Cleaver

A cleaver is a knife with a wide, rectangular blade. There are two quite different kinds. A meat cleaver is thick and heavy and has a blunt, strong edge for chopping through bone and joints. A Chinese cleaver, or caidao, looks similar but is thin and sharp. It is an all-purpose kitchen knife, used much like a chef's knife, and should not be used on bone.

How to use it

With a meat cleaver:

1. Put the meat on a thick, stable wooden or plastic board on a firm surface.
2. Keep your free hand well away from where the blade will land.
3. Lift the cleaver and let its weight carry it down in one firm stroke, using your wrist and forearm.
4. Aim at the joint between bones when you can. It needs far less force.

Use it to cut chicken into pieces, split a backbone for spatchcock birds, cut ribs and break down oxtail.

With a Chinese cleaver, use a pinch grip and the same claw grip with your free hand as for any knife. Slice, chop and julienne. Turn it on its side to smash garlic and ginger, and use the broad blade to scoop food off the board.

How to store it

Store it in a block, on a strong magnetic strip or with a blade guard. Wash by hand and dry right away. Hone a thin cleaver like any knife. A heavy cleaver needs only an occasional sharpening, since its thick edge is meant to break bone, not slice.

Common mistakes

• Using a thin Chinese cleaver on bone. It chips or rolls the edge.
• Swinging hard from the shoulder. You lose aim. A controlled drop is safer and more accurate.
• Chopping on a thin board or a glass surface, which cracks or slips.
• Chopping through large leg bones of beef or pork. Ask a butcher, who has a saw.
• Hitting the same cut twice in different places, which leaves bone splinters.

In recipes

"Chop through the bone with a cleaver" means a heavy meat cleaver. Chinese recipes that say "cleaver" for vegetables mean the thin kind.