor pairings, profiles, etc and to have a place where so much of this is in one spot is a real treat for me.
Thank you for sharing your passion, your experience and your expertise.
That means a lot Chris – truly.
Thanks for being a Reader and I’m happy to hear some folks find my verbosity worthy of reading.