The Cutting Edge For The Churrasco Knives
Picture this. You made this amazing churrasco. Got all your meat eater friends together. Found some cachaca to make awesome caipirinhas. And got everyone’s favorite meat cut. (God, I should not be writing this while hungry!) And even some bossa nova to listen to while you busy yourself with the churrasco making. Great, you have the first
Great, you have the first Picanha piece ready to slice and serve! It looks all juicy and golden, and you almost feel sorry for cutting it. Until you begin slicing through it, and realize your knife isn’t sharp enough! You try to go ahead and end up butchering that amazing piece of meat until it is unrecognizable. It sucks! And it has happened to me, more than once! (Sigh) So here goes some sharp advice for how to choose your churrasco knives to cut that perfect slice!
How to choose your knives..
The knife should be made of forged steel, which means it is a single piece of steel from tip to bottom of the handle. This way you get a better grip, and it won’t come loose in your hand. As for size, simple rule of thumb, To cut big things, a big knife; to cut small things, a smaller knife.
The churrasco knife blades should be smooth and with no serrates. So that it leaves a prettier cut. It is also very important to have more than one knife. They will last longer and it is a great cost benefit investment. I’d say, have at least three in different sizes.. Keep in mind that you will need to sharpen your churrasco knives every two barbecues. So invest in a good sharpener as well.
To sharpen correctly, you must pass the knife over the sharpener at a 45 degree angle, approx. If it is too far from that angle, then you will run into a risk of ruining your churrasco knives. So, be careful!
These great tips were given by István Wessel (www.wessel.com.br), an amazing barbecue specialist. Because all the content is in Portuguese I’ll try to bring here the most important topics.
Happy barbecuing!