Cooking Resources

pacanis · 12-01-2008, 07:51 AM

I see some folks mention using a cleaver for breaking down poultry. How? Are you actually taking whacks at the bird? Are you aiming for joints (and hitting them)? Don't pieces go flying?
I'm not looking to try this out myself, I can't stand handling poultry to begin with and when I buy a whole chicken, that's how it gets cooked, but I'm curious why a cleaver is used (or better) instead of a sharp knife.

sattie · 12-01-2008, 08:09 AM

Yep, whack the bird near joint points and also very good for splitting the back/breast. I don't use it as much now that I got a decent boning knife, but a cleaver does have it's advantages!

I have not had to many pieces go flying....

pacanis · 12-01-2008, 08:22 AM

You really use it like.... well, like a cleaver? I have no problem hitting a nail with a hammer, but I can just see bone fragments go flying if I tried to use a cleaver like I had a hunch they were used. Interesting.

GB · 12-01-2008, 08:23 AM

If it is sharp then things generally do not go flying. You get a nice clean cut. You also do not need to swing like you are going for a home run. It does not take a ton of force to get through chicken bones.

pacanis · 12-01-2008, 08:27 AM

Do you do everything you need to do with the cleaver, or do you have another knife on hand as well? For the more intricate work?

GB · 12-01-2008, 08:48 AM

You can do everything with the cleaver.

pacanis · 12-01-2008, 09:09 AM

Thanks.
I suppose a trip to youtube is in order ;^)

buzzard767 · 12-01-2008, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pacanis

Thanks.
I suppose a trip to youtube is in order ;^)

Check out

Chef Curtis Chung

(C_Dawg) on youtube. He's the best I've seen with a vegetable cleaver - Chuckabocho

pacanis · 12-01-2008, 11:03 AM

Yeah, that's all cool, Buzz, but I want to see someone spinning the cleaver around over their head like Bobby Chouinard used to twirl his drumsticks, then coming down in lightspeed and whacking a chicken wing from the carcass.

Thanks for the vid, really, but I would like to see someone using a cleaver on a bird. It just seems to me a sharp knife could work just as easily, unless you expect to cut through bones and not the joints.

So how is using a cleaver different from a using Chinese knife? They are certainly pretty similar (to me).