If you are fond of cooking, you will need various cutting equipment for vegetables, fish, and meat. To cook meat, first, you will need to cut it in the way you want to prepare the meat dish. Various meat cooking procedure needs the various type of cutting with different cutting techniques and different cutting tools.
You may need to cut the meat into thinner pieces, but you will not always have a slicer on your home for that purpose. To cope up with that kind of situation, you must learn the way of how to cut meat thin without a slicer.
What will I need to cut meat thin without a slicer?
When you will not have any slicer to cut the meat thin, you will have to use some other household or market tools. The household or market tools that you can use in this kind of situation are:
Sharp Knife
A sharp knife is a must to cut the meat thinly without using any slicer. To use a sharp knife, you will need to stay cautious and know the behavior of the blade very well. But first, you will need to find a quality knife from the market or from any of your neighbors.
The knife needs to be highly sharp for slicing meat thinly. You will not have a good experience of slicing meat thin if you don’t have a well-balanced knife. A butcher knife is the best slicer knife, but if you can’t find or have one, you can use the chef knife as it can be a perfect meat cutting knife too.
The blade needs to be very sharp as you will need it to cut through the meat effortlessly. The slices will not become even if the knife is blunt or not sharp enough. So, the meat cutting knife should be highly sharp to get an even cut and to prepare a tasty meat-dish with thin-sliced meat.
A Good Wooden Chopping Board
Along with the strong and sturdy knife, you will also need a good chopping board for slicing meat thin. A wooden chopping board can be your perfect meat-slicing companion with a sharp knife. The wooden chop boards come with a bit rough surface area with a heavy pressure taking body without weighing much.
The rough surface of the board will keep the meat piece stuck on the surface without slipping. It will ensure you are having a proper grip on the meat piece while cutting it. As a result, you will have a nice meat slicing experience with the help of a wooden chop board.
You will get a good-quality wooden chop board at an affordable price in the market, and I would suggest you buy one for long-term service.
How To Cut Meat Thin Without A Slicer?
When you will need to slice the meat, the meat can be in various conditions like raw meat, cooked meat, and frozen meat. Different meat condition requires a different type of cutting technique. You will find the type-wise meat cutting procedure step by step below:
Working With Raw Meat
When the meat is in raw condition, it is the best time for slicing. No juice will be released from the meat-piece at the cutting time. The step-by-step raw meat slicing procedure is:
Step-1: Refrigerate The Meat Chunk
At first, you will need to refrigerate the chunk of the meat for at least 2 to 4 hours. Keep it on the normal side of the refrigerator to make sure that the meat chunk does not form the frozen shape. Because of this, the meat piece will become hard enough for making paper-thin slices.
Step-2: Preparing The Chopping Board And Sharpen The Knife
The chopping board and the knife are like the weapon for you to slice meat thin. At first, you will have to wash the chopping board with warm water and soft disinfectants. Then sharpen the knife if necessary, and you will be all set to start the cutting procedure.
Step-3: Slicing The Meat Cautiously
Meat slicing requires proper concentration from the person who is doing it. Always try to slice the meat against the grain. By doing so, you will get the meat slices with the perfect shape and size for your desirable meat-dish. You will need to pay full attention to keep your hand safe and to have properly sliced meat.
Working With Cooked Meat
You can also slice the meat chunk after cooking, and that is not hard either. All you need to do is change the technique and use a different one for the cooked condition. The processes of slicing the cooked meat are:
Step-1: Cooling The Cooked Meat
When the cooking of the meat chunk will be completed, take it out from the cooking pan and put it on a tray or something like that. Keep the cooked meat in there for at least ten to fifteen minutes and let it rest.
Step-2: Preparing The Knife And Chopping Board
To cut any type of meat, the chopping board and the knife are a must-needed thing. You should use any soft disinfectant on the board and wash it before using. The knife you will use should be washed and disinfected before using, and you can use a ham slicer knife for this process.
Step-3: Meat Slicing
Cautiousness is must require for meat slicing, whether that is raw meat or cooked meat. To make the slicing perfect, you should slice the meat chunk towards the edge by keeping the grain-part against it. And most probably, you will get nicely-sliced and cooked meat pieces to enjoy your feast.
Working With Frozen Meat
Every person who has the experience of frozen meat slicing will admit that slicing frozen meat is a tough thing. You will require a different and extra sharp meat knife to cut frozen meat. As the process of it is also quite different, and you will find it below:
Step-1: Wash The Frozen Meat
You will most probably buy a frozen meat chunk from the market and then try to slice it. Before slicing, you need to wash that chunk of frozen meat well using warm water. Then keep it in a tray to let the chunk adapt a bit with the natural room temperature.
Step-2: Knife Choosing And Cleaning It Along With The Chopping Board
You can use a butcher knife or a knife with serrated blades to make thin slices of frozen meat. Then you will have to clean it along with an extra-strong chopping board that is capable of taking the load of the butcher knife or the knife with serrated blades.
Step-3: Slicing The Meat Chunk
It will be quite a tough job to slice the frozen meat after transferring it to the chopping board. At first, find the grain of the meat and then slice against the grain with sawing the highly sharp knife of yours gently and smoothly. This frozen meat will require extra effort for slicing.
You can also use other equipment like the meat grinder if you don’t want to use any meat slicer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you slice meat with a mandolin?
Yes, you can make thin slices of beef or other meat using a mandolin. The mandolin can be used to cut both the raw meat and the cooked meat.
Which way do you slice beef?
The best way of slicing beef or other meat is to cut it against the grain which will help you to get tender meat. You can use the specialized beef knife manufactured by any company to slice the beef meat thinly.
Conclusion
Meat slicing is not a very easy task to do without having proper tools, knowledge, and experience. Everyone can’t always use or afford a slicer to slice the meat chunks. In this case, other basic tools can be a good option for slicing the meat chunks thinly.
If you learn how to cut meat thin without a slicer, you can use a highly sharp knife and a strong chopping board to slice the meat-piece thinly. When you will spend more time doing this meat slicing with a knife and chopping board, you will get perfectly good at it as time passes.
