Knife Use When Cutting Sandwiches

[cutter]

i have a question on using a knife whether it be a chef knife or serrated knife, when cutting a sandwich. The action i see with the knife has been either a back and forth saw motion(horz.) or  you do this action...where the tip of knife goes in sandwich and then you  tilt the back of knife handle to you a little and you do a up and down saw motion  through sandwich .or also do a chop straight down action too. Question is when do you know when to use which action?The above actions are done with both chef and serrated knifes,that i have seen. But no one tells you which action to use when.

 

Edited March 5, 2017 by Smithy
Adjusted title (log)

[DantesDishes]

More than anything I think this is a matter of preference. I know personally if I have a sandwich with am abundance of layers that will slide around, a serrated knife seems to make a mess, however a sharp 8" chefs knife makes the job easy. On the contrary, if a sandwich has big fluffy slices of bread, and/or a bit less in the middle (or if the bread is very soft) it seems like natural choice to pick up my serrated knife.

 

Hope this helps,

D

[JAZ]

Not exactly answering your question, but I have found a way to cut sandwiches with a soft filling on toasted or dense bread (like egg salad on toast or chicken salad on a roll). Take the top piece of bread off, and cut the sandwich without it. Then put the top piece of bread back on and flip it over so the uncut piece of bread is on the bottom. Then you can use the cut as a guide and slice through the bottom piece of bread. The filling doesn't squish out, and the bread doesn't break or tear.

[Soupcon]

Knives made specifically for slicing bread (not necessarily the same as a serrated knife) need to be replaced often as sharpening them is very difficult if not impossible. I use a knife (which I do replace every 2 or 3 years) made specifically for slicing bread for cutting sandwiches and have no problem no matter what the filling.

[Paul Fink]

10 hours ago, Soupcon said:

Knives made specifically for slicing bread (not necessarily the same as a serrated knife) need to be replaced often as sharpening them is very difficult if not impossible. I use a knife (which I do replace every 2 or 3 years) made specifically for slicing bread for cutting sandwiches and have no problem no matter what the filling.

I agree but I sharpen my bread knife.

[Alex]

12 hours ago, Soupcon said:

Knives made specifically for slicing bread (not necessarily the same as a serrated knife) need to be replaced often as sharpening them is very difficult if not impossible. I use a knife (which I do replace every 2 or 3 years) made specifically for slicing bread for cutting sandwiches and have no problem no matter what the filling.

 

Brilliant!

[cutter]

thanks .....but what action of knife do you use when cutting sandwich(see above what I posted).that is what i need to know. (might be a matter of preference but i need to know  more bec. dont have that much experience yet.) and when say sawing do you mean back and forth horizontal saw or saw with tip in sandwich and handle tilt to you and sawing? Also, when would the tip of knife in sandwich first and handle tilt back to you a little be used,and why would this type of action of knife would be better to use than the other ways.

Edited March 6, 2017 by cutter (log)

[Lisa Shock]

Sawing, and I use a cheapo offset serrated sandwich knife from the restaurant supply place.

[Anna N]

I don't know how anyone can offer a definite way of cutting a sandwich. Bagel? Croissant? Baguette? Kaiser? Rye? Two-decker? Three decker? Egg salad? BLT?  Muffaletta?   The possibilities are endless. The knife choices are almost endless. If I had to spend any more than a nano second deciding how to cut a sandwich I'd go very hungry when it came to be sandwich time. 

We had a whole topic once devoted to whether a sandwich should be cut into 4 quarters, 2 triangles, 2 rectangles, etc., etc.  Sheesh.  Please carry on while I try figure out how many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

[cutter]

i would just like a little guidance....why or when use the different action of knife when cutting a sandwich. There has to be a reason why one would use one knife  action over another.

Edited March 6, 2017 by cutter (log)

[cakewalk]

I don't know that there really has to be a reason, but I'm finding this thread to be more interesting than I thought possible.

[chromedome]

There's a lot of variability depending on the sandwich, and personal preference. My best approximation to a rule of thumb is: Firm breads with firm fillings can be cut with a chef knife or similar, soft breads and squishy fillings require a serrated knife and a light hand. 

[cutter]

what is the knife action used,this is what i am interested in. firm breads ..... chef knife... action.be a chop or saw or tip of knife down and saw.? serrated knife.... soft bread action be saw or tip of knife down and saw?

[Soupcon]

Forget my post about a task specific bread knife. I personally use an axe. Place the sandwich on a stump and swing the axe. Otherwise, I use a hack saw.

[cutter]

i thought i would give another example..if you were cutting wood with a hand saw you cut with tip angled to saw and also can cut with blade straight across to saw, but in wood cutting the reason you choose one over the other is because one you use for cutting across grain and other along grain.(this is what i was told if i remember correctly).So for cutting sandwiches why would you do tip angled saw vs straight across saw. 

[Anna N]

15 minutes ago, cutter said:

i thought i would give another example..if you were cutting wood with a hand saw you cut with tip angled to saw and also can cut with blade straight across to saw, but in wood cutting the reason you choose one over the other is because one you use for cutting across grain and other along grain.(this is what i was told if i remember correctly).So for cutting sandwiches why would you do tip angled saw vs straight across saw. 

 I don't think anyone has much difficulty understanding what you're asking. The difficulty comes in that there is not one single answer that is good under all circumstances for all sandwich types. You are looking for a "yes/no" answer when in fact the only answer is "it all depends".

[cutter]

isnt there some guide lines when to use what action instead of it all depends? only ask bec. in anything else like wood cutting there is................just trying to get a understanding on using the different actions when cutting. thx

[blue_dolphin]

49 minutes ago, cutter said:

So for cutting sandwiches why would you do tip angled saw vs straight across saw. 

 

18 minutes ago, cutter said:

isnt there some guide lines when to use what action instead of it all depends?

Guidelines for cutting sandwiches in half?  I think not. 

 

In general, when cutting through materials with varying density/texture/hardness, a cleaner, more even slice will result if the knife (or the material) is angled slightly so the entire cutting surface doesn't contact the change point at the same time.  

Use of a serrated blade and sawing motion pretty much takes care of that.  Besides, there is generally no need to make reproducibly thin, consecutive slices of a sandwich so I think you should feel free to wield your knife in whatever safe manner that produces the results you fancy.

[btbyrd]

Have you ever had difficulties cutting a sandwich? If so, what kind of sandwich was it and what was the problem? 

[rotuts]

I use a modification of the method mentioned by

 

@JAZ 

 

if the bread is crunchy w a thick crust and the sandwich is thick and has soft filling or slide around fillings :

 

I cut the top in 1/2  while is is alone on the cutting board by itself , then put that on top of the completed sandwich and cut right through

 

the rest.  no flipping.

 

I did not invent this myself , unfortunately .

 

I saw it as a mail-in " Tip ?  in Cook's Illustrated many many years ago.

 

at the library of course !

Edited March 7, 2017 by rotuts (log)

[cutter]

i made club ,dagwood,grill cheese just to name a few. With grilled cheese sliding around until i seen not suppose to saw the sandwich but chop straight down. Other one seen video with tip of angled down and saw and other one seen video just with straight across saw.But again none of these ever said why they did what knife action ,except the grill cheese video.So i thought i would ask here. Thanks blue dolphlin on your input '" a cleaner, more even slice will result if the knife (or the material) is angled slightly so the entire cutting surface doesn't contact the change point at the same time. "

[chromedome]

How you approach the mechanics of the cut is less about rules than common sense, and which knife you're using. For example with a sandwich on a crusty roll and deli meats, you might use a chef's knife to chop, point down, with the traditional rocking motion. If the knife is dull, though, you might do better to hold it at an angle and make a drawing stroke. Or you might find yourself cutting a squishy sandwich with a chef's knife rather than a serrated knife, just because that's what is available. Then you'd saw gently with minimal downward pressure, mimicking the way you'd use a serrated blade. 

 

In sum, I guess, it's analog rather than binary. There's a continuum rather than an either-or. 

[weedy]

It's in one of the hitchhiker'guide to the galaxy books where a group of advertising executives crash lands on a deserted planet, and they are unable to invent the wheel for their new civilization because they can't agree on what colour it should be. 

[helenjp]

What helps me most is to leave the sandwiches under pressure (wrapped in a slightly moistened cloth, under a spare cutting board) for a while before cutting.

As for serrated knives, it must depend on what kind of serrations it has, and how thick the blade is - I have only one, and that is too big to use on the average sandwich. On the other hand, ceramic knives are easy to find, and sometimes useful for soft sandwiches.

Of course I could just put the sandwich on the floor and tell the cat to leave half for me...

[dcarch]

Here you go.

 

 

 

dcarch