ISO Giant Chinese Cleaver

October 17, 2005 3:42 PM

I’m looking for a big scary cleaver like they use in Chinatown restaurants to chop up ducks.

Many of them have deeply curved blades and are used on a bowl-shaped block, like a mezzaluna, but I've also seen them with less curved blades. The blades on these things are at least 12" long and maybe 9" wide. The spines are very thick - 3/16" at least. It's definitely carbon steel, not stainless.

Despite the size, they are razor-sharp, easily cutting hard-crispy pig skin.

I've asked the choppers in Chinese restaurants where to get one, but they say they got the cleavers from China, and couldn't give me a source, and the New York City Chinatown stores have only pale imitations.

Can someone else give a source (preferably cheap and fluent in English) for one of these?

posted by KRS to Food & Drink (7 answers total)

the item you are looking for is available at my restaurant supply shop and is called, verbatim, "Chinese Meat Cleaver".
...
My wife won't let me have one.
posted by boo_radley at 3:47 PM on October 17, 2005

Chinese Meat Cleaver, take your pick. I see one as cheap as $5 and then one as much as $172.

boo_radley, buy one and tell her you found it on the street and it followed you home.
posted by fenriq at 4:10 PM on October 17, 2005

I had considered getting myself a cleaver via mail order from The Wok Shop in San Francisco, but ultimately ended up getting one in Boston's Chinatown and avoiding having to pay shipping. Looks like the biggest blades available at that link are about eight or nine inches, so not quite the behemoth you may be looking for, but they're pretty reasonably priced, anyway.
posted by letourneau at 5:48 PM on October 17, 2005

Or you could go completely mad and buy one of these Global cleavers - I've never used one myself, but do have other Global knives and they're certainly worth the extra buck.

And if you wanted to be crazy mad insane - buy two. I've often seen Chinese chefs use two together - the wide blade means you can use the cleavers for handling the food as well as chopping, so the skilled chef can prepare the food without ever touching it by hand.
posted by forallmankind at 7:56 PM on October 17, 2005

boo_radley's got it.

I've made an effort to visit the "Chinatowns" of the cities that I've visited. Just wander around and check out all the stores. Cleavers are readily available. Heck, I've found cleavers for sale in Iowa.

Of course, the quality available might be in question.

Then again, the Henckels Cleaver seems decent, of far overpriced.

The wood blocks, iirc are yew (I may VERY well be misremembering) or some other ligendacious wood that resists microbial colonization and start out being flat and become rounded from use.
posted by PurplePorpoise at 9:50 PM on October 17, 2005

There are a ton of restaurant supply stores in the Bowery. You should be able to find one there. Cheap.
posted by Atom12 at 6:43 AM on October 18, 2005

"Looks like the biggest blades available at that link are about eight or nine inches, so not quite the behemoth you may be looking for, but they're pretty reasonably priced, anyway."

They can get you pretty much anything. Due to the fact that product photography is a pretty significant undertaking (putting up the original Yahoo Store involved something like three days straight of photography work) the site only shows a fraction of what they have to offer. Tane and her staff are great; just call and ask for whatever you need. They'll take care of you!

(Disclaimer: I've been going to The Wok Shop for a long time and I've worked with members of the family for years. A significant fraction of my kitchen is comprised of products purchased at TWS. If you give them your business, people I know and like will get your money.)
posted by majick at 7:38 AM on October 18, 2005