It won’t.
I do however believe that an electric knife can accomplish a lot of different tasks you might not have thought of, and throughout this article I will provide you with information to aid in your decision on whether one would be a good fit for your kitchen.
What is an Electric Knife?
Before we go any further lets first discuss what an electric knife actually is. An electric knife consists of two distinct parts; a handle which houses the motor, and two removable serrated blades.
Two blades seperated 
Two blades fit together
These blades are designed to fit together and be inserted into the handle/motor assembly, and once the trigger is pulled the two blades will begin to rapidly oscillate in opposite directions of each other.
Pros and Cons:
Pros:
- Replacement blades can be bought at a low price to replace blades when they get dull
- Requires less pressure to cut foods meaning you have more control and are less likely to cut yourself
- Inexpensive, there are many electric knives that you can find for under $25
- Low maintenance, blades are removable and easily washed
Cons:
- It will leave marks in your cutting board so I don’t recommend you using it on your expensive wood boards
- It is loud, in my tests the sound of the knife reached a maximum of 75 dB which can be equated to the same volume as a dishwasher, hair dryer, or vacuum cleaner
- More complicated than a normal knife
- Because the blades are serrated the texture of meats cut with the electric knife aren’t as smooth as a straight blade, which you want for sashimi
How did I first come about possessing an electric knife?
While being extremely passionate about food and cooking, I also love to fish so I initially bought an electric fillet knife with sole intention of filleting catfish. It worked great for its intended purpose but I would quickly discover that it could be used in many other applications as well.
What can an electric knife be used for?
Outside of its intended purpose for filleting fish there were a few things that I found my knife also excelled in cutting.
Bread:
The first thing that I discovered was the knife cut fresh baked bread better than a traditional bread knife. I make a lot of bread at home (You can read the bread recipe I use here) and I find that an electric knife makes thinner/cleaner cuts, and doesn’t crush or tear soft breads like a lower quality serrated knife.
Turkey/Meat:
An electric knife does a great job of carving meats like turkey. My favorite part about using an electric knife to carve turkey is that it doesn’t tear the skin off the bird while slicing which is a common occurrence when using regular knives, thus ensuring that every slice you make has a little bit of that delicious skin attached to it. Gone are the days of that one relative that getting half of the skin of the turkey to go along with his slice of turkey breast. It also does a good job of carving other meats such as steak, chicken and pork.
Delicate Baked Goods:
The small serrations and the speeds of the blades do an amazing job of slicing delicate baked goods such as angel food cake and banana bread. As you can see in the video above I had a loaf of banana bread that turned out particularly crumbly and when I attempted to cut it with a regular bread knife it fell apart. The electric knife however, made quick work of the loaf slicing through it with ease, nuts and all.
Watermelon:
Cutting watermelon can be especially dangerous as the amount of pressure one needs to exert in order to cut through the rind can increase the chances of a regular knife slipping. An electric knife will do most of the work for you when cutting a watermelon so you can easily slice through the tough rind without using even half of the force or sawing needed compared to traditional knives.
Sushi Rolls:
Yes you read that correctly, I said sushi rolls. When I first discovered that my electric knife could slice through sushi rolls like butter and have them come out perfect without any need for reshaping, I almost thought I was dreaming. I like many others used to think that in order to make sushi rolls you had to have an exceptionally sharp knife, but using an electric knife is so much faster and easier especially when you have to cut as many rolls as I do. In the video above, you can see a side by side comparison of the time it takes to cut a single sushi roll with a regular knife vs. my electric one. One thing to note is, I only need to use one hand cut with the electric knife and that the roll cut with it does not need to be reshaped.
I highly recommend buying an electric knife if you make more than a couple rolls, I personally make at least 14 rolls when making dinner for my family so convenience really does help. The most rolls that I have cut all at once is 3, but I think I could cut at least 4 at the same time.
Can’t you just use a sharp knife instead?
The biggest strength that an electric knife has over regular knives in my opinion, is that due to the speed at which the blades oscillate you are able to slice foods with very minimal pressure and sawing. One might argue that the same tasks listed above can easily be done with a high quality sharp knife, and I would be inclined to agree. However, I believe that the average home cook doesn’t want to spend hundreds of dollars on a high quality knife or has the time to constantly maintain a sharp knife. An electric knife on the other hand is no more difficult to clean compared to a regular knife and does not need to be sharpened. While I have noticed that the blades have dulled compared to when I first bought the knife, they still effortlessly cut through the sushi rolls and banana bread as shown above. Of course a nice sharp knife still has its place in the kitchen but I believe that an electric knife performs better in the scenarios mentioned before.
What knife do you recommend?
The knife that I own and recommend is the Mister Twister 120V Electric Knife. The reason I like this knife is that it is very powerful and the replacement blades for this unit are easily found. Its low profile and straight blade allows you to get parallel with the cutting surface and which creates straighter, and more even cuts compared to other electric knives on the market.
If you don’t like the look of the Electric Fisherman a cheaper alternative is the BLACK+DECKER 9-Inch Electric Carving Knife. One downside is that I could not find any blade replacements for this knife. In addition, I have not used this knife so I can’t confirm how well it works in the cases listed above as the serrations on the blade appear to have a different design. I do however, think the overall shape of the blade and handle are good.
Conclusion
The electric knife has found a permanent spot in my kitchen, and for only $23 dollars it has been a purchase that I have not regretted. The possibilities of this knife are endless and I have even heard of people using them to carve foam for various DIY projects. If you think it is something you would use more than several times a year I highly recommend you pick one up and if you find any new uses for the knives besides the ones listed above we would love to hear them either here, or on our Twitter, Instagram, or Facebook @minhandtim !
*As an amazon associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Minh & Tim 