Whack-Mincing and Puréeing Raw Meat and Fish: Double-Cleaver Work (That Can be Done with a Single Cleaver)

When faced with a pile of raw, cubed meat, raw shrimp or fish in need of chopping or puréeing, a Chinese cook will traditionally hold identical cleavers in each hand, then set about whacking the food to reduce it to the desired mince or paste. This is a true dance to drumbeats, the knives moving in fast staccato rhythm, first one, then the other, with the cook often shifting back and forth and around the food to whack it evenly from all sides. It is as exciting as a congo rhythm, to the ears and body both, and I have a positively hard time restraining myself from hooting and whooping whenever I’m chopping with two cleavers.