Meet the knives we reach for when prepping meat, poultry and fish. The Milk Street Cleaver turns a chuck roast into stew meat and splits chicken legs with minimal effort, while the Bunka knife's chisel-like tip will easily peel the tough silverskin off a pork tenderloin, then slice it into fine cutlets.
Milk Street Cleaver
The Milk Street Cleaver is an all-purpose knife designed to work equally well for vegetables and butchering big cuts of meat. At 7 inches long, 3 inches tall and less than half a pound, this tool is an inch shorter than the average cleaver for a lighter, more nimble experience. However, it maintains full height for shielding fingers during chopping and using as a bench scraper to scoop up and transfer prepped foods to the pot. And, at only 2 millimeters thick at the spine, this cleaver is as thin as possible to maintain stiffness, yet slices with little force.
Unlike most cleavers that feature a basic rectangular blade design, the Milk Street Cleaver boasts some distinctive design points. The blade arcs inward at the heel to allow for multiple grips, while keeping your fingers guarded and preserving the length of the blade. To feel and function like a smaller knife, the cutaway heel lets you choke up close and tight on the blade. Or slide your hand back on the handle for more clearance, leverage and power.
The blade’s edge differs as well. Compared to the typical cleaver’s perfectly straight blade edges, the Milk Street Cleaver gently curves tip to heel for a natural slicing and chopping motion. It’ll feel the same in use as your chef’s knife—but safer while requiring less effort!
Milk Street Bunka
The Milk Street Bunka Knife is the turbocharged take on what an all-purpose knife can be. Similar in size to the more widely known santoku, the bunka’s nearly constant 6.75-inch blade width functions much like a nakiri, ideal for precise vegetable prep, safety (shields the fingers when slicing) and scooping up foods like a bench scraper into your mixing bowl or hot skillet. But unlike the squared-off tip of the nakiri, the bunka’s blade tapers into a chisel-like kiritsuke tip (translates as “slit open”), which allows for piercing cuts and fine detail work when prepping ingredients like meat. The nearly flat blade profile arcs subtly to the tip, meaning it can be used for rock chopping or mincing. You know those instances where you thought you sliced a pepper into thin strips and it all stuck together, like an accordion? Not a chance of that with the bunka. The mid-sized, premium German steel blade is also the perfect compromise in length. It’s long enough to cleanly slice proteins or span a whole cabbage, but short enough to always be in complete control without feeling unwieldy. And the ergonomic handle provides a comfortable grip regardless of your hand size. No more slipping and twisting when you really just want to hold tight. It’s a knife you can use for everything from peeling garlic and onions to chopping a precise brunoise and peeling the tough silverskin off a pork tenderloin, then slicing it into fine cutlets. If you’re confident with a razor-tipped chef’s knife and precision handling, the bunka is your answer.
