Cooking with khukuris

T

thombrogan

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Nov 16, 2002
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Do any of you cook with your khukuri? I know they don't lie flat on a cutting board, but you don't need that for watermelon or coconuts.

Many thanks.
 
I haven't tried it, but if I ever saw the need for a cleaver and didn't have one, the BAS would be my first thought. Most other kitchen knife needs I have taken care of.
 
I've used a little bilton to cut\chop a few frozen chicken breasts, I might have used my 12" AK for that too. They work good for the the frozen stuff; one whack and the box of frozen spinach is cut in half.

I find them and even the knives kind of thick for normal kitchen work.
 
Not a khuk, but the munk chunk cleaver from almost 2 years back is GREAT for critters that you want to quarter. I have used it on frozen chicken and slabs of ribs with much success.

I also like my seax for slicing duties.
 
Ever since I gave Mark his World War Two Khukri, he has been testing it's limits. Roast beefs, turkeys-wild and domestic, hams-bone in and shoulders. He chopped the hell out of some wonderful potatoes I planned on using for hash, ending as mashed. The small knives that come with it are almost as useful, he has peeled apples and other fruits for my pies, de-boned poultry. I used one and thought it might be nice a little thinner to chop peppers and onions. He has flipped pancakes and chicken fried steaks on a camp griddle also. I love to see the glee in his eyes as this is much more than playing, it is living, and playing well.
Holly
 
My girlfriend is vegetarian so I mostly cook vegetarian dishes even tho I'm still quite the omnivore. I don't find anything other than a fairly thin blade with a full flat grind to be useful for chopping a lot of veggies. Anything else kind of "splits" the target rather than slicing. Especially on potatoes and carrots and similar root vegetables the edge of the blade sinks in a little bit then the target is broken apart by the wedging action of the thicker part of the blade, much like splitting a log with a maul. This even happens with the Mora that I just got, and they have pretty thin blades. So, I guess what I'm saying is that even though I've never used a khuk in the kitchen I know from previous experience that it would be completely unsuited to the kind of cooking that I do. As always, your mileage may vary.
 
I used my 12" Sgt. Khadka to carve the Thanksgiving turkey. I do use it to chop veggies and such as well.
 
Salamander42 said:
My girlfriend is vegetarian so I mostly cook vegetarian dishes even tho I'm still quite the omnivore. I don't find anything other than a fairly thin blade with a full flat grind to be useful for chopping a lot of veggies. Anything else kind of "splits" the target rather than slicing. Especially on potatoes and carrots and similar root vegetables the edge of the blade sinks in a little bit then the target is broken apart by the wedging action of the thicker part of the blade, much like splitting a log with a maul. This even happens with the Mora that I just got, and they have pretty thin blades. So, I guess what I'm saying is that even though I've never used a khuk in the kitchen I know from previous experience that it would be completely unsuited to the kind of cooking that I do. As always, your mileage may vary.
Click to expand...

I'm not a big veggie chopper (or slicer), but I concur.

When I saw the subject come up my first thought was "Get real." :D
 
Think I'll stick with the Onion design Shun! l like kukri's alot, but I think they're much better brush busters than in the kitchen. Does that count as a veggie cutter?
 
Maybe the kamis could make some KOOKing tools? I bet they make tools for locals and family, would be interesting to see pics of some.
 
I think I've used a khuk for a little food chopping, but more often I've experimented with a tomahawk (hard to beat for cutting frozen meat--which is really great if you have a big roast you want to defrost in a hurry), or a Bowie for the grill (long blade keeps your hand out of the zone of extreme heat.)
 
I've prepared entire meals with my Kumar Karda, including peeling veggies and cutting up chicken. As already noted carrot pieces tend to take flight, due to the thickness of the blade. I've never used a khuk for chopping in the kitchen. I like my cutting board too much for that.
 
I suppose, in the interest of fairness, I should ask the users of Japanese-style knives if they ever chop firewood with their chef knives. :rolleyes:

Thanks again, everyone.
 
I just remembered the description of the Bilton from the HI website:

"This Khukuri is named 'Bilton' or 'Biltong', because it is a very popular knife for South Africans, where many of these knives are exported. Biltong means 'Dry Meat' in South Africa. The word comes from Dutch with bil meaning buttock and tong meaning strip.
This is the smallest full fledged khukuri we make. Does numberous small tasks quite well. About 9 inches and around 3 to 4 ounces."

Even though it doesn't say so explicitly, it would seem from the name that the South Africans find them useful for meat cutting. I also imagine that some models would be pretty well suited to dressing out large game.
 
The Kuk I bought for my wife was bought as a kitchen knife, it has been used as one particularly at some of our reenactment events. I have used a smaller Kuk from another company to slice ham and cheese with once. I also brought My BAS to my fathers retirement house to help him prepae food for the labor day party him and my uncle were throwing. But by the time I got there they had every thig sliced and diced so it stayed on my belt for most of that day.

Yep not the most efficent tool for the job but they do work

Marc Adkins
 
I used a 15" AK to dismember a pineapple once out of curiosity. The result was slightly squashed chunks of pineapple and an etched khuk.

They're just too thick to be practical.
 
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