How To Carve Your Joint Of Beef

The first Thing You Need To Do Is Nothing!

The first and most important rule of carving beef is that the meat must be allowed to rest for at least 20 minutes after it is taken out of the oven. If you try to carve it straight away you will find it very difficult and you will end up with meat which is tough and chewy.

The reason for this is that the muscle fiber needs time to begin to relax once the heat has been removed.

You should always use a carving fork to hold the meat steady while you carve. An ordinary fork is too short and not strong enough. If the joint is an odd shape you may wish to cut a slice off the bottom first to make it more stable on the carving surface.  a pronged carving dish helps to keep the meat where you want it.

Then start slicing the meat. This must be done  across the grain of the muscle. If there is a bone then you will be slicing parallel to it. Carving this way helps the meat to retain its juices and stay tender.

Equipment For Carving Beef

It may sound obvious but you need a good carving knife. It must be sharp and large enough to tackle the job. There are plenty of good carving knives available. A rechargeable electric knife can be very useful as it does make carving much quicker and easier. 

If you are using a manual knife make sure you look after it properly - do not leave it in a kitchen drawer where it will become blunt in no time. keep it in a block or on a rack and sharpen it regularly. 

Sonic Blade Cordless Knife

Increasingly people are using an electric carving knife for carving meat and the rechargeable electric knife is now a very popular kitchen gadget. One of the latest models is the Sonic Blade Cordless Knife which will carve any meat easily ( as well as all sorts of other things).

The Sonic Blade Cordless Knife is convenient for use at the table as you do not need to be near a power outlet.