Every time I try to spread butter or jam over a slice of toasted bread using a steak knife instead of a butter knife, I never seem to be able to spread the topping that evenly.
I know I could figure this out if I just used my brain or paid slightly more attention while buttering the toast. But if I went to that effort, I could have just as easily gotten out a proper butter knife and made the whole issue moot, and I’m definitely too lazy to do that, so here we are.
Slight caveat: the steak knife in question is non-serrated, if that makes any difference.
I mean if you wanna get into semantics, technically any knife could be called a butter knife once it’s used to spread butter, couldn’t it? But some knives are better at spreading butter than others. So maybe a more precise question would be: What makes a good butter knife? But this isn’t c/precisequestions now is it
As far as how I end up in this situation: sometimes I cut my fruit before I go to butter my toast
The main thing is the blunt edge. You want to deform the butter, rather than separate it. A steak knife will more easily cut through the butter, meaning the rest of it sticks to the side of the knife, rather than continuing to get pulled along the bread.
A butter knife does not require a sharp edge and it’s designed & used in a way to preserve the creamy texture as you cut and spread the butter :) it’s much smoother and definitely not the same thing. But I get what you mean.