Comments on: Hot or Not? Electric Turkey Carvers

By: der5er » Blog Archive » Home for the Holidays: Time to Carve the Turkey!

Wed, 21 Nov 2007 14:28:05 +0000

[...] Of course, what turkey day would be complete without a tool? In the picture above you’ll see my tool of choice - a (possibly) 25 year-old electric knife. I’ve never even thought of carving a turkey without it! [...]

By: Teacher

Teacher — Sat, 17 Nov 2007 03:30:40 +0000

I own a gymnastics school and the only thing we use one of these for is cutting foam blocks for the in ground pits. When I was a kid, my parents got one. My dad used it once, put it away and never used it again. So I vote NOT for food, but HOT for cutting foam.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 16 Nov 2007 13:18:22 +0000

I actually own the Cuisinart knife that’s pictured and overall it’s a powerful and fairly useful tool in the kitchen. However, the blade is simply not far enough offset from the handle and this makes cutting things completely through on a flat surface (like a cutting board) a near impossibility. Also, unless your planning on carving hundreds of birds at a time or have an outlet hanging over your dining room table, go cordless.

By: JP

JP — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 21:05:03 +0000

Am I the only one that uses a Sawzall to cut the bird? I’d say its lukewarm because I’ve never used mine for food service, but more for cutting foam and other soft spongy materials. Perhaps I’ve used it once on a hard roll, but when it comes to the Turkey break out the fine cutlery and use the muscles that make you a man.

By: Tony Clifton

Tony Clifton — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 20:56:39 +0000

HOT. I’ve used an electric knife to carve up birds many times, and as long as you go carefully you can do a very nice job.

As PeterP said, good enough for Alton, good enough for me.

You can find the relevant section of his Thanksgiving episode at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lEIDTZIqgUE , at around the 5 minute mark.

By: Bobk

Bobk — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 20:11:10 +0000

When I saw the heading but before I read your write-up, I already knew that I was going to be commenting on how I bought one SPECIFICALLY to cut memory foam blocks into shapes.

Hot for that purpose.
Not for cutting up turkeys, whether roasted or deep-fried.

bobk

By: Patrick Austin

Patrick Austin — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 17:54:39 +0000

NOT. Are you frickin’ serious? Is nothing sacred? Isn’t there enough crap in your kitchen?

I’ve got two chef’s knives. I sharpen both to the point where you could shave with them in a pinch. One stays plain. One gets dragged sideways across a file to make mini-serrations that are oh-so-perfect for slicing crispy skin.

Of course, you have to actually know how to use a knife and how to carve a bird The Right Way, which in my house involves removing the whole breasts from the bird as a first step, then slicing them crosswise so that each piece has an equal amount of tasty skin on it. Wide, thin slices might be theoretically good for a sandwich, but they cool and dry out pretty quickly.

By: der5er

der5er — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 15:37:58 +0000

We’ve got a 20-30 year old one handed down from my wife’s mother. I love it.
The only thing I’d like better is if they made one that looked like a Sawzall!

By: PutnamEco

PutnamEco — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 14:18:19 +0000

And they work great at cutting foam rubber too…

By: lonbordin

lonbordin — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 12:29:54 +0000

HOT…. as in I would be lost without one. It does have many other uses… thin slicing beef is what I use mine for the majority of the year.

By: Justin Brashear

Justin Brashear — Thu, 15 Nov 2007 02:00:48 +0000

My wife and I registered for one when we got married and ended up getting a couple of them. I thought the cuisinart model with the stand and knife would look cool on the counter.

Ultimately decided that I’d rather have the $50 then to have something that I’d use once a year.

By: Steve Thompson

Steve Thompson — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 23:01:33 +0000

I bought one a couple of years ago to carve my first attempt at turducken (pics added to photo pool). While I don’t often use it for carving poultry, I don’t know how I’d live without it now that I have it.

By: PeterP

PeterP — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 22:27:23 +0000

Alton Brown on Good Eats seems to use his a lot. Thats usually a good enough endorsement for me…

By: Chris

Chris — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 22:08:48 +0000

“Where electric knives really excel, however, is in cutting foods made up of different layers with distinctly firm and soft textures.”

You mean like turducken? (It is, after all, that time of year.)

By: fred

fred — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 22:07:25 +0000

“and it had a cord – I was shocked.”

I expect a product recall shortly.

By: Patrick Fitzgerald

Patrick Fitzgerald — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:36:02 +0000

Cooks Illustrated did a nice review of electric knives in 2000:

“We found that they are better suited for uniformly shaped roasts than for poultry. None of our contestants was nimble enough to negotiate the curves and inner spaces of a whole roasted turkey, so we judged them on how well they sliced the breast alone. We used our preferred carving strategy of removing the breast as a whole, laying it flat on the carving board, and cutting it crosswise into thin slices, each with a small piece of crisp skin still attached. Just try that with a regular knife.

Where electric knives really excel, however, is in cutting foods made up of different layers with distinctly firm and soft textures.”

They rated the cheap $25 Black&Decker model higher than the more expensive Cuisinart.