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At this time I can only afford to buy one slicer - a salmon slicer or a brisket slicer. I regularly cure and smoke fish (Salmon, tuna, etc) and love cutting it very thin. I also regularly cook large cuts of meat (roasts, brisket, etc), some of which I also like to cut very thin, and certainly nice thick slices for some too. I'm imagining that each knife will excel at doing the job that's in its name and maybe do pretty good at the other task, but I've never owned either of them so I don't really know.

In searching the internet, and watching videos on YouTube no one describes the characteristics of these two types of knives in a way that is useful to draw any conclusion.

Which of these two knives do you think would be the more effective at both tasks?

As examples, the two knives I was Oogling were the Wusthoff Ikon 12" salmon slicer, and the Dalstrong 14" Shogun slicer.

Wolf
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    Probably doesn't matter much either can work, but do you have specific knives you are comparing? Linking them to your question would help. – moscafj Sep 22 '21 at 23:07
  • Thanks, I just edited my post to include an example of each – Wolf Sep 22 '21 at 23:46

1 Answers1

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You're asking about two "types" of knife that are almost indistinguishable from each other, and in fact some manufacturers don't bother to distinguish at all, just calling their knife a "slicer". When I look at Bob Vila's recommendations for brisket knives, for example, most of his picks are these general "slicers" and do in fact look identical to knives being sold as "salmon slicers".

So, based on not owning either type (I just use a general 11" utility knife), I'd suggest that simply getting a highly-rated slicer will suit both purposes admirably.

FuzzyChef
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  • I don't know about Bob Vila's culinary skills, but based on the number of home renovation mistakes he made on his show (about home renovation), I'd recommend looking for a second opinion. (one that comes to mind was a brick layer explaining why they did a complete row before stacking up (to give the mortar time to cure), and he asked if he could try ... and he started stacking up) – Joe Sep 23 '21 at 00:08
  • Yeah, but there aren't very many recommendations for either brisket or salmon knives that are independent of the manufacturers, and whatever Bob's other qualities are, he's at least a definite third party. Which honestly suggests to me that one doesn't need either, but then I'm not the OP. – FuzzyChef Sep 23 '21 at 00:10
  • Fair enough. I'd personally look for what qualities make a good salmon slicer vs. a brisket slicer, and look to see if there are any conflicting issues, or if there are any "must have" features in one of them. (I saw a site that mentioned that salmon slicers had to go through scales & bones, whereas a brisket slicer seems more generic) – Joe Sep 23 '21 at 00:40
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    I think the OP is just asking for a slicer for making thin slices from fileted or cured salmon, not a fileting knife. – FuzzyChef Sep 23 '21 at 00:48
  • I'm completely on board with you on this one @FuzzyChef, there's really no difference between the two. I smoke salmon and brisket and I've never even looked at one of these, I find I do just fine with my long carving knife. – GdD Sep 23 '21 at 07:42
  • Quite possibly someone who owns one of those knives will have an opinion. I posted my answer just in case no such person is answering on SA. – FuzzyChef Sep 23 '21 at 18:35
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    I have that exact victorinox slicer and I can confirm that it cuts brisket just fine and will also cut cold smoked cured salmon as thin as 1mm thick with zero tearing. Just need to sharpen the edge every 5-10 times using it. – seroki Sep 23 '21 at 20:41
  • Seroki: that sounds like an answer, post it! – FuzzyChef Sep 24 '21 at 01:51