The Time to Sharpen Your Carving Knife is Now!


 
I grew up and every Thanksgiving my dad would breakout the electric knife (that they got as a wedding gift and still today 40 year later have the original box) to cut the turkey. When I meet my wife I thought it was so weird that someone would not use an electric knife to cut the turkey. I have never used an electric knife in my life. After the passing of my grandfather I was given his prized knife sharpener so I will sharpen my carving knife with it tomorrow and think of him!
 
Michael Richards said:
I grew up and every Thanksgiving my dad would breakout the electric knife (that they got as a wedding gift and still today 40 year later have the original box) to cut the turkey.
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My father did the same for many years. They never had great knives. I can’t think of any other gadgets they had that is unpopular like the electric knife. Maybe an electric can opener?

They did have a crock pot, kitchen aid mixer and a microwave which are still popular today.
 
GREAT advise. This time of year I always take my chefs, santoku, and carving knife to the local knife sharpener (Neil's Knife Sharpening for those of you in and around Philly.) I am very lucky to have a professional nearby that does this quickly and for not too much cost.
 
Michael Richards said:
I grew up and every Thanksgiving my dad would breakout the electric knife (that they got as a wedding gift and still today 40 year later have the original box) to cut the turkey. When I meet my wife I thought it was so weird that someone would not use an electric knife to cut the turkey. I have never used an electric knife in my life. After the passing of my grandfather I was given his prized knife sharpener so I will sharpen my carving knife with it tomorrow and think of him!
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Michael, you mean like this that I inherited from my Dad. 😆
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Actually, I think I was maybe twenty when my father saw me carve a turkey and said, “That’s it, you get to do that any time we have a turkey!!” Then I showed him and we just laughed out loud about it. I’ve shown so many folks the “Treat it like a Salmon!” technique. I’m very proud of that! It makes for so much prettier presentation!
My band did a gig for a man who had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and it was a huge party. I saw two turkeys come off a smoker and just hacked up, I had to step off stage and tell them to let me know when the next ones were coming off and I’d show them a better method.
They did, I did and one guy just looked at me and said “Wow, just treat it like a big fish!” I completely forgot about the lesson until the day we played for his funeral (6 months later) when I was packing my mandolin away the guy came over and said “Thanks for showing me how to “fillet” a turkey!” It does make the carving a lot easier.
Heck, now I kind of want to cook a turkey! Too late, the brisket is rolling along very nicely! Oh, and that’s much easier to carve!
 
Funny seeing the electric knife comments. The first time my wife and I hosted the entire family for turkey day, I bought an electric knife ahead of time, thinking it was what I needed to do a pro job. It wasn't. I still hacked that poor bird to a second death. You just need to know where and how to cut a bird and it all comes together. I don't think I've used that electric knife since that first Thanksgiving we hosted.
 
Timothy F. Lewis said:
Actually, I think I was maybe twenty when my father saw me carve a turkey and said, “That’s it, you get to do that any time we have a turkey!!” Then I showed him and we just laughed out loud about it. I’ve shown so many folks the “Treat it like a Salmon!” technique. I’m very proud of that! It makes for so much prettier presentation!
My band did a gig for a man who had been diagnosed with terminal brain cancer and it was a huge party. I saw two turkeys come off a smoker and just hacked up, I had to step off stage and tell them to let me know when the next ones were coming off and I’d show them a better method.
They did, I did and one guy just looked at me and said “Wow, just treat it like a big fish!” I completely forgot about the lesson until the day we played for his funeral (6 months later) when I was packing my mandolin away the guy came over and said “Thanks for showing me how to “fillet” a turkey!” It does make the carving a lot easier.
Heck, now I kind of want to cook a turkey! Too late, the brisket is rolling along very nicely! Oh, and that’s much easier to carve!
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Tim,
Teach me more about how to treat a turkey like a big fish.
 
Think of filleting a salmon, lift the side off one at a time, same with the breasts on a turkey, think of those as fillets and lift the whole think off in one piece and then slicing across for nice serving slices. It was the guy at the pre funeral party that said it was like filleting a fish but, it’s a reasonable analogy.
 
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