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A cleaver is a large
knife A knife (: knives; from Old Norse 'knife, dirk') is a tool or weapon with a cutting edge or blade, usually attached to a handle or hilt. One of the earliest tools used by humanity, knives appeared at least Stone Age, 2.5 million years ago, as e ...
that varies in its shape but usually resembles a rectangular-bladed
tomahawk A tomahawk is a type of single-handed axe used by the many Native Americans in the United States, Indian peoples and nations of North America, traditionally resembles a hatchet with a straight shaft. Etymology The name comes from Powhatan langu ...
. It is largely used as a kitchen or butcher knife and is mostly intended for splitting up large pieces of soft bones and slashing through thick pieces of meat. The knife's broad side can also be used for crushing in
food preparation {{catexp, articles about specific foodstuffs. See :Food and drink for more general topics relating to food. Food watchlist articles ...
(such as garlic) and can also be used to scoop up chopped items. Tools described as cleavers have been in use since the Acheulean period. "Cleaver" was commonly spelled ''clever'' in the late 17th century.


Design

In contrast to other kitchen knives, the cleaver has an especially tough edge meant to withstand repeated blows directly into thick meat, dense cartilage, bone, and the cutting board below. This resilience is accomplished by using a softer, tougher steel and a thicker blade, because a harder steel or thinner blade might fracture or buckle under hard use. In use, it is swung like a meat tenderizer or hammer the knife's design relies on sheer momentum to cut efficiently; to chop straight through rather than slicing in a sawing motion. Part of the momentum derives from how hard the user swings the cleaver, and the other part from how heavy the cleaver is. Because of this, the edge of a meat cleaver does not need to be particularly sharp in fact, a knife-sharp edge on a cleaver is undesirable. The grind for a meat cleaver, at approximately 25°, is much blunter than for other kitchen knives. The tough metal and thick blade of a cleaver also make it a suitable tool for crushing with the side of the blade, whereas some hard, thin slicing knives could crack under such repeated stress. Some cleavers have a small hole, at the top front corner, for hanging them on a wall. A
butcher A butcher is a person who may Animal slaughter, slaughter animals, dress their flesh, sell their meat, or participate within any combination of these three tasks. They may prepare standard cuts of meat and poultry for sale in retail or wholesale ...
does not typically lay them flat, as the blade may dull or get damaged.


Use

Cleavers are primarily used for cutting through thin or soft bones and sinew. With a chicken, for example, it can be used to chop through the bird's thin bones or to separate ribs. Cleavers can also be used in preparation of hard vegetables and other foods, such as squash, where a thin slicing blade runs the risk of shattering. Cleavers are not used for cutting through solid, thick and hard bones – instead a
bone saw A bone cutter is a surgical instrument used to cut or remove bones. In addition to surgery, they are also used in forensics and dismemberment. Types of medical bone cutters include: * unpowered saw, Unpowered – Unpowered bone cutting imple ...
, either manual or powered, is used.


Cultural references

Cleavers occur with some frequency in traditional Chinese thought. A story from the Zhuangzi on the proper use of a cleaver tells of a butcher who effortlessly cut ox carcasses apart, without ever needing to sharpen his cleaver. When asked how he did so, he replied that he did not cut ''through'' the bones, but rather in the space ''between'' the bones. In explaining his ideal of junzi,
Confucius Confucius (; pinyin: ; ; ), born Kong Qiu (), was a Chinese philosopher of the Spring and Autumn period who is traditionally considered the paragon of Chinese sages. Much of the shared cultural heritage of the Sinosphere originates in the phil ...
remarked "Why use an ox-cleaver to carve a chicken?" on the futility of the common people seeking to emulate noblemen.


East Asia


Chinese "cleaver"

The Chinese chef's knife is frequently incorrectly referred to as a "cleaver", due its similar rectangular shape. However Chinese chef’s knives are much thinner in cross-section and are intended more as general-purpose kitchen knives, and mostly used to slice boneless meats, chop, slice, dice, or mince vegetables, and to flatten garlic bulbs or ginger; while also serving as a scraper to carry prepared ingredients to the bowls or the wok. For butchering tasks and to prepare boned meats, there is a heavier Chinese "cleaver", used in similar fashion to the Western one.


Japan

In Japanese cutlery, the main knife to fill a similar role, is the light-duty deba bōchō, primarily for cutting the head off fish.


References

{{Authority control Kitchen knives Chinese food preparation utensils Japanese food preparation utensils Korean food preparation utensils