I'm looking for recommendations on a knife that I can use to cut nice, relatively-thin pieces of BBQ brisket.
The backstory: I recently moved into a house with a pretty nice 5-burner gas grill that the previous owner no longer wanted. He'd bought it to show off to his friends, and then let it basically sit there, weather, and fall apart. I can tell it was barely used not only by the quantity of rust on various surfaces by also by the fact that a bird had managed to build a nest between a burner and the also-rusted grill grate. The nest was pretty desiccated itself, so I'm guessing the baby birds have long since grown up. Well, I managed to clean it up, order a few replacement parts, and now I've got a pretty nice grill. With the 5 burners, I can put the meat on one side and just fire up one or two burners, throw some wood chips down on top, and have myself a gas-powered approximation of a smoker. I'm new to grilling, so I've been practicing all winter through rain and snow, getting to the point where I can do ribs very consistently with a nice pink smoke-ring and just-right tender, and the briskets have improved significantly from when I started. This past week my wife had her cousins all over at our house and I made two 5-1/2 pound briskets and two racks of baby back ribs, all of which were well received. My wife acts as my taste tester because, well, she grew up in Texas, so she knows what good BBQ is. Her critique this weekend was that the brisket was really getting good in terms of flavor and tenderness, but that I was cutting the meat too thick. It's supposed to be pencil-thick, but instead my pieces are probably double that.
The problem: I'm really unable to cut the meat any thinner with my current kitchen knives. My best knife is a 7" Wusthof classic cook's knife that I keep fairly sharp using a honing steel, but it's a bit small when cutting across an entire 5 or 6 lb brisket, which is the size I typically get from my grocer. Also, when I cook dry-rubbed brisket, it tends to develop a layer of char on the outside that's fairly sturdy while the inside is moist and tender - the Wusthof can't make it through the char cutting against the grain without making it a shredded, sloppy mess.
My guess is I either need a longer, or sharper (or longer and sharper) knife to cut the brisket at the appropriate thinness. I'd definitely welcome any recommendations, thoughts, or suggestions of personal favorites. Thanks in advance!
The backstory: I recently moved into a house with a pretty nice 5-burner gas grill that the previous owner no longer wanted. He'd bought it to show off to his friends, and then let it basically sit there, weather, and fall apart. I can tell it was barely used not only by the quantity of rust on various surfaces by also by the fact that a bird had managed to build a nest between a burner and the also-rusted grill grate. The nest was pretty desiccated itself, so I'm guessing the baby birds have long since grown up. Well, I managed to clean it up, order a few replacement parts, and now I've got a pretty nice grill. With the 5 burners, I can put the meat on one side and just fire up one or two burners, throw some wood chips down on top, and have myself a gas-powered approximation of a smoker. I'm new to grilling, so I've been practicing all winter through rain and snow, getting to the point where I can do ribs very consistently with a nice pink smoke-ring and just-right tender, and the briskets have improved significantly from when I started. This past week my wife had her cousins all over at our house and I made two 5-1/2 pound briskets and two racks of baby back ribs, all of which were well received. My wife acts as my taste tester because, well, she grew up in Texas, so she knows what good BBQ is. Her critique this weekend was that the brisket was really getting good in terms of flavor and tenderness, but that I was cutting the meat too thick. It's supposed to be pencil-thick, but instead my pieces are probably double that.
The problem: I'm really unable to cut the meat any thinner with my current kitchen knives. My best knife is a 7" Wusthof classic cook's knife that I keep fairly sharp using a honing steel, but it's a bit small when cutting across an entire 5 or 6 lb brisket, which is the size I typically get from my grocer. Also, when I cook dry-rubbed brisket, it tends to develop a layer of char on the outside that's fairly sturdy while the inside is moist and tender - the Wusthof can't make it through the char cutting against the grain without making it a shredded, sloppy mess.
My guess is I either need a longer, or sharper (or longer and sharper) knife to cut the brisket at the appropriate thinness. I'd definitely welcome any recommendations, thoughts, or suggestions of personal favorites. Thanks in advance!
